Nashville Symphony Accelerando Program Second Class (L-R) — McKane (Max) Robinson, Angelina Bautista, Riya Mitra, & Xayvion Davidson ~ photo by Sally Bebawy (click photos to enlarge)

Thursday afternoon we held a reception for returning students and families in the Nashville Symphony Accelerando program to welcome four new students and families who join Accelerando this fall. It was truly exciting and heartwarming to spend some time celebrating with these talented, motivated young musicians, and officially mark the beginning of new year of working together.

Yesterday’s reception brought to a close the long and thorough audition process that began with initial auditions on March 4, semifinal auditions in April, and finalist trial lessons over the summer. We are very proud of these fine young musicians and what they have already accomplished!

photo by Sally Bebawy

Our second class of Accelerando students consists of four students in grades 7 & 8, each of whom attends a different school: one in Williamson County and the other three at Metro Nashville Public Schools. This year’s four new students join our returning inaugural class of six students for a total of ten young instrumentalists enrolled in Accelerando this year.

Our 2017-2018 Accelerando students collectively play violin, viola, flute, bassoon, oboe, and trombone, and will begin weekly lessons with Nashville Symphony musicians in September, as part of a comprehensive scholarship program of activities to prepare them for music school at the college level.

Learn more about Accelerando on the Nashville Symphony website here.

photo by Sally Bebawy

Angelina Bautista,
oboe
Grade 8
John F. Kennedy Middle Prep,
MNPS

photo by Sally Bebawy

Xayvion Davidson,
bassoon
Grade 8
Rose Park Magnet Math & Science Middle School,
MNPS

photo by Sally Bebawy

Riya Mitra,
violin
Grade 8
Sunset Middle School,
Williamson County Schools

photo by Sally Bebawy

McKane (Max) Robinson,
trombone
Grade 7
Head Middle Magnet,
MNPS

We are thrilled to welcome these gifted young musicians into the Nashville Symphony family! It is very exciting for all of us at the symphony to see how quickly the Accelerando program has grown: now ten students strong, each from a different school representing three school districts and many different facets of our dynamic Middle Tennessee community.

For a summary of Accelerando: The First Year, click here.

For last year’s Announcing the Accelerando Inaugural Class, click here.

For the Accelerando category archives on Off The Podium, click here.

Nashville Symphony Accelerando Program 2017-2018: bottom (l-r) McKane (Max) Robinson, Angelina Bautista, Riya Mitra, & Xayvion Davidson; top (l-r) Cedric Quinn, Isabel Evernham, Emily Martinez, Aalia Hanif & Antonio Thai; (not pictured: Bernard Ekwuazi) ~ photo by Sally Bebawy