Performances are an integral part of the Tennessee Arts Academy experience. From the opening celebration to the final Finale Luncheon, a diverse group of artists and performing groups are featured at every Arts Academy event. Regional theatre, dance and music soloists and ensembles are showcased during a daily thirty-minute presentation in the Massey Performing Arts Center. On Sunday and Wednesday evenings a world-class artist is chosen to perform for TAA participants. The Belmont Mansion tour, the TAA art exhibit and special event functions each include local artists as part of their program.
PERFORMANCES
Conrad Tao
Sunday, July 8 - 4:30 PM
Massey Performing Arts Center
Hailed by renowned music critic Harris Goldsmith in Musical America as “the most exciting prodigy to ever come my way,” 17-year-old Chinese-American pianist Conrad Tao was already playing children’s songs on the piano when he was only18 months old. Born in Urbana, Illinois, he gave his first piano recital at age four, and at age eight, made his concerto debut performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A major, K. 414. Tao is currently a Gilmore Young Artist, an honor awarded every two years to single out the most promising players of the new generation of pianists in the United States. In December 2011, he was the only classical musician to make Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list, which highlights the “youngest stars in the music business.” His first album, composed of solo repertoire including three of his own compositions, was released in February 2012. An accomplished composer and award-winning violinist, Tao currently attends the Columbia University-Juilliard School joint degree program and studies piano with Professors Yoheved Kaplinsky and Choong Mo Kang and composition with Professor Christopher Theofanidis of Yale University. In 2011, he received two major national honors: he was named a US Presidential Scholar in the Arts by the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars and the Department of Education and was also awarded a gold medal of music by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts YoungArts program.
Mr. Tao’s performance has been generously sponsored by Kem and Marilyn Hinton in memory of T. Earl and Nora Hinton.
129th Army Band
Monday July 9 - 11:30 AM
Massey Performing Arts Center
The 129th Army Band of the Tennessee Army National Guard has a long and distinguished history serving Tennessee and the United States in peacetime as well as during armed conflict. The group traces its lineage back to the earliest units of the Tennessee Militia that protected the early colonial settlements and routed the British at the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780. The band was called to active duty during Operation Desert Storm. They have performed for presidents, world fairs, and overseas in countries including Colombia and Turkey. The 129th Army Band has been the official band for the Tennessee inaugural since Governor Gordon Browning and represented Tennessee in the 1992 Presidential Inaugural Parade in Washington, DC. The 129th Army Band is headquartered at Houston Barracks in Nashville, Tennessee, and is led by Chief Warrant Officer Billy Stepp and Commander First Sergeant Richard Griffin.
Robert Post
Wednesday July 11 - 11:30 AM
Massey Performing Arts Center
Robert Post’s original show, Post Comedy Theatre, was presented by
Broadway’s New Victory Theater to rave reviews and sold-out houses. Since then, Post has performed in almost every conceivable venue including concert halls, dinner theaters, factories, festivals, homeless shelters, prisons , street corners, TV commercial sets, and symphony orchestra halls. Two major influences sparked Post’s childhood desire to go into show business: the sight of his Italian grandmother, Assunta DiMenna, spontaneously dancing and singing at every type of family occasion (including funerals) and the classic vaudeville, juggling and specialty acts featured on the Ed Sullivan show. Post has created more than thirty works for which he has received numerous awards and fellowships from such organizations as the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council for the Arts, and the Ohio Arts Council. PBS produced a documentation of his stage performance that was shown internationally, winning the Central Education Network Award for Best Performance Program. Post has toured his one-man performance to Canada, Japan, Mexico, the Mediterranean, Russia, Turkey, and forty-six American states.
Richard M. Sherman
Wednesday July 11 - 8:30 PM
Curb Event Center Atrium
Richard M. Sherman and his brother, Robert Sherman, were the foremost composer-lyricists in family entertainment. Throughout their legendary career, they wrote more film songs than any other team in cinematic history. For generations, the Shermans have created the soundtracks of everyone’s childhood, including the most translated and performed song on earth, “It’s a Small World (After All).” The brothers’ prolific career spanned six decades. Among their achievements are: two Academy Awards for the score of Walt Disney’s masterpiece Mary Poppins and the song “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” nine Oscar nominations (including “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and “Bedknobs and Broomsticks”) three Grammy Awards, twenty-four gold and platinum albums, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, honorary doctorates from their alma mater, Bard College, and a National Medal of Arts, the highest honor an American-born artist can receive, which was awarded to them in 2008 at the White House. Robert Sherman passed away earlier this year. Richard continues composing every day. In 2010, a collection of his solo instrumentals was released on the Solid Air CD, Forgotten Dreams and one of his songs was featured in the blockbuster film Iron Man 2.
Mr. Sherman’s appearance has been generously sponsored by Cavit Cheshier, Solie Fott, Bobby Jean Frost, Delores Kinsolving, Jean Litterer, Michael Meise, Linda DeMarco Miller, Tommie Pardue, Diana K. Poe, Fran Rogers, James Rout, III, Thane and Pat Smith and Jane Walters.
Nashville Singers
Thursday, July 12 - 11:30 AM
Sunday, July 8,2012
In November 2008, Nashville Singers was founded by a handful of men who had the desire to join their voices together and make a commitment to excellence in choral and vocal performance. The group’s mission is to entertain, educate, unite, and uplift audiences and members through music that has become known for its innovation, diversity, and artistic excellence. The singers are all volunteers who range in age from teenagers to retirees. They travel from across middle Tennessee to participate in chorus activities. In just over three years, Nashville Singers has established a large repertoire, released their first recording, completed forty performances for twenty-three organizations across the state, and produced two successful concert series events, which attracted more than six hundred attendees from eight states. They have developed a reputation for producing imaginative programs that include many genres, such as popular music, Americana, swing, gospel, sacred, Broadway and movie hits, and a large selection of Christmas holiday favorites.