News

TN Musician Wins VSA International Young Soloist Award

By Suzanne Lynch, Director of Marketing and Development –

Elliott-McClainEach year, outstanding young musicians with disabilities from around the world receive the VSA International Young Soloists Award, $2,000, and the opportunity to perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., which is live-streamed and archived on the Kennedy Center website. This program is open to soloists and ensembles of any instrument or genre including classical, jazz, hip-hop, rock, and more.

The 2017 recipients of this prestigious award include for the first time an artist from Tennessee.

Elliott McClain, age 23, is a pianist and graduate student at Belmont University in Nashville studying commercial music performance. He is an independent artist and musician, specializing in jazz and popular forms of music for live performance and session recording. Blind since birth, Elliott started playing piano as soon as he discovered a keyboard, and has been known ever since for his exceptional aural and improvisational skills. A recipient of the Woods Piano Scholarship, he has performed with Belmont’s top jazz ensembles and has been a guest performer in many of Nashville’s most prestigious venues.

Elliott is the 2016 VSA Tennessee Young Soloist Award winner. VSA Tennessee is run single-handedly by executive director Lori Kissinger who organizes the yearly VSA Tennessee Young Soloist Award Competition. The TN Arts Commission congratulates Elliot on his accomplishments. We also congratulate Lori on her work in helping Elliott get there.