Wednesday April 6th, 7 p.m. music students from the Columbia Arts Academy® rock the Guest House at GRACELAND in Memphis, TN.
Home of Elvis, there’s a full two days of music from schools all over the country performing rock, pop, classical music and more April 6th and 7th. They have a 450 seat gorgeous theater on the Graceland property and our students could not be more excited to perform. The Columbia Arts Academy® students will perform Wednesday April 6th 7:00 p.m. ET and a live stream is available at www.columbiaartsacademy.com. The students range in age from 7-18 and include piano, voice, guitar, drums students rocking out classic hits at the birth place of rock and roll. Following the students, the Capital City Playboys and the Columbia Arts Academy® teachers band who performed with Kirk Hammett of Metallica at the Columbia Museum of Art in 2020 perform a full two hour set.
Marty Fort
The Columbia Arts Academy® is dedicated to showcasing their students at the top venues around the country. They’re fresh off of their standing ovation last year at the Foster Theater at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The public is invited to tune in for the live stream and cheer on these upcoming artists as they play the big stage in Memphis.
Jasper reached out to Fort to get a bit more info on the upcoming adventure.
What made you choose Graceland as a destination for your students?
I’m a huge Elvis fan and a few years back they opened a new resort there the Guest House at Graceland. It has an amazing 450 seat theater (photo attached) and they allow student groups to perform. It’s the perfect venue and a part of history, so we’re all very excite about it.
What do you hope they'll take away from this experience?
The thing I didn’t expect, but I learned from the last road trip is that for many of them it’s a resume builder.
They are looking to get into college, have careers in entertainment, so for them, to perform at a venue of this caliber is huge. I would have given anything to have this kind of opportunity when I was there age. At that time in my life we were happy to just play a backyard party. But I do also have to say, Art Boerke was very good at letting high school bands play Rockafellas. My first show playing there was when I was 16
This is your second time taking your students on the road, right?
Yes, played Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foster Theater last year, got a standing ovation from a room largely of strangers from around the country.
Do you have a third setting in mind?
Getting ready to sign the contract and will be doing the big reveal after that. All I can say is, the venue and the city are literally one of the top 3 entertainment capitals, so that can narrow down anyone’s guess.