HANNAH SORRELLS-TYLER
violinist
Hannah Sorrells Tyler, currently a resident of Nashville TN, grew up in Asheville. She began her violin studies with Mary Daniels, former concertmaster of the Asheville Symphony. In 2014 she received her Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. During her collegiate years, she performed in the American Prize-winning ensemble, St. Olaf Orchestra under esteemed conductor, Steven Amundson. In May of 2017, she graduated from Belmont University with a Master’s degree in Classical Violin Performance, serving as concertmaster of the Belmont Symphony for both years of her study. Her teachers have included renowned pedagogues Francesca Anderegg, Burton Kaplan, David Coucheron, Kenneth Freed, Elisabeth Small, and Charles Gray.
Hannah’s performance career has included domestic and international tours both as an orchestral and solo performer of classical, Celtic, and bluegrass repertoire. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, St. Thomas Church (Bach’s Church) in Leipzig, Germany, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and the Grand Ole Opry. For the past few years, she has performed and taught at the Fine Arts Summer Academy of the Annie Moses Band, a premier classical crossover string and vocal band.
Hannah is currently the first violinist in La Vie Quartet, a string quartet based in Nashville which she founded in 2017. With creativity, virtuosity, and passion at the forefront, La Vie Quartet performs the highest caliber repertoire while bringing people of all different musical tastes together. In 2018, the quartet began a concert series called, “The Gallery Sessions,” in partnership with The Rymer Gallery, a contemporary fine art gallery located in downtown Nashville. This series pairs a standard, classical string quartet piece with original arrangements of pop, jazz or folk music. In September of 2019, La Vie Quartet was invited to perform original works by various Nashville composers at The Parthenon as a part of The Nashville Chamber Music Series. The quartet has performed with contemporary artists JohnnySwim, Delta Rae, Judah and the Lion, and Christy Nockels.
Hannah believes a successful musician is one whose music causes people to connect emotionally both withIn themselves and with each other. Too often she fears musicians forget about this aspect of music- its unique ability to explore the pathos of human life while building community. While technique is important, especially in the formative years, Hannah thinks it is vital to develop a conversation between facility and musicality. Through performing and teaching, Hannah desires to communicate these truths to people, hopefully allowing them to not only be in touch with themselves, but with something much greater.