About Us

Welcome!

When Great Performances first made its debut at Vanderbilt University in 1974, few imagined the substantive legacy the series would enjoy and the efficacy of arts interventions in building communities. Hundreds and thousands of people from Vanderbilt, Nashville, and Middle Tennessee have been drawn to the array of performing companies while Great Performances in turn has provided a southeastern home for international works and remarkable artists. Great Performances reflects now on thirty-eight years of enriching the regions’ artistic and cultural scene. Vanderbilt looks forward to the series continuance for decades to come.

Join us this season in a definitive regional experience celebrating international performing arts! Assume your role in generations of art that is ancient and new from around the globe as an audience member, Master Class student or explorer at our POM Performance on the Move events.You don’t want to miss this season!

Great Performances Director Bridgette Kohnhorst and 2012-13 student Co-Chair Cecilia Walker Norris would like to thank all the students, staff, and underwritingsponsors who continue to graciously give their support for the series. If youwould like to volunteer with Great Performances call 615.322.2471. If you wish to learn more about how you can help Great Performances in other educational endeavors or receive program reminders, send us your email at: great_performances@vanderbilt.edu.

Bridgette Kohnhorst, Great Performances Director

Since 2002, Bridgette Kohnhorst has advised and curated Great Performances at Vanderbilt (University). In addition, she is the Director of the Sarratt Art Gallery and advisor to Vanderbilt University Speakers Series including the historic political symposium, IMPACT. Before joining Vanderbilt, Bridgette was founding Arts Education Director at the Bologna Performing Arts Center in Mississippi where she was a departmental recipient for the Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts for Cultural Leadership. Under her tutelage, the Center received a first recognition from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2007, Great Performances at Vanderbilt was named a National Dance Project Hub-Site whereby Kohnhorst served as a policy maker for dance, and development of U.S. production residencies for the New England Foundation for the Arts with lead support from Doris Duke Charitable, and Andrew W. Mellon Foundations. Bridgette has served as a guest presenter to numerous cultural consulates including Canada, The Netherlands, Israel, and Taiwan, and appointed to the U.S. Delegation for the International Tanzmesse in 2010 in Dusseldorf, Germany, funded by U.S. Counsel General Germany, Dance U.S.A., the National Endowment for the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts, and San Francisco Foundation. Most recently, she was one of five U.S. curator/producers hosted by Australia’s Performing Arts Market and New Zealand. She is a New York trained dancer and published poet. Educated at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and New York University. She holds degrees in English and Dance Performance; Bridgette formerly worked at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.

Cecilia Walker Norris, 2012-13 Student Chairperson