Jonathan McNair has taught at the University for 26 years. Photo by Angela Foster.
Ruth S. Holmberg Professor of American Music Jonathan McNair described with intricate detail a piano composition piece he wrote in the Appalachian Mountains at an artist residency program.
“It goes from a kind of mysterious opening to gradually becoming lighter and clearer, then bigger and ebullient and uplifting and grand. Later, the music moves higher and becomes more tender and vulnerable…” explained McNair, who has taught at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for 26 years.
He demonstrated with his hands how the composition is played as the melody “unfolds,” from grand harmonies to “quiet and kind of mysterious at the end … as if you’re going backwards from a big river to the headwaters into the tiny little spring that began it.”
The piece came together while staying at the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences during the summer of 2019. He named it “Rabun Gap” after a small local town.
At the time, he didn’t have any particular plan in mind for the composition.
Now, to his surprise, the song is featured on a Grammy-nominated album.
The nomination stems from “Piano Crosscurrents,” an album by New York-based pianist and composer Max Lifchitz, founder of the North/South Consonance Ensemble. Created more than 40 years ago, Lifchitz’s ensemble is dedicated to performing and recording works by contemporary composers from across the Americas.
Lifchitz first performed the song in New York City after selecting it from an open call for scores, later inviting McNair to collaborate on a studio recording.
Supported by a UTC faculty development grant, McNair’s composition was professionally recorded and added to “Piano Crosscurrents,” which debuted in April 2025.
“He nailed it,” McNair said. “The sound is gorgeous. It was a wonderful studio and a really good engineer.”
Winners will be announced at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 2, 2026, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
When Lifchitz reached out with the news that the album had received a Grammy nomination, McNair said he was completely caught off guard.
“Never crossed my mind,” he said with a laugh. “I never expected this, and I’m happy. I’m grateful it’s not going to go to my head because I had no idea how the nomination came about.”
Receiving a Grammy nomination in the classical music world is a significant honor, McNair said, even though it may not come with the same public attention as it does for mainstream artists.
“The Grammys in classical music are important; they’re just less of a splash,” he said. “Everybody knows Beyoncé and whoever, but it’s a huge thing for us. If a classical soloist gets a Grammy-winning recording, that’s great for their career.”
While McNair has long practiced music composition and piano, he gave some of the credit to the location where the piece originated.
“When you’re in such an incredibly gorgeous setting—the mountains, the waterfalls, the valleys—all of this stuff is going to infuse your soul,” he said. “At least for me, it did.”
Click to listen to Jonathan McNair’s “Rabun Gap” on Max Lifchitz’s album “Piano Crosscurrents.”
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