Creative Arts Guild welcomes young pianist TJ Cole in concert

Dalton Daily Citizen

August 16, 2008 10:19 pm

— The Creative Arts Guild will welcome 14-year-old piano prodigy TJ Cole for a solo concert.
With an early passion for music TJ began her formal training at age 5 and has been composing her own compositions of classical, rock and pop tunes since age 6. TJ has performed her originals for numerous events and won second in Georgia’s PTA Reflections state contest at age 8. She played her own composition as a 2006 and 2007 finalist at the Pedagogy International Piano Competition.
At the Las Vegas competition TJ had the honor of performing for a Master Class attended by piano teachers and professors from all over the world. TJ’s resume includes Superior ratings in Georgia Music Festivals and National Guild competitions where she played in all Sontina programs. She aspires to one day score music for film and considers the composer, John Williams, her inspiration.
TJ put out her first CD titled “Solace” at age 10. Of the 10 songs on the CD, TJ wrote eight. The other two are a Chopin waltz and her arrangement of “Learn to Be Lonely” from “Phantom of the Opera.” She is currently working on her second CD due out soon. These CDs are sold in Dalton at The Pine Needle and Pickety Place.
TJ has a YouTube site: www.youtube.com/user/FaygoAddict. Some of her most viewed arrangements are by bands “Three Days Grace” and “My Chemical Romance.”
TJ recently returned from her third summer at the famous Interlochen Academy for the Arts located in Michigan where she was voted an Honor Camper by her peers from all over the world.
A former soccer player, TJ is in the gifted program as a high school freshman. She played first chair cello for two years in her middle school’s two orchestras and Gwinnett’s Kendal honors orchestra. She will play the cello in the Collins Hill Philharmonic Orchestra.
TJ is the daughter of Dalton native Don Cole Jr. and granddaughter of local resident Beverly Cole and the late Don Cole.
Her concert will be Sunday, Aug. 24 at 2 p.m. in the Creative Arts Guild Gallery. A reception will follow. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Creative Arts Guild at 706-259-1822 or email music@creativeartsguild.org.