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Life Lessons Learned Through Music
Thursday, April 16, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Squires Recital Salon
Admission is free

'Life Lessons Learned Through Music' is a live, piano-centered keynote created and performed by Katherine Forbes, pianist, educator, and founder of the Nashville-based web agency Designing the Row®. Through a blend of storytelling and performance, Katherine shares how the skills she developed as a music major later carried her through defining chapters of adulthood, including her husband’s cancer diagnosis, infertility, building a business, and ultimately rediscovering her voice at the piano.

'Life Lessons' gives students a fresh perspective on their musical training, revealing the deeper skills they are cultivating each day: patience, listening, collaboration, resilience, and creative problem-solving. By experiencing these ideas through Katherine’s performances and lived stories, students leave with a renewed sense of purpose and confidence in their own creative path, no matter where their future in music leads.

About Katherine Forbes

Katherine Forbes is a Nashville-based designer, educator, and creative whose work lives at the intersection of music, technology, and digital strategy.

She is the founder of Designing the Row®, a web design agency trusted by GRAMMY-winning musicians, best-selling authors, and small businesses spanning many industries.

In addition to her agency work, Katherine serves as an adjunct professor at East Tennessee State University, where she teaches branding and music marketing. Her curriculum, developed from the ground up, blends practical marketing skills with real-world industry experience. Her workshops and presentations have been featured by the Music Business Association, YELP, Nashville Design Week, and more.

Now, after years of helping others build their online presence, Katherine is stepping back into her first language: music. A classically trained pianist with a dual degree in Music Technology and Piano Performance from Virginia Tech, she performs 'Life Lessons Learned Through Music,' a keynote that merges piano performance and storytelling, alongside her growing catalog of contemporary solo piano compositions.

Katherine’s mission is to help people express who they are — creatively, visually, and emotionally — whether through the websites she designs, the students she teaches, or the music and stories she brings to the stage. For more information, visit katherineforbes.com and designingtherow.com.

Visitors to the Blacksburg campus Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. - 10 p.m. will need to display a parking permit, utilize the ParkMobile app, pay the daily charge for a pass, or pay for parking using an hourly meter. A range of parking options can be found here.

All campus parking, including along Alumni Mall, requires a parking permit from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., unless otherwise noted by signage. 

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact sopa@vt.edu at least 10 business days prior to the event.

We are grateful to Main Street Inn and The Inn at Virginia Tech, the hotel sponsors for the Music on Mondays and Visiting Artist Series in the School of Performing Arts at Virginia Tech.