Four generations ago, a young mother named Annie Moses scrimped and saved to buy her beautiful daughter Jane an upright piano. Even in the midst of the Great Depression, she knew that her sacrifice would be worth it if she could give her daughter a voice.
Jane grew up and had daughters of her own. Like Annie Moses, she worked hard to make music part of her children’s world. Her third daughter, Robin, went to Oklahoma City University where she studied voice and met Bill Wolaver, a pianist and jazz man. They fell in love and got married.
After writing a hit song for Sandi Patti called "Make His Praise Glorious", Bill and Robin moved their young family to Nashville. While Sandi was singing the words of the Psalmist (“praise the Lord with strings!”), Robin was putting those words into practice.
She bought a small violin for her 5 year old girl, Annie, and a musical adventure began. Annie was a born performer, and at a young age, she was winning concerto competitions and performing with major symphonies. Her five siblings followed close behind, studying viola, cello, harp, piano, mandolin, violin, and guitar.
The Wolavers pursued classical music with the focus of Olympic athletes. They spent summers in Aspen, CO, studying with the best string teachers in the world. Their dedication to excellence finally took them to the halls of the Juilliard School in Manhattan where Annie served as Concert Mistress of the Juilliard Orchestra, and Alex played in a quartet coached by legendary violinist, Itzhak Perlman.
Over the next several years, the Band became a highly successful touring group, performing just under 100 concerts a year in churches and theaters all over the U.S. Their blend of classical Americana and heartland storytelling captivated audiences.
The Annie Moses Band was born. The group which began with the three oldest siblings, Annie, Alex, and Benjamin, quickly grew to include the younger siblings (Gretchen, Camille, and Jeremiah) as they came into their musical maturity. Naysayers came out of the woodwork: Juilliard tutors said a shift to popular music would 'shipwreck' a fledgling classical career while Nashville pop producers said there was no place for a soprano female lead in Christian music. But the family kept on creating the genre-defying music they loved.
.jpg)
Over the next several years, the Band became a highly successful touring group, performing just under 100 concerts a year in churches and theaters all over the U.S. Their blend of classical Americana and heartland storytelling captivated audiences.
Wherever they played, their family testimony was also deeply influential. Mothers and fathers asked, “How did your parents raise you to play like this?” The questions sparked a new desire in the Wolavers: to educate families in the best practices that had proved so central to their own success.
A call from a church in North Carolina proved providential: would the Band be artist-in-residence for a local music camp? The family said yes. After the camp was over, the experience of seeing young performers take flight under their tutelage became a cornerstone for the Wolavers’ ministry. They decided that every summer they would host an educational event for young artists that would teach them how to perform with excellence.
What began as the Fine Arts Summer Academy (now the Annie Moses Summer Music Festival) grew by leaps and bounds, drawing hundreds of young musicians each July to Nashville to study with the Annie Moses Band. Once again, the industry shook its head: "why would you spend time teaching young children how to perform? Get rid of the distractions and focus on success in radio (circa 2004) or Youtube (circa 2008) or streaming (circa 2010)." But again, the family rolled up its sleeves and continued the hard work of investing in new voices who could speak truth to culture.
At the same time, the Band’s popularity hit a new high with a hit TV special, Christmas with the Annie Moses Band which went on to break records for the highest played debut special in PBS history. The subsequent album, This Glorious Christmas (Sony), debuted in the Top Ten of Billboard Magazine’s Classical Crossover chart.
The next few years saw a flurry of “firsts”: the Band’s debut at Carnegie Hall, an international outreach trip to North Korea, a standing ovation at their Grand Ole Opry premiere, and the release of their first album as signed artists with Warner Classics.
American Rhapsody went on to debut in the Top Ten of Classical Crossover albums and launched a successful national tour. The Art of the Love Song, a PBS special filmed at the Opry, followed on the heels of Rhapsody and went on to garner an Emmy nomination for Best Music Special.
A subsequent tour, Copland to Cash, planted the seeds for the Annie Moses Band’s most recent album and DVD special, Tales From My Grandpa’s Pulpit (Gaither Music). A thematic project centered around the life of their “pistol-packin’ preacher” and grandfather, Riley Donica, Tales repeated the chart topping success of the AMB’s previous projects and aired nationwide in 2021.
The family’s mission in arts education grew alongside the Band’s professional career. The success of the Annie Moses Summer Music Festival which expanded to include shows at the Grand Ole Opry House, a Broadway musical debut featuring legendary actor, John Rhys Davies, and original shows in venues across Music City, led the Band to establish the Annie Moses Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to raising a new generation of artists for the glory of God.
At the same time, a small coterie of families were moving to Nashville, inspired by their children’s life-changing experiences at the Festival. They asked the Wolavers if they would consider teaching their children on a weekly basis. What began as a few lessons in a local church became a full fledged Conservatory program, educating students in stage craft, drama, arranging, songwriting, live performance, and the philosophy of art from a Christian perspective.
By 2018 the Conservatory of Annie Moses needed its own headquarters to keep pace with the demand. The school renovated a modest building in bucolic Franklin, TN and expanded its impact into the local community with seasonal technique intensives called The Woodsheds.
But the Annie Moses Band’s horizons continued to expand. Seeing the cultural impact of visual storytelling, the family decided to break into the world of children’s television. Firm believers that the early years determine the worldview of a new generation, the Wolavers decided to create a series of projects that would nurture Christian faith in the hearts and minds of children. The new company called KIN would help families understand their place in the story of the world and nurture a love for Christ through artful storytelling.
First came The Wonderful World of Benjamin Cello, a television program inspired by the tradition of Mary Poppins and Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. Featuring live puppetry, sound stages, mentor figures, and original music, Benjamin Cello resurrected the tactile beauty and creativity of an earlier era in children’s entertainment. At the same time, it preached an unabashed message of Christian faith and charity.
The family began by pitching the show’s pilot to several major platforms including Apple TV and PBS. But the phrase "Remember God loves you" and the presence of mentor figures proved a deal-breaker. So the Wolavers decided to make a leap of faith: they sold homes and relocated to a 60 acre property south of Nashville. A large warehouse on the acreage proved the perfect opportunity to build the sound stages the show required. After extensive renovations, ManAlive Studios became a reality, producing the first six-episode season of The Wonderful World of Benjamin Cello.
Debuting on a variety of streaming platforms, Benjamin Cello met with universal acclaim, garnering thousands of hours of streaming in its first season. A second season premiered in Fall 2021. But Benjamin Cello was just the beginning. A new show, Chalk & Block Children, launches Summer of 2024 with more original projects in development.
