About
Based in Nashville, TN, Isabella Kinard is a violist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.Her love for Jesus drives everything that she does and her music follows. Having studied commercial music on viola at Belmont University, she has played classical, jazz, pop, Celtic, and much more. Her songwriting navigates the beauty and pain of life through the lens of a Christ-follower. She has a heart for the broken and strives to write music so that those she does not know feel seen and heard.
Through Honors Performance Series, Isabella has performed viola across the world in Vienna, Austria at the Musikverein as well as in New York at Carnegie Hall. Through Belmont,she played viola for Andrea Bocelli at the Fisher Center in Nashville, Bridgestone Arena, and Legacy Arena. These concerts also included performing with Trisha Yearwood, Cece Winans, Michael W. Smith, and Lauren Daigle.
Isabella grew up singing in choirs from 4th grade through her senior year of high schooland has sung in the NAfME All-National Choir. While she was in Nashville Children’s choir, sherecorded background vocals on Andrew Peterson’s song “Is He Worthy” and on a Christmas album for Peter Mayer, the lead guitarist for Jimmy Buffet’s Coral Reefer band.
Her grandmother, Kyla Rowland, was a southern Gospel singer/songwriter and a major inspiration to her. Isabella learned to sing harmony with her sisters at age 5 and grew up singing Kyla’s songs with them at various churches across the south. They also recorded some of her songs together on her album “A Family Affair.” Kyla touched many people’s lives with her music and ministry. Through this, she not only influenced Isabella’s musical life, but was also a spiritual mentor. She taught Isabella about the Bible, how to pray, and how her music came straight from the Holy Spirit.
Much like her grandmother, Isabella desires to touch people’s lives with her music.Whether it is through her voice, the viola, the piano, the drums, or her songwriting, she wants to glorify Jesus through it all. Because she has experienced the toil of mental health struggles and the beauty of God’s love and mercy, she believes music is a wonderful gift that she can use to comfort those who are hurting and give hope to the lost. It is her way to be a friend to the lonely and make them feel understood.