Founder - Musical Chess

Merging classical music education with chess strategy to make learning engaging, joyful, and accessible for the next generation of thinkers.

"Merging classical music education with chess strategy to make learning engaging, joyful, and accessible for the next generation of thinkers."

Adrienne Tellier is the founder of Musical Chess, an innovative educational program that combines the cognitive power of chess strategy with the creative development of music instruction. Based in Greenville, Adrienne built Musical Chess around a simple but powerful idea: the skills children develop through music and chess reinforce each other in ways that accelerate learning across every subject.

Before launching Musical Chess, Adrienne spent years as a classroom educator and music instructor, watching students light up when they made unexpected connections between disciplines. That spark became the foundation for a program that is now reaching hundreds of students across the Upstate.

Through the GVL Starts program, Adrienne has honed her business model and built partnerships with schools, community centers, and after-school programs. Musical Chess is more than a curriculum — it is a movement to make high-quality cognitive enrichment accessible to every child in Greenville, regardless of zip code.