Fiddle with Mary Margaret N.

Striving to use music to inspire people in all walks of life, violinist Mary Margaret Neel has distinguished herself as an accomplished solo violinist, orchestral musician, and teacher. Coming from a small town in North Georgia, Mary Margaret instantly fell in love with the violin at the age of nine and began her musical studies with Barbara Hood and Laura Minor. She was a member of the Southern Crescent Youth Orchestra, Chattanooga Youth Symphony Orchestra and became the Concertmaster of the Buckhead Youth Orchestra for its 2010-2011 season. She received scholarships to study at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and Cadek Conservatory of Music. Mary Margaret spent her final two years of high school commuting to Columbus, GA to study with Patricio Cobos and was a winner of the Buckhead Youth Orchestra’s concerto competition where she was featured as a soloist performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor. Mary Margaret has performed in masterclasses for violinists Midori, Mark O’Connor, Sergiu Schwartz, Felix Olschofka, Xiaocheng (Echo) Jia, Renata Knific, Levon Ambartsumian, and Michael Heald. Mary Margaret received degrees in violin performance from Columbus State University’s Schwob School of Music (B.M.) and the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music (M.M.). An avid music educator, Mary Margaret received advanced training in the Suzuki Method from the Lamont School of Music’s pedagogy program and is registered with the Suzuki Association of the Americas in books 1-8. She was the head violin graduate teaching assistant at the University of Denver where she taught undergraduates. She has maintained private studios in Georgia, Colorado, and Tennessee. Mary Margaret has enjoyed a varied career performing professionally in orchestras across Georgia, Tennessee, and Colorado. She performed with the Hollywood Concert Orchestra’s concert tour across mainland China during the 2015-2016 season. Mary Margaret currently performs regularly as half of the York Street Duo who made their Carnegie Hall debut in March 2018.