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McDuffie Center for Strings
Preparing the exceptional musician to thrive in the real world
Full tuition scholarship offered to every accepted student
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Full tuition scholarship offered to every accepted student //
Extraordinary string students deserve an extraordinary college experience. The Robert McDuffie Center for Strings has an unparalleled faculty of international artists, and provides each of its students with a full tuition scholarship to pursue musical excellence.
Our students are going places
After just 10 years of graduates matriculating into the professional ranks of classical music, Center students have won top prizes at the Hong Kong Generation Next Arts International Competition, the Gaspar Cassado International Cello Competition in Tokyo, the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, and have been laureates in the Tchaikovsky and Queen Elizabeth competitions. Many have gone on to join top symphony orchestras around the world, including first violin with the Berlin Philharmonic, principal bass with the Helsingborgs Symfoniorkester in Sweden, and principal violin with the San Francisco Symphony, as well as positions with the St. Louis, Houston, Nashville, Charlotte, North Carolina and Phoenix symphonies. Center alumni are performing exciting new music with up-and-coming chamber groups (Collectif9, Ivala Quartet, Invoke), while others have used their entrepreneurial training to create their own music nonprofits (Hawaii Chamber Music Festival, Nashville Chamber Music Society, Concert Music Outreach Collective) and promote themselves on social media.
Many of our graduates pursue advanced degrees at prestigious graduate schools, including:
Curtis Institute of Music
Cincinnati Conservatory of Music
Cleveland Institute of Music
Indiana University
The Juilliard School
Manhattan School of Music
McGill University (Canada)
New England Conservatory
Northwestern University
Peabody Conservatory
Rice University
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Southern Methodist University
University of Michigan
University of Southern California
Yale
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Macon-Mercer Symphony Orchestra
Symphony, redesigned with you in mind. From hip-hop to Haydn, Macon-Mercer Symphony Orchestra concerts are the place to be. Mercer University’s McDuffie Center Young Artists collaborate with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra musicians 4 times a year, performing at Macon’s historic Grand Opera House. All shows 7:30 p.m. Join us for Make More Music Mondays.
Major funding for the Macon-Mercer Symphony Orchestra is provided by the Peyton Anderson Foundation.