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

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.

The Fabian Concert Series brings great chamber music, collaboration, education, and outreach to Mercer and Macon. 

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Read about the supportive spirit and encouraging environment at the McDuffie Center for Strings in the words of Director Amy Schwartz Moretti.

Perform, collaborate and record with artists at the top of the field.