Adult Chamber Music Intensive

A one-of-a-kind program for chamber music lovers

January 10 to 12 at the Natalie Haslam Music Center

With the support of the Associated Chamber Music Players (ACMP) we are extremely excited to launch our first Adult Chamber Music Intensive. Intended as a space for amateur chamber music players with a deep love for chamber music that want to go back to rehearsing and performing at their highest level. The activities will take place at the Natalie Haslam Music Center at the College of Music, and will involve master classes, individual lessons, rehearsals, coaching and concerts with faculty.

Meet our faculty

Sarah Ringer - violin
Knoxville Symphony

Sarah Ringer is a performer and educator dedicated to chamber music. She performs with the Inner Voices String Quartet and Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and regularly appears in local series like Friends of Music and the Arts. In addition to private teaching, she has coached student ensembles at Covenant College and worked with the Knoxville Symphony Youth Chamber Music Program and Tasmania's Residential Summer String Camp.

Ringer holds a Master of Music in Violin Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy from the Hartt School in Hartford, CT.

Eric Wong - viola
Vanderbilt University

Eric Wong has performed at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Koerner Hall, and appeared at the Aspen Ideas Festival. A committed quartet musician, he has played with the Afiara and Cavani String Quartets and co-founded the award-winning Linden String Quartet. The quartet received numerous accolades, including the Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition Grand Prize. Additionally, they earned the Coleman-Barstow Prize and ProQuartet Prize, and Wong was awarded a 2011 A.N. and Pearl G. Barnett Fellowship for his contributions.

Hillary Herndon - viola
University of Tennessee

Hillary Herndon (viola) has earned a national reputation for her brilliant playing, “sweetly soaring tone” (Time Out New York), and insightful teaching. She has been heard on NPR and PBS and has collaborated with some of the world’s foremost artists, including Itzhak Perlman, who described Hillary as “having it all… a gifted teacher and an excellent musician.” Ms. Herndon teaches at the University of Tennessee, the Viola Winter Intensive and is the director of Daraja Strings in Moshi, Tanzania. Her recordings are available on MSR Classics. Herndon holds degrees from Eastman and Juilliard and is former President of the American Viola Society.

Eileen Downey - piano
University of Tennessee

Eileen Downey is Vocal Coach and Distinguished Lecturer of Collaborative Piano at the University of Tennessee, frequently collaborating with Knoxville Opera. In 2023, she joined SongFest faculty at Vanderbilt and served as opera coach at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. She was a clinician for the National Association of Teachers of Singing and adjudicated the Mid-South NATSAA competition. An alumna of the Merola Opera Program, she has participated in programs such as Opera North and Aspen Opera Theater. Downey holds degrees in Piano Performance and Collaborative Piano from Michigan State University.

Meghan Berindean - cello
Austin Peay University

Cellist Meghan Berindean is acclaimed for her tone and technique, earning recognition as both performer and teacher. She has appeared as a soloist with the Northerntier Symphony, Austin Peay Symphony, and Florida State Symphony orchestras. In the 2019-2020 season, she performed Jacques Ibert's Concerto for Cello with the Gateway Chamber Orchestra. Berindean coordinates the string chamber music program at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival and joined the faculty of the String Quartet Institute at Bay View Music Festival in 2019. She is highly regarded for her chamber music expertise.