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Violinist Miroslav Hristov was hailed by Fanfare Magazine for his “razor sharp technique” and a “full palette of tonal colors.” He presents master classes and performs extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has performed in several international festivals and concert series, including the Musical Treasures series in Carnegie Hall, the Interharmony International Music Festival in Arcidosso, Italy, the Sofia Music Weeks International Festival, the Balabanov House Music Days, the Big Arts Concert Series in Florida, and the Fredell Lack Series in Houston, Texas. Recent performances include solo and chamber performances in the national recital halls of Taiwan and Singapore. Hristov was First Prize winner of the Dobrin Petkov International Violin Competition and a prize winner for the MTNA Collegiate String Performance Competition.

Hristov has recorded for Centaur Records, Romeo Records, Blue Griffin Records, the Divine Arts Record label, Bulgarian National Radio and WUOT Knoxville. His recordings have been broadcast on NPR stations across the country. As part of the internationally-acclaimed Kaleidos Duo with pianist, Vladimir Valjarevic, Dr. Hristov’s recordings and performances have received rave reviews from The Strad Magazine, Fanfare, DUMA (Sofia, Bulgaria), and Lucid Culture (New York).

Hristov has presented his research on Eastern European pedagogical methods for violin at conferences around the world, including the International College Music Society Conference, the American String Teachers Association National Conference, and the Music Teachers National Association Conference. A dedicated teacher, his students have won numerous competitions, and many hold prestigious scholarships and professional appointments. Recent teaching awards include the 2014 Tennessee Music Teachers Association Teacher of the Year, the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts Outstanding Teacher Award, and the University of Tennessee School of Music’s Faculty Distinguished Teaching Award.

Miroslav Hristov is also Founder and Director of the University of Tennessee’s Ready for the World Music Series, which brings renowned artists to perform and talk about musical styles and literature from diverse regions around the world, emphasizing each region’s contribution to western classical music.

For more information about Hristov, please visit his website at www.miroslavhristov.com.

Violist Hillary Herndon has earned a national reputation for her brilliant playing, insightful teaching and creative programming. She has been heard on NPR and PBS and has collaborated with some of the world’s foremost musicians, including Carol Wincenc, James VanDemark and Itzhak Perlman, who described Hillary as “having it all… a gifted teacher and an excellent musician.”

Ms. Herndon teaches at The University of Tennessee, Montecito Music Festival and the Viola Intensive Workshops.  She has recently been elected to serve on the American Viola Society Executive Board and has published teaching articles in the American String Teacher Association Journal and the Journal of the American Viola Society.  Ms. Herndon’s 2-CD set of recordings by women composers, La Viola, is on the MSR Classics label.   Ms. Herndon holds degrees from Eastman and Juilliard.

Hillary Herndon website:  www.hillaryherndon.com

This is Kathy Hart’s twenty-seventh season conducting the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra Association’s Sinfonia Orchestra. She is also the General Manager for the Youth Orchestra Association.  During her tenure, the ensembles have grown from three orchestras serving 120 students to six orchestras serving over 300 students.  As a high school student, she was a violinist in the KSYO when her family moved to Knoxville in the 1980’s.

Kathy began her music connection with the Suzuki Method in Western New York State.  Her environment was filled with a great deal of love and support from family and teachers.  She graduated from the University of Tennessee with a concentration in Suzuki Pedagogy.  Hart-Strings, her private violin studio has over 50 students ages 3-18 who perform several times in the community each year.  Many Hart-Strings violinists are KSYOA members.

She created the youth orchestra’s annual music camp program with 15 string students and one assistant.  Music Camp has served over 3600 students since 1994.

Kathy is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Tennessee where she teaches the String Methods courses and assists string education majors in field experience and observation. She has volunteered with several school string programs, and was instrumental in bringing the orchestra program back to Bearden High School in 1998.  Kathy has also been a guest conductor for ETSBOA, had students selected in the National Youth Orchestra of the USA and has been recognized eight times with an Outstanding Teacher Award from the state of Tennessee Governor’s School of the Arts.  In 2020, she was honored as a finalist in the YWCA’s Tribute to Women.

Evie Chen is an accomplished violinist from Palo Alto, California. She made her solo debut with the Fremont Symphony Orchestra at age 8 after being the youngest to win the Nafisa Taghioff Award in their Young Artists Competition. Since then, she has received recognition performing concertos with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, California Youth Symphony, Eastman Philharmonia, the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra, and the Houston Symphony Orchestra. 

In addition to having an active performing career, Evie is a passionate and engaging educator with years of experience teaching at the collegiate and studio setting. Her pedagogical philosophy prioritizes awareness of ergonomic techniques that provide students an unrestricted ability in developing their unique musical voice. As a result, her students graduate from her studio with confidence in their musical independence.  

Evie is also deeply interested in exploring new ways of bringing diverse music to new audiences, advocating for inclusive and holistic musical programming. She has inspired interest in contemporary and folk-based compositions, performing works like Einojuani Rautavaara’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1977) and premiering Erberk Erylmaz’s Violin Concerto No. 2, a piece which was written for her.

Evie received her MM at Rice University with Paul Kantor and is working towards her DMA. She also earned a BA in psychology at the University of Rochester and a BM in violin performance at the Eastman School of Music, where she was awarded the Performer’s Certificate under the tutelage of Mikhail Kopelman.

Cellist Wesley Baldwin holds degrees from Yale College, the New England Conservatory, and the University of Maryland. He performs throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia as a soloist and chamber musician. As a soloist with orchestra he has recently appeared with the Laredo Philharmonic, the Oregon Mozart Players, the Symphony of the Mountains, and the Aberdeen, Bemidji, Bryan, Chattanooga, Florence, Germantown, Johnson City, Hot Springs, Knoxville, La Porte, Oak Ridge, Manchester, New River Valley, Salisbury, Wintergreen, and Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestras, among others. His passionate and charismatic performances have been widely lauded.

An advocate for great music from all eras, Mr. Baldwin is one of the only performers of several little known and new concerti for cello, including recently those by Sollima, Wagenseil, Jacob T.V., Behzad Ranjbaran, and Alan Shulman. His recording of music for cello by Alan Shulman, released by Albany records, enjoyed widespread critical acclaim. He has also recorded for the Naxos, Zyode, and Innova labels. His most recent CD release, his fourth on the Centaur label, features the chamber music of Arthur Honegger.

Wesley was the founder of the Plymouth String Quartet, with whom he was a top prize-winner in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and a finalist in the Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition. He was also cellist of the James Piano Quartet for five years, with residencies at both Sweet Briar College and the Wintergreen Festival. Solo and chamber music performing honors Baldwin has received include the Prix Mercure, Homer Ulrich Awards, and a Tennessee Arts Commission Individual Performing Artist Fellowship.

As a member and principal cellist of the New World Symphony, Baldwin performed with many of the world’s great conductors and toured Japan, Scotland, England, Argentina, and Brazil. His orchestral colleagues there selected him as the recipient of the New World Symphony’s Community Board Award for artistic integrity and leadership. For many years Wesley served on New World Symphony regional audition committee panels throughout the U.S.

Dr. Baldwin has performed chamber music at the Aspen, Cazenovia, Hot Springs, Ojai, Sandpoint, Mainly Mozart, May in Miami, Skaneateles, and Sub-tropics Music Festivals, and internationally in Italy, France, Monte Carlo, Spain, Austria, Brazil, Argentina, the United Kingdom, and Costa Rica. In 2017 and again in 2018 he visited China, performing and teaching in Shanghai, Beijing, Xian, Nanjing, Ningbo, and other cities.

In the summers he performs and teaches at the Michigan City Chamber Music Festival, the ARIA International Academy, and at the Wintergreen Festival, where he is the principal cellist of the Wintergreen Festival Orchestra, and serves as the chair of strings of the Wintergreen Festival Academy.

Currently Professor of Cello at the University of Tennessee, where he received the Chancellor’s Award for Professional Promise, Wesley previously taught at the University of Maryland and at Florida International University, where he was artist-in-residence with the Plymouth Quartet. He. His former students play and teach throughout the United States and Malaysia, an include a 2021 Marshall Scholarship Fellow.

Dr. Baldwin’s commitment to string education extends beyond his work at the University of Tennessee. He founded and directs the Tennessee Cello Workshop, an annual three-day gathering of more than 170 cellists of all ages from throughout the United States held each February. After serving as conductor of the Knoxville Youth Chamber Orchestra for 15 years, he now serves as Director of the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra Association Chamber Music program. In Knoxville he also serves as Co-Director of the Knoxville Suzuki Academy.

Wesley lives in Knoxville with his wife, soprano Melisa Barrick Baldwin, and four wonderful children.