The Chapel Hill NC Music Makers Festival

I am honored to be featured as part of the Chapel Hill NC Music Makers Festival. I haven't been back to Chapel Hill in over 10 years, but I did live there for my first 17. Here's a link:

Chapel Hill NC Music Makers Festival

I wrote this short reminiscence of music in Chapel Hill for their website:

Growing up in Chapel Hill in the 80s and 90s.
Chapel Hill is well known for its combination of cosmopolitan  intellectual life and laid-back, small-town Southern charm. These qualities  certainly characterized the musical world I grew up in there during the 80’s and  90’s and created a culture of openness and curiosity in the arts. Between Suzuki  group lessons, seasonal guest teachers and conventions, youth orchestras, and summer
camps, the opportunities to play violin were considerable. Additionally,  good local musicians of all stripes were friendly and accessible, authentic  bluegrass jam sessions were held out in Orange County (if you could find them),  and most Cat’s Cradle shows were all ages. 

I am especially grateful for the 13-plus years I got to study  violin with Mary Frances Boyce. She took my ideas seriously from a very young  age and always encouraged me to focus on whatever most interested me, whether it  was composition, music history, or playing in a rock band. When I left Chapel  Hill to study at a conservatory, I met many musicians whose talent and technique  far surpassed my own but very few who had as broad musical experience or as much enthusiasm for pursuing their own creative vision—two 
traits especially cultivated by the Chapel Hill music scene.