About Holly Strings Youth Orchestra

AsheLee has been teaching music for over twenty-five years, both privately and in public school. She earned a Bachelor of Music in cello performance at East Carolina University (NC), and continued Masters studies in cello performance at Converse College (SC), as well as American University in Washington, DC, where her focus was on Arts Administration. 

Her career began in Wilmington, NC, where she was a middle school string orchestra teacher and private cello instructor at the Wilmington Academy of Music. 

She decided to explore her passion for arts administration and soon moved to Washington, DC. While there she worked as communications manager for the American String Teachers Association, and for several years was the editor of a scholarly music journal, American String Teacher. After leaving ASTA, she relocated to New York where she performed in various orchestras and chamber music groups, and founded music studios in Brooklyn and Maplewood, New Jersey.

In 2017, she and her family settled down in North Carolina where she leads a music school located in Holly Springs. AsheLee has performed with chamber ensembles and orchestras, including the Brooklyn Community Symphony Orchestra, Long Bay Symphony, and Wilmington Symphony Orchestra. Professional associations include Music Teachers National Association and the American String Teachers Association. 

Violinist Anna Black was recently named Assistant Concertmaster of the North Carolina Symphony, a position she assumed in the spring of 2023. She has previously served as the Lansing Symphony Orchestra concertmaster and the National Repertory Orchestra co-concertmaster.  

Anna has appeared as a soloist with the North Carolina Symphony in their summer season, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Brevard Music Festival Orchestra, the Idaho Civic Symphony, the Meridian Symphony Orchestra and the Boise Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. She has performed as concertmaster with the Adrian Symphony Orchestra, and has served as concertmaster and principal second violin of the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra and assistant concertmaster of the Aspen Festival Orchestra. Anna has performed chamber music alongside distinguished performers, including Robert McDuffie, Lawrence Dutton, and the Cavani String Quartet.  

Anna completed her Master’s Degree at the University of Michigan, where she studied with Professor Fabiola Kim. She graduated from the McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University as a student of Amy Moretti, David Kim, and Robert McDuffie. 

Anna Black performs on a violin by Camillo Camilli, 1745, courtesy of Guarneri Hall NFP and Darnton & Hersh Fine Violins, Chicago.