Working musicians who teach

Sara Maria Blanton is the founder and Executive Director of the Raleigh Music Collective. She holds a B.M. in violin performance and music education from Christopher Newport University.

She studied under Yun Zhang, associate concertmaster of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and served three years as concertmaster of the CNU University Orchestra. She won the CNU Concerto Competition performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor.

She performs with The Raleigh Symphony and the Durham Symphony, teaches private lessons, and is a certified Bornoff Level I instructor.

A Chicago native, Julius Adams is a second-year fellow with the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle’s inaugural string quartet fellowship. He completed a one-year section viola position with the Kansas City Symphony.

He performs with symphonies across multiple states, and his performance venues include Carnegie Hall and Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts.

He earned an M.M. in viola performance from the University of Cincinnati in 2021 and a B.M. from the University of Illinois in 2019, studying under Dr. Catharine Lees and Liz Frievogel.

Born in Virginia Beach, Helena Bandy began violin at age four and piano shortly after. She holds a B.M. and M.M. from Baylor University in violin performance, and also studied voice, piano, and improvisation.

As a chamber musician she has performed works by Bartók, Messiaen, Shostakovich, Ewazen, and Stravinsky, and has appeared with the Waco, Abilene, and Temple Symphony Orchestras.

She is also a jazz performer and a founding member and songwriter of the folk/jazz bands Medicine Man and Days & Nights. A recent member of the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, she teaches violin and piano at the High Strung School of Music and the Community Music School of Raleigh.

Matthew Holt is a former NC public school educator with seven years of experience, including roles as Associate Director of Orchestras at Durham School of the Arts and Director of Orchestras at Pinecrest High School.

He is principal cellist for the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra and cellist for the Triangle String Quartet. He holds a B.M. from Susquehanna University and an M.M. from UNC Greensboro, and received the NC Symphony Musicians Award in 2020.

He also serves as Music Director at NewHope Church in Durham.

Jean Bynum is a violin and viola teacher and freelance performer from the D.C. area. She holds a B.M. from UNC Chapel Hill and an M.M. from UNC Greensboro, both in violin performance, and studied under Richard Luby and Rachel Huang.

She settled in Durham in 2010 and teaches violin, cello, and beginning guitar at Atlas International School in Raleigh.

She performs with the Raleigh Symphony, the Durham Symphony, and the Tar River Orchestra, plays for weddings, and maintains a private studio.

Born in San Fernando, Venezuela, Maria Fernanda Rodriguez was introduced to cello at age nine through El Sistema. She studied at the Simón Bolívar Music Conservatory in Puerto La Cruz with María Oropeza and was principal cellist of the Regional Youth Orchestra and the Cantaura Symphony for four years.

She began teaching at sixteen, attended the Academia Latinoamericana de Violoncello in 2014, and studied in Caracas under Francy Vásquez while studying Modern Languages.

She received the President’s International Quartet Scholarship at Western Illinois University in 2020 and earned a B.M. in Music Performance with a Music Business minor in 2024. She performs with the Raleigh and Durham Symphonies.

Corrie Tew holds a B.A. in Music Education with a focus on orchestral instruction from UNC Greensboro. She teaches at Poe Elementary School in Wake County and is a private teacher at the Dunn School of Music.

She previously taught for ten years at Culbreth Middle School and Chapel Hill High School, as well as at Raleigh Charter High School and multiple elementary schools.

She is co-director for the Raspberry Ridge Strings Camp and an instructor for Meredith College, the RMC Summer Camp, and UNCG programs. She performs for weddings with Dean’s Duets, performed with the Durham Symphony for eleven years, and serves as the Eastern Region Orchestra Chair for NCMEA.

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Beideth Briceño began cello at age ten through El Sistema and joined the Simón Bolívar Music Conservatory at fourteen.

She joined the Caracas Youth Symphonic Orchestra at fourteen, won the principal cello position at sixteen, and held it for ten years. In 2009 she toured the United States and Europe with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra under Gustavo Dudamel.

She graduated from the conservatory in 2011 with Francy Vásquez and studied with Germán Marcano at the Mozarteum Caracas in 2012. She also holds a law degree from Santa María University (2014) and a music degree with distinction from the Royal College Association (2015).