Lindsay Halford is the fine arts coordinator for Rutherford County Schools. She has also served as an elementary general music teacher and middle school band director. Halford holds degrees in music education from Middle Tennessee State University and a doctorate in learning organizations and strategic change from Lipscomb University. She advocates daily for arts education and supporting the teachers that provide this vital work in schools.
Michele Henry is division director and a professor of music education at Baylor University, where she teaches music education courses, supervises student teachers, and oversees the music education program. Specializing in vocal sight-reading instruction and assessment, Henry is the co-author of the Level Up! sight- reading series, which focuses on a systematic approach to individualized sight-reading instruction and assessment.
Sarah Hankins is a director, actor, teacher, and theatre administrator with a strong focus on collaboration, physical theatre, and heightened language. She recently joined the Tennessee Shakespeare Company as the manager of education and outreach. Hankins was recently the artistic director at Triad Stage, a professional regional theater in North Carolina, and previously she was a freelance theater artist in New York City. She has taught theater education programs from Maine to Florida, for students ranging from kindergarten to college, including teaching and directing at Greensboro College and Guilford College.
Amanda Pintore is a director, choreographer, and educator focusing on movement, dance education, devised theatre, and creating theatre and dance performances with and for children. She also specializes in arts integration, creative facilitation strategies, and training in teaching artistry. She is a Fulbright specialist, and in the fall of 2023 she collaborated with students and faculty at the Atlantic Technological University in Ireland.
Hannah Sorrells-Tyler
Hannah Sorrells-Tyler is a violinist from Asheville, North Carolina, and now resides in Nashville. She received her bachelor degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and performed in the the St. Olaf Orchestra under Steven Amundson. She earned her master’s degree from Belmont University while serving as concertmaster of the Belmont Symphony. Sorrells-Tyler has performed in venues all over the world including the Grand Ole Opry, Carnegie Hall, St. Thomas’s Church in Leipzig, Germany, and the Kennedy Center. She is first violinist in La Vie Quartet, a chamber ensemble she founded in 2017, which performs the highest caliber repertoire of classical string quartets, current Top 40's arrangements, and beyond. Sorrells-Tyler started the Opus Project, which attempts to connect classical music to common human experience. Through music-making and performing, she desires to allow people to be in touch with themselves, and with something much greater.
Gabija Žilinskaitė
A native of Fort Mill, South Carolina, Gabija Žilinskaitė attended Vanderbilt University where she earned a double major in violin performance and psychology. She received the Linde B. Wilson Scholarship and the Jean Keller Heard Prize for musical excellence. Under the instruction of Stephen Miahky, she enjoyed many performance opportunities, including appearances with the Vanderbilt Symphony Orchestra and the Vanderbilt Opera. A resident of Nashville, Žilinskaitė frequently plays as a substitute section violinist in the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared with the Nashville Chamber Music Society and regularly performs in the greater Nashville area. Žilinskaitė works full time at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders as a research analyst. She hopes to attend graduate school for child psychology and enjoys sharing music with children at the Vanderbilt Acorn and at the W.O. Smith Music School.
Samuel Bender
Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, violist Samuel Bender attended Vanderbilt University where he earned a double major in music and computer science. A recipient of the Dean's Honor and the Laura Kemp Goad Scholarships. While at Vanderbilt, Bender used his time to further realize his aspirations as both a musician and tech nerd. His former primary teachers include Kathryn Plummer, Daniel Reinker, and John Kochanowski. Bender has spent multiple summers at both the Brevard Music Festival and the Eastern Music Festival, where he had the opportunity to work with Maestros Gerard Schwarz, José-Luis Novo, Grant Cooper, Keith Lockhart, and Ken Lam. His private instructors included Erika Eckert, Jenny Snyder Kozoroz, and Peter Chun. Currently a full time software engineer at a Nashville-based global technology firm, Bender indulges his ardor for music by pursuing as many performance and recording opportunities as his schedule will allow.
MaryGrace Bender
Cellist MaryGrace Bender is a performer, teacher, and believer in the beauty of music and the important impact it has on how we see the world. She earned an undergraduate degree from the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University and a master's degree in cello performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and she is versed in the Suzuki Method. Bender founded the Nashville Chamber Music Society and performs with the group on a regular basis in a variety of spaces for diverse audiences. She performed with the McDuffie Center for Strings in Carnegie Hall, as a Young Artist for the Rome Chamber Music Festival in Italy, and has recorded with orchestras under Philip Glass’s Orange Mountain Music label which the Wall Street Journal called, “impeccably polished.” Bender regularly records in Nashville and currently lives in Huntsville, Alabama. As a Suzuki teacher, she leads a full studio of cellists in the Nashville area, as well as a studio in Huntsville.
About The Nashville Chamber Music Society
The Nashville Chamber Music Society (NashvilleCMS) is a group of musicians dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music in Nashville and the surrounding areas. The group is currently in residence at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nashville and in Huntsville, Alabama at Tangled String Studios. As a nonprofit organization, NashvilleCMS partners with local schools, retirement homes, homeless shelters, and a variety of concert venues to bring artistic excellence and beautiful experiences to the neighboring community. The Music City Review stated, "NCMS audience members feel they are enjoying an evening of fine music with friends." NashvilleCMS is proud to bring chamber music back into smaller spaces so that both the performer and listeners interact and feel known. Performers for today’s TAA concert include Hannah Sorrells-Tyler, violin; Gabija Zilinskaite, violin; Samuel Bender, viola; MaryGrace Bender, cello.