Teachers

Violinist Laura Mericle is an active orchestral and chamber musician and a committed teacher. She is a member of the violin section of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and has also performed with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Philharmonic, Dubuque Symphony, Middleton Community Orchestra, and La Crosse Symphony Orchestra in recent years. 

Laura holds a Master of Music in violin performance from the University of Wisconsin and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Barnard College in music and economics. She has attended festivals at Aspen, Green Mountain, and Manchester (VT), among others. Her principal teachers include David Perry, Peter Winograd, Rictor Noren, and Eugene Purdue. 

A dedicated educator, Laura teaches violin and viola. She directs the strings program at EAGLE School and also maintains a private studio. She is committed to supporting her students in pursuing their interests - music and otherwise - at the highest level, and in recent years her students have gone on to pursue degrees in music and other fields at the University of Wisconsin, DePaul, Juilliard, University of Rochester, Rice, Amherst College, and Yale. 

She lives in Middleton with her husband, MSO violinist Tim Kamps, and their children, Julian and Elena.

Praised for her stylistic and versatile playing, violinist Katherine Floriano is a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. Formerly, she played with the Quad Cities Symphony and served as Assistant Principal 2nd violin of the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra. During the summers Katherine has performed with the Finger Lakes Opera Orchestra, served on the teaching faculty at HIMA USA Festival in Lakeside Chautauqua, Ohio, and most recently performed at the Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival in Fairhope, Alabama.

Based in Madison, Wisconsin, Katherine is a devoted teacher and educator. She maintains a robust private studio at Eagle School in Fitchburg where she also directs the Eagle String Orchestra. Additionally she has worked with the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra serving as a chamber music, ensemble and sectionals coach.

A passionate chamber musician, Katherine has worked extensively with members of the Pacifica, Ying, and Takacs Quartets. She has attended the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Bowdoin Summer Music Festival and Italy Opera Viva. Her studies have taken her to perform throughout the United States as well as China, Singapore, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.

Originally from Rochester, New York, Katherine holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. She has studied under the tutelage of Sibbi Bernhardsson, David Bowlin and Almita and Roland Vamos.

When she’s not busy teaching or performing, Katherine enjoys cooking, reading, exercising and going on adventures with her dog Ralphy and husband Jeff.

Cellist Aaron Fried recently completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at UW-Madison, in cello performance with a jazz studies minor. His written dissertation is a jazz supplement to the Suzuki Cello School, which aims to broaden the horizons of string students through improvisation, jazz vocabulary, and repertoire by a culturally diverse array of composers. 

Aaron also holds degrees from Boston Conservatory and Kent State University, where he subsequently served as adjunct faculty for three years.

Aaron teaches at EAGLE, WYSO, and Madison Cello Ensemble, and he has performed across the region with Samtalä: Musicians in Dialogue, Midsummer's Music, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the Madison, Rockford, and La Crosse Symphonies.  Aaron is also a founder of Ensemble Aubergine, Madison's conductorless chamber orchestra that raises funds to combat food insecurity.

Sahada Buckley is a violinist, violist, and interdisciplinary artist whose career bridges performance, collaboration, education, and creative programming. Sahada is the Executive Director and Founder of The Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival, a non-profit organization based in Fairhope, AL. Sahada has collaborated with notable classical musicians including faculty from UCLA, Michigan State University, and the Pro Arte String Quartet and has performed in major venues across the United States and abroad in Brazil, London, and Singapore. Recently, Sahada has performed with groups such as Sarasota Orchestra, Present Music, Oakwood Chamber Players, Midsummers Music, and Florentine Opera. 

As well as operating a private violin/viola studio in Madison, Sahada is currently adjunct professor of violin at UW-Platteville, and a private teacher at Eagle School and for WYSO Music Makers. 

Sahada was appointed in January 2025 as a member of the Juneau Symphony in Juneau, Alaska and in September 2024 to the first violin section of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. From January 2024 until June 2026, Sahada was violist for The Ancora String Quartet. Sahada is currently Concertmaster for the World Ballet touring throughout the United States for their production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. 

Sahada and her husband, Trace Johnson, recorded the Schulhoff Duo for Violin and Cello on Parma Records which was released on CD in July 2025. Sahada received her Master of Music Degree in Violin Performance from the University of Wisconsin – Madison where she was a member of the graduate string quartet, the Marvin Rabin String Quartet. In 2026, Sahada became an active member of a new conductor-less chamber orchestra, Ensemble Aubergine, which is dedicated to fighting food insecurity within the Madison, Wisconsin area. Since 2025, Sahada and Trace have been performing with Mobile, AL based soul singer Kristy Lee. 

An avid hiker, Sahada through-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2019 with a violin in her backpack.