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.

Originally from Lancaster, PA, Hanna Pederson is a violist and teacher in the Madison, WI area. Hanna is a member of the Madison Symphony viola section, performs frequently with many orchestras around the midwest such as the Illinois Philharmonic, and recently served as guest principal viola of the Elmhurst Symphony. She has performed with orchestras in Carnegie Hall, The Cleveland Orchestra’s Blossom Music Center, Chicago Symphony Center’s Orchestra Hall, and Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion with conductors such as Ken-David Masur, Brett Mitchell, Leonard Slatkin, and Larry Rachleff. 

Hanna’s recent chamber music performances include faculty member at Manitou Springs Chamber Music Festival, guest violist with the KAIA String Quartet, and guest violist with Crossing Borders Music. Alongside her performance calendar she maintains extensive educational activities including teaching private lessons and group classes through WYSO’s Music Makers, maintaining her own private teaching studio, and coaching chamber music for WYSO’s Chamber Music Program and Manitou Chamber Music Festival.  

Hanna’s primary teachers include Ivo-Jan van der Werff and Katherine Murdock. She has also had significant studies with Li-Kuo Chang, Peter Slowik, Joan DerHovsepian, Daniel Foster, and Caroline Coade. She is a recent alum of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and holds degrees from Rice University and the University of Maryland.