Amanda Turner is an accomplished orchestral educator in the Charlotte region. She is entering her 23rd year of teaching at both Ardrey Kell and East Mecklenburg High Schools.  Amanda began her educational career in Greensboro, NC after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a Bachelor in Music Education in 1998.  She was the interim director of orchestras at Grimsley High School and Kiser Middle School.  The highlight of her tenure at Grimsley was conducting Shostakovich’s Festive Overture with full orchestra on stage for Grimsley’s Centennial celebration.  In the fall of 1999, Amanda moved to Charlotte, teaching middle and high school orchestra at McClintock Middle School and East Mecklenburg High School.  Under her direction, these orchestras grew from 30 to 100 students in just a few years.  In 2006, Amanda left McClintock to start the orchestra program at Ardrey Kell High School while continuing to stay at East Mecklenburg.  Since teaching at Ardrey Kell, the orchestra program has grown from 50 to 250 students in 10 years.  During her tenure at both schools, Amanda also received both her Master’s in Music Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and awarded National Board Certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (2005 and 2008 respectively).  Her orchestras have received superior ratings at Music Performance Adjudication as well as taken successful trips to Boston, Chicago, New York and Florida.  Both schools have performed at the NC Music Educators Conference in Winston-Salem; East Mecklenburg in fall 2007 and Ardrey Kell in fall 2018.  East Mecklenburg performed on the Blumenthal stage in Charlotte for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent in fall 2012.  The Ardrey Kell Orchestra performed in the Charlotte Concerts' "A Musical Showcase", also on the Blumenthal stage, in April 2019.  In the fall of 2020, the North Carolina Orchestra Educators awarded the Western Region Orchestra Director of the Year to Mrs. Turner.

 

Students in her ensembles have been chosen to participate in many auditioned orchestras, including the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Honors Orchestra, the Junior Western Region Orchestra, the Senior Western Region Orchestra, the North Carolina Honors All-State Orchestra and the NAfME Honors All-National Orchestra. She has served as a guest clinician/conductor for the Western Regional Repertory Orchestra (NC), Junior Western Region Honors Orchestra (NC), Junior Eastern Region Honors Orchestra (NC), Buncombe (NC), Onslow (NC), New Hanover (NC), Robeson (NC), Rock Hill (SC), and Winston-Salem Forsyth (NC) All-County Orchestras, the South Carolina Region 1 Junior Orchestra, UNCG Summer Music Camp and Charleston Southern University Summer Music Camp. 

 

Amanda serves on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' professional development cadre to work to create meaningful professional development opportunities for CMS Orchestra teachers. She also performs as a freelance violist and working as a clinician with various school orchestras. Amanda holds professional memberships as a member of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), North Carolina Music Educators Association (NCMEA), and the American String Teachers Association (ASTA). She is the past NC Orchestra Division Chair for NCMEA. Mrs. Turner has been a free-lance violist in the Charlotte area for two decades and currently performs as a section violist with the Union Symphony Orchestra. She has taught violin and viola privately for 23 years. Outside of teaching, Amanda enjoys yoga, spending time with her husband, Chad, a band director and free-lance trombonist, their beautiful children, daughter Addison, son Asher, and dog Bella.