This is Kathy Hart’s twenty-sixth season conducting the Sinfonia Orchestra. She is also the General Manager for the Youth Orchestra Association.  During her tenure, the ensembles have grown from three orchestras serving 120 students to six orchestras serving over 350 students.  As a high school student, she was a violinist in the KSYO when her family moved to Knoxville in the 1980’s. 

Kathy began her music connection with the Suzuki Method as a violin student in Western New York State.  Her environment was filled with a great deal of love and support from family and teachers.  She graduated from the University of Tennessee with a concentration in Suzuki Pedagogy. 

Kathy directs Hart-Strings, a violin ensemble with students 4 through 18 years old who perform several times throughout the community each year. 

She created the youth orchestra’s annual string camp program with 15 string students and one assistant.  String Camp has served over 3600 students since 1994.

Kathy is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Tennessee where she teaches the String Methods courses and assists string education majors in field experience and observation, she also helps organize the Violin Festival through the School of Music.  She has volunteered with several school string programs, and was instrumental in bringing the orchestra program back to Bearden High School in 1998.  Kathy has also been a guest conductor for ETSBOA, has had a student selected in the National Youth Orchestra of the USA and has been recognized seven times with an Outstanding Teacher Award from the state of Tennessee Governor’s School of the Arts.  In 2020, she was honored as a finalist in the YWCA’s Tribute to Women.