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. As a Suzuki teacher, she leads a full studio of cellists in the Nashville area, as well as a studio in Huntsville.

MaryGrace founded the Nashville Chamber Music Society, which is a 501(c)(3) organization and performs on a regular basis with NashvilleCMS in a variety of spaces for a variety of audiences. In summer 2024, summer, MaryGrace taught at Stringtime in DC, a festival for young musicians, and previously served as a faculty member and performer for Lincoln Center’s Restart Stages series for BridgeMusik in NYC. She regularly records in Nashville for scoring companies such as Sony, Bungee, Hulu, and Netflix, and enjoys coaching NashvilleCMS program chamber groups. She performed with the McDuffie Center for Strings in Carnegie Hall, as Young Artist for The Rome Chamber Music Festival in Italy and recorded orchestrally under Philip Glass’s Orange Mountain Music label which The Wall Street Journal reviewed as, “impeccably polished.”

MaryGrace’s studies include a master’s degree from The Cleveland Institute of Music in Cello Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy, and an undergraduate degree from The Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University. She spent summers at The National Repertory Orchestra, Meadowmount School of Music, Brevard Music Festival, Chautauqua Summer Institute, and the Aspen Music Festival and School as a New Horizon’s fellow. Past influential teachers include Dr. Melissa Kraut, Hans Jørgen Jensen, Julie Albers, Dr. Felix Wang, and Anne Hall Williams.

MaryGrace lives in Huntsville with her husband Blake and their dog, Cooper. They all love the outdoors and she attempts to keep up with Blake via hiking, biking, skiing, or running.