Due to the uncertainty of COVID-19, dates and times are subject to change.
Ms. Maeanna Naffe is an active violinist and instructor in the Pensacola area. She began studying the violin in 2001 at the age of 11 in her Orchestra program at Bellview Middle School. In 2007, Naffe began formal studies with violinist and professor Dr. Leonid Yanovskiy, concertmaster of the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra and the head of the Department of Strings at the University of West Florida. She obtained her Bachelor's in Music at UWF in 2015. She has also studied with numerous other teachers, including Kimberly Fisher, Principal Second Violinist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, at the Philadelphia International Music Festival in Miami, and with Carmelo de los Santos at the Festival Internacional Música no Pampa (FIMP) in Bagé, Brazil.
Naffe performs in the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra, Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, Pensacola Opera, and the Mobile Symphony Orchestra. Naffe performed as the the First Violinist for the St. Paul Ensemble from 2010-2012 during St Paul's Summer Chamber Music Series. This ensemble went on to perform at several venues in the Pensacola area, including UWF and Pensacola State College. Naffe has premiered several original solo and chamber music compositions by C. W. Powell, including String Quartet No. 1 and Mass for 9, and composer Matthew Fossa's Violin Sonata at Composer Fest XV at PSC in 2019. She is a soloist with her friends in the annual Tidings of Comfort & Joy concert series hosted by WUWF at First United Methodist Church, and performs chamber music and recitals with her friends in numerous ensembles in and around the Gulf Coast area. She also performed with the local group White Tie Rock Ensemble from 2015 to 2016 and from 2017 to 2019.
In addition to teaching with the Escambia County School District, Naffe maintains a small music school, The Academy of Pensacola, where she teaches free of charge to promising local students seeking a career in violin, viola, cello, and bass performance, and she enjoys coaching for local string youth orchestras, camps and festivals. Ms. Naffe also enjoys writing and arranging her own music for students at Brown Barge Middle School.
When she is not teaching or rehearsing, Naffe spends her time traveling the world or playing in the outdoors, gardening, kayaking, and hiking with her friends, family and two Australian Shepherds.