The Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University, led by Director Amy Schwartz Moretti, prepares exceptional musicians for success in the real world. Students from around the world learn from and perform side-by-side with an unparalleled faculty of international performing artists. After just 10 years of graduates matriculating into the professional ranks of classical music, McDuffie students have won top prizes at the Hong Kong Generation Next Arts International Competition, the Gaspar Cassado International Cello Competition in Tokyo, the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competition, Brevard Music Festival Concerto Competition, and have been laureates in the Tchaikovsky (Moscow) and Queen Elizabeth (Brussels) competitions.

Many have gone on to join top symphony orchestras around the world, including first violin with the Berlin Philharmonic, principal bass with the Helsingborgs Symfoniorkester in Sweden, and principal violin with the San Francisco Symphony, as well as positions with the St. Louis, Houston, Nashville, Charlotte, North Carolina and Phoenix orchestras. McDuffie alumni are performing exciting new music with established and up-and-coming chamber groups (Shanghai Quartet, Collectif9, Ivala Quartet, Invoke), while others have used their entrepreneurial training to create their own music nonprofits (Hawaii Chamber Music Festival, Nashville Chamber Music Society, Concert Music Outreach Collective, Whole Soul Music) and promote themselves on social media.

The McDuffie Center String Ensemble is comprised of undergraduate students and Artist Diploma candidates. The group performs standard classical repertoire as well as works by contemporary artists such as Philip Glass and John Adams, and has performed at venues across the country, including Carnegie Hall. The ensemble also partners with musicians from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, presenting four Macon-Mercer Symphony Orchestra concerts each year.