Executive Director of the Friends of DaPonte String Quartet (FDSQ) Amy MacDonald is stepping down this month after six years at the helm in order to pursue other endeavors.

Amy was the first executive director of the non-profit. FDSQ was created in 1995 to support the work of the string quartet, which had moved to Maine from Phildadelphia on a temporary rural residency grant and then decided to stay in the state. Since she was hired in 2012, the organization has seen great growth and the Quartet has significantly expanded its presence in Maine and elsewhere. FDSQ went from a budget of $190,000 to $320,000. The Quartet went from playing in two Maine counties to playing in all 16, performing with world-class guest artists and composers, touring from Washington to Florida as well as abroad, and implementing plans for a new international center for string quartet studies.

“I have loved working with the Quartet,” says MacDonald. “They are such committed artists.” She notes that they just were named by Down East Magazine readers the “Best of Maine” –band or performing artists--for the second time in four years.  

“Part of me is sad to be leaving at a time when there are so many exciting things on the horizon. But for that same reason it is the right moment to pass the baton, to bring in a new ED to take everyone to the next level of excellence.”

MacDonald is also a writer, the author of a dozen children’s books, and she is looking forward to doing more writing—as well as being able to attend DaPonte concerts as an audience member.

FDSQ has performed a national search for MacDonald’s successor and will be announcing the name of the new ED in the coming weeks