Andrea Kemper Quinn has been the Director of Orchestras & Piano Programs at James Island Charter High School since 2007. She began teaching Unified Music to our special needs students in 2023. The Piano program was established in 2008 and has grown to be the largest, most successful non-magnet Piano program in South Carolina. The Orchestra Program recently received straight Superior ratings at the 2018 and 2020 SC State Music Performance Assessment. She spent ten years teaching Chorus at JICHS from 2007-2017 and saw enrollment more than triple under her direction. Quinn was the Fine Arts and Performing Arts Chair from 2015-2023 where the music and drama programs expanded their course offerings. She has been a finalist several times for Teacher of the Year at JICHS.

A native of Miami, Florida, Quinn completed her Masters in  Educational Leadership degree from the University of New England in the summer of 2023. She has her Master's Degree in Music Education from the University of South Carolina where she was the Graduate Assistant of the USC String Project. Quinn earned a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education with a double principal in piano and cello from the University of Miami. She has studied cello with Dr. Robert Jesselson, Natalia Khoma, and Ross Harbaugh. She has studied piano with the late Dr. Teresa Escandon and Celia Rodriguez. Quinn is a graduate of Dutch Fork High School in Irmo, SC.

Quinn is currently the President of the SCMEA Piano Division and is active in the SCMEA division where she has been helping to support existing and growing piano programs in the state since she was Future President from 2020-2023. She is a member of the Lambda Kappa Psi Music Honors Society. She has taught two levels of String Orchestra, IB Music, Piano 1-4 Honors, and Unified Music at the high school level. She taught middle school Chorus, Orchestra, and Guitar as well as Elementary Strings and General Music in her more than 21 years as a music educator.  Although the successes are many, Quinn’s main goal is to instill a love for music in her students and to become lifelong appreciators of the performing arts.

Quinn appears as featured solo cellist throughout the Charleston area in a multitude of settings and is known for her classical-style playing as well as her ability to improvise in a less standard setting. Quinn has been the Guest Conductor for the Beaufort and Berkeley All County Middle School Orchestras as well as being selected several times as the Large Cello Choir clinician for the SC Cello Choir event held at USC and the College of Charleston. Quinn has served as an adjudicator at several orchestra festivals as well. Quinn currently is a member of James Island Presbyterian Church where she volunteers her time performing as their cello soloist often and sings Alto in the Chancel Choir. She is married to John Quinn of Charleston, SC, enjoys traveling, spending time with family, and being with her sweet dog Fiona.