Fine's parents were both musicians; her mother played the flute and her father was a violist[citation needed] with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
For a time she gave music lessons in the small town of Schladming but left when asked to play for the funerals of Nazi war veterans, which she could not reconcile with her Jewish heritage.
In 1981 a friend invited her to try out for an orchestra in Hong Kong but she failed her audition while taken ill and found a job as a school's substitute music teacher.
For two years she served as president of the Coles County Arts Council which she helped attain nonprofit status, and in 2004 founded the Summer Strings program which created opportunities for unaffiliated musicians to play together in an orchestra setting.
[5] She has also written columns, reviews and biographies for magazines American Record Guide and Maud Powell Signature.