My story
The two things in life that inspire me the most are music and travel, and the two have conspired for me in the best of ways.
From childhood I was drawn to music, first the piano, and later settling on the cello. During this time my parents' military jobs took me from California, to Philadelphia, to Arizona, and finally to Rota, Spain, where I would spend several years learning the culture and the language.
I continued studying cello upon my return to the USA, eventually earning my Music degree from Hope College with a minor in Spanish Literature, and my post-graduate performance certificate from Wayne State University.
After college, I traveled to Tegucialpa, Honduras where I taught Honduran Civics and Spanish literature to orphaned children at the El Hogar school for Boys, and played cello for the National Symphony Orchestra of Honduras.
When I returned to Michigan from Honduras, I served as Principal Cello for the Dover Symphony Orchestra in Deleware. Later, I returned to Michigan and began playing with the Michigan Philharmonic. I expanded to play with most of the symphonies in southern Michigan, including Ann Arbor, Adrian, Saginaw, Flint, Jackson, and Dearborn.
Meanwhile I began building a private studio of cello students. My students have earned awards and scholarships to various institutions including Interlochen.
I have toured across the US many times, and three times across Japan, with artists such as the Hollywood Festival Orchestra, 'Weird' Al Yankovic, Gilbert and Sullivan, and I have performed on stage with artists such as Evanescence, Sarah McLaughlin, Richard Marx, Mannheim Steamroller, The Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and more.
My playing has been featured on several rock and hip hop albums, including The Silver Age by The Skeleton Birds, Another Time by Brae, and the Grammy Award-winning album 'And the Anonymous Nobody...' by De La Soul.