I was born and raised in Belleville, Illinois, a small farming community east of St. Louis. My three brothers and I all played the cello (!), but only I went on to earn a Bachelor’s (Illinois), Master’s (Yale), and Doctorate (Cleveland Institute of Music).
I met my future husband, Glenn, at Yale, who is from the Boston area, and we ended up halfway between our two origins, in Cleveland. Here we’ve raised our four children and I’ve established a career in “all things cello.” I’ve been a gigging musician (weddings, etc.); a section cellist for the Cleveland Opera, the Cleveland Ballet, Red (an orchestra), and the Ohio Chamber Orchestra; cellist for three decades in the Britt Festival Orchestra (in Oregon); a private studio teacher (I won the 2002 “Studio/Private Teacher of the Year” from the Ohio String Teachers Association); an institutional teacher at The Music Settlement, Cleveland Institute of Music, Case Western Reserve University , and Cleveland and Shaker schools); the co-founder and for many years Executive Director of the Cleveland Cello Society (CCS); and most recently, a pedagogue (a teacher of teachers) in the Paul Rolland method of string playing.
Throughout all this I have tried to adhere to a high standard of professionalism. I define being a professional as always playing or teaching to the best of my abilities, regardless of the setting (from church basement to concert hall), level of the student (from uninterested to devoted), pay (sometimes it’s just a plate of food with the other guests!), or type of piece (from pop tunes to Prokofiev). I owe this to my students and to my audience.
And as you can see, I am devoted to the cello. I have noticed over the years that this instrument, with its range so similar to that of the human voice, easily lends itself to forming a sense of community between players and listeners: fans of the cello flock together! And so, through the CCS and the schools, I have always tried to reach out to any and all communities in northeast Ohio, sharing with them guest artists from Dave Brubeck to Janos Starker, and music from Disney to Debussy. It all seems to work.
I’ve traveled the world with Glenn (residing for longer or shorter times in Copenhagen, London, Edinburgh, and elsewhere); remain a devoted mother to our four wonderful (now adult) children (Nik, Natalie, Whitney, and Ian); and am a gardening enthusiast. I also LOVE dogs and have walked our pooches many hundreds of miles over the past four decades. (If I have a life motto, it is: “Be the person your dog thinks you are.”)
If you’re interested in anything cello, please reach out to me. I’m always eager to add another member to the cello community!