Andrew Bellis
Andrew was born in Bournemouth (Dorset, UK). He started playing the violin at age seven, changing to the viola at fifteen when the length of his arms and the gap in the school orchestra demanded it! A good teacher, along with places in both the Hampshire and Dorset Youth Orchestras,
Renate Kwon
Renate’s connection to cellos began back in the 20th century with a senior year performance (as the vocalist) of Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5: Ária (Cantilena) for a Young Chamber Musicians Competition of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She has been not-so-secretly hoping to recreate that experience
Erica Lessie
Author of Postcards from Erica, guest curator, and researcher, Erica Lessie is a freelance cellist in the Chicago area, working in a broad range of styles across many facets of the Chicago music scene. Erica has performed on the Oprah Winfrey show with both Whitney Houston and Seal, and has
Laurence Libin
Laurence Libin is editor-in-chief of the Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, emeritus curator of musical instruments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, honorary curator of Steinway & Sons, and past president of the Organ Historical Society. Photo credit: Eileen Travell
Brenda Neece
Cello Museum founder and curator, Dr. Brenda Neece, DPhil (Oxon.), is a cellist and a researcher specializing in the history of the cello. Before starting The Cello Museum in the autumn of 2019, she worked as a freelancer and served for just over a decade as the first curator of
Jonathan Simmons
Dr. Jonathan Simmons holds a DMA from the University of North Carolina – Greensboro (UNCG) where he studied with Dr. Alex Ezerman. An international performer, Jonathan has performed at the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival in South Africa. As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras in Tennessee, North Carolina, and
Gill Tennant
Born the middle daughter of three, to parents who were superb amateur musicians, Gill began playing the cello at five years old. At ten, she was awarded an exhibition to the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music in London, where she studied weekly for 9 years. At that
