Cecilia Miller Cello

Knoxville cellist Cecilia Miller first picked up the cello at the age of 11. Through middle school and high school, she participated in the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra, All-State Orchestra, Governor's School for the Arts, Sonata Festival at ETSU, the Tennessee Cello Workshop, and the Youth Aliyah Concert in Oak Ridge. By her senior year of high school, she began recording and performing with Knoxville singer/songwriter Maggie Longmire.

Cecilia earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music at the University of Tennessee, where she participated in the UT Symphony Orchestra, Studio Orchestra, various chamber ensembles, and jazz ensembles. Cecilia studied privately with Dr. Wesley Baldwin, and has played in chamber groups led by Hillary Herndon, Miroslav Hristov, and Dr. Baldwin. She also studied jazz privately with bassist Rusty Holloway and and took jazz courses with Mark Boling, Keith Brown, and Greg Tardy. At the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Workshop, Cecilia studied with jazz cellist and composer David Baker. In addition, she has performed in masterclasses for Zuill Bailey, Tanya Carey, Mihai Tetel, and Norman Fischer. More recently, she completed an independent study under the direction of Wesley Baldwin that discusses the benefits that string players experience by learning improvisatory skills. She has given presentations about string players and improvisation at the Tennessee Cello Workshop and at the Tennessee Music Education conference.

Cecilia has written and recorded cello parts with a variety of bands, including Los Angeles band Little Red Lung, Senryu, Maggie Longmire, United Pursuit Band, and St. Louis folk duo Dubb Nubb. She has has also performed with Jack Rentfro and the Apocalypso Quartet, RB Morris, the Lonetones, Tim Lee 3, Kukuly and the Gypso Fuego, Stars Regardless, Hardwood Glamour, and a variety of small jazz ensembles.

Currently, she teaches private cello lessons at the Community School for the Arts in Knoxville, which was named "one of the top arts- and humanities-based programs in the country" by the National Endowment of the Arts, and at Morelock Music.