|
|
About Cassie Olson
Cassie began her formal cello studies a bit later than most musicians - at the age of 16 - with the full intention of going into the sciences as her career. But not long after starting college at the University of Utah, she began to see cello performance as her true calling. She switched majors and began to study privately with Utah Symphony members Steve Emerson and John Eckstein, and chamber music with the late Misha Boguslavsky, a founding member of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra.
Upon graduation, Cassie moved to New York City and continued her studies at the Manhattan School of Music. She earned a Masters Degree in Cello Performance as one of only a few cellists admitted into the Orchestral Performance Program that year. While there she studied with Alan Stepansky (former Assistant Principal Cello, New York Philharmonic) and Margo Tatgenhorst-Drakos (formerly with the American String Quartet and Pittsburgh Symphony), and chamber music with members of the Emerson and American String Quartets. Orchestral highlights include working with Kurt Masur and Pinchas Zukerman, and training with members of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
Cassie has participated in many summer festivals and other orchestral programs, including the National Orchestral Institute, the "MMCJ" Festival outside of Tokyo Japan, the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival and was a substitute member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida. She has had the honor of working with such artists and conductors as Kurt Masur, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Naoto Otomo, Joseph Silverstein, Keith Lockhart, Thierry Fischer, Gerard Schwarz, Larry Lesser and Philip Setzer, Ron Leonard, Robert Mann, Marc Johnson, Steve Doane and Pinchas Zukerman, to name a few.
An active freelance musician in Salt Lake City, Cassie is also currently the Associate Principal Cello of the Ballet West Orchestra. She also performs with various ensembles including the Utah Symphony, Sinfonia Salt Lake and the Utah Chamber Artists, the Intermezzo Chamber Series, as well as with various touring artists and as a soloist for many recording studios in the area. Cassie teaches privately, conducts cello sectionals for the Utah Youth Symphony and is on the performing arts faculty of The Waterford School in Sandy, Utah, where she wrangles the 50+ cellists currently enrolled there.
A native of Salt Lake City, Cassie enjoys paper target archery, snowshoeing, gardening, participating in environmental and social causes, and being a mom to her little zoo of adorable pets.
Upon graduation, Cassie moved to New York City and continued her studies at the Manhattan School of Music. She earned a Masters Degree in Cello Performance as one of only a few cellists admitted into the Orchestral Performance Program that year. While there she studied with Alan Stepansky (former Assistant Principal Cello, New York Philharmonic) and Margo Tatgenhorst-Drakos (formerly with the American String Quartet and Pittsburgh Symphony), and chamber music with members of the Emerson and American String Quartets. Orchestral highlights include working with Kurt Masur and Pinchas Zukerman, and training with members of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
Cassie has participated in many summer festivals and other orchestral programs, including the National Orchestral Institute, the "MMCJ" Festival outside of Tokyo Japan, the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival and was a substitute member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida. She has had the honor of working with such artists and conductors as Kurt Masur, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Naoto Otomo, Joseph Silverstein, Keith Lockhart, Thierry Fischer, Gerard Schwarz, Larry Lesser and Philip Setzer, Ron Leonard, Robert Mann, Marc Johnson, Steve Doane and Pinchas Zukerman, to name a few.
An active freelance musician in Salt Lake City, Cassie is also currently the Associate Principal Cello of the Ballet West Orchestra. She also performs with various ensembles including the Utah Symphony, Sinfonia Salt Lake and the Utah Chamber Artists, the Intermezzo Chamber Series, as well as with various touring artists and as a soloist for many recording studios in the area. Cassie teaches privately, conducts cello sectionals for the Utah Youth Symphony and is on the performing arts faculty of The Waterford School in Sandy, Utah, where she wrangles the 50+ cellists currently enrolled there.
A native of Salt Lake City, Cassie enjoys paper target archery, snowshoeing, gardening, participating in environmental and social causes, and being a mom to her little zoo of adorable pets.