About Cellista

Los Angeles-based Cellista is a composer and aerialist specializing in static trapeze.

She creates stage poems (narrative multimedia works) after those of the artist Jean Cocteau, which juxtapose seemingly disparate elements.

Her stage poems are acts of resistance art; investigating the ruptures of daily life. They are politically concerned, observant, and revealing; breaking down the borders between audiences and performers, disciplines, and genres. 

Fresh off her 2021 Lincoln Center debut, Cellista is a sought after collaborator. She has worked with Grammy-nominated artist Tanya Donelly, producer John Vanderslice, Troyboi, Don McLean, Casey Crescenzo (The Dear Hunter), Van Dyke Parks, Tony! Toni! Toné! and Pam the Funkstress.

Her compositions and performances have been heard on film and TV including PBS; She has appeared as an extra on the TV shows Better Things and Will & Grace playing her cello. Most recently, she composed music for the true-crime reality show The Real Murders of Orange County.

Her interdisciplinary exhibit The End of Time premiered alongside renowned visual artist Barron Storey’s solo exhibit Quartet at Anno Domini art gallery in downtown San Jose with her chamber music collective the Juxtapositions Chamber Ensemble.

Her stage poem Pariah, was released in Fall of 2021. The operatic fairy tale received critical acclaim. It features a companion book by the philosopher Frank Seeburger. It explores themes of othering and exile within our communities. 

She is a former chapter governor of the Recording Academy(GRAMMYs) and a former San Jose arts commissioner. She received a masters in business from the Berklee College of Music in 2020. She is the founding artistic director of House of Cellista in Longmont, CO; a micro-center for the arts which advocates and offers subsidized housing to working artists.

She is currently at work on Élégie, a stage poem for static trapeze, silent film, and cello.

Cellista plays a Luis & Clarke carbon fibre cello and an 1885 Czech cello named Chordelia.