Mikala Schmitz ​"Hailed by San Francisco's Civic Center for her “professional and highest caliber of playing,” cellist Mikala Schmitz is an avid performer and teacher known for her versatility across genres. From Americana folk to classical, jazz, electronic, and baroque, Mikala thrives on collaboration and musical exploration.

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She has toured internationally with groups including The Last Shadow Puppets, performing for sold-out audiences across Europe, and with Tim Robbins and the Rogues Gallery Band. Her cello playing can also be heard on popular television shows such as Netflix’s Chef’s Table and HBO’s The Brink. Mikala worked extensively with Tim Robbins’s acting troupe, The Actors’ Gang, both as a performer and composer. Their productions of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the original work The New Colossus toured worldwide, reaching audiences in China, Italy, Brazil, France, Spain, and the United States. The score for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, co-written by Mikala and music director David Robbins, earned a 2014 Ovations Honors Award for Composition for a Play.

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Mikala’s formal training includes a B.M. in Cello Performance from Oberlin Conservatory, where she studied with Darrett Adkins, as well as baroque cello and viola da gamba with Catharina Meints. She went on to earn her M.M. at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Richard Weiss, assistant principal cellist of The Cleveland Orchestra, and performing with both the Case/CIM Baroque Orchestra and the Case Western Reserve Viol Consort. Her studies were further enriched by summers at major festivals such as Encore School for Strings, Aspen Music Festival and School, the Tanglewood Music Festival, and the American Bach Soloists Festival Academy. Whether performing on stage, recording in the studio, or teaching her students, Mikala brings passion, creativity, and a deep respect for the cello’s rich traditions and possibilities."