Cellist Kate Kayaian is known for her stunning artistry and for her passion for communicating through music.  Praised for her “transcendent” performances and her “rich, soulful…and comforting” tone (The Royal Gazette), she maintains a rigorous schedule that balances solo and chamber music performances with various teaching projects.

Kate performs and records regularly with such acclaimed ensembles as the Grammy Award-winning Boston Modern Orchestra Project and has worked with the world’s most esteemed conductors and proponents of contemporary music: Pierre Boulez, Oliver Knussen, and Michael Tilson Thomas.  She has premiered over 100 works by some of today’s most innovative composers and is currently working on her latest project: commissioning and recording a set of new works for solo cello.

An active teaching artist and coach, Kate regularly offers workshops and master classes.  Her teaching credits include directing the chamber music programs at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras.  She currently teaches cello and chamber music at the Bermuda School of Music and is the writer of Tales From the Lane, a lifestyle blog for classical musicians.

Originally from Chicago, Kate began her studies at the Music Institute of Chicago with Gilda Barston and Nell Novak.  She went on to study with Colin Carr at the New England Conservatory of Music and subsequently won a three-year fellowship with the New World Symphony, where she performed as principal cellist under the baton of Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas.  She has performed in the Spoleto (USA), Tanglewood, Killington, and Bowdoin Summer Music Festivals, and is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Virtual Summer Cello Festival and the Bridge Online Cello Studio.  She serves as Board President of the Bermuda Philharmonic Society.

She lives in Hamilton with her husband Paul.