Rebecca Shasberger

Cello Teacher

Rebecca Shasberger

Contact

Shaker Heights, OH
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Praised for the “maturity and sensitivity” of her playing (Casa Magazine), Cleveland-based cellist Rebecca Shasberger is passionate about loving people and pursuing justice through music. To this end she founded Renovare Music in 2018, a 501(c)3 nonprofit with a vision of bringing hope and healing through music. Visit Renovare Music’s website to learn more.

Rebecca has presented solo performances and concerti with orchestras from California to New York, in Canada, China, and across Europe. Her chamber music performances have taken her across the United States and Canada and have been broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Particularly memorable chamber music collaborators include James Ehnes, Jonathan Crow, Martin Beaver, Antonio Lysy, Keith and Kristyn Getty, and Fernando Ortega. In the orchestral realm she has appeared with the Akron Symphony, Canton Symphony, West Coast Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, the Lancaster Festival Orchestra, and as principal cellist with Cleveland’s Heights and Suburban Symphonies. Rebecca spent summers at festivals including Aspen, Banff, Credo, Toronto Summer Music, and the McGill International String Quartet Academy. While her formal training is in classical music, Rebecca also performs music from genres including jazz, pop, fiddle, and hip hop.

In addition to teaching violin, viola and cello at the Grafton Correctional Institution and the Northeast Reintegration Center through her work with Renovare Music, Rebecca has been a Visiting Instructor at the Oberlin Conservatory. In this role she taught undergraduate string students pedagogical approaches and introduced them to realities of the prison system. Through an ongoing partnership with Oberlin Rebecca continues to lead these students as they assist Renovare in teaching at the Grafton Correctional Institution. Rebecca maintained a private studio of cellist students for many years, and has previously taught at the Cleveland School of the Arts, Thrive Arts Center, the Aurora School of Music, Credo Chamber Music, and the Westmont Academy for Young Artists, amongst other programs and schools. Rebecca is also a Documentary Songwriters Teaching Artist.

Rebecca completed her Masters in Cello Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy at the Cleveland Institute of Music in the studio of Sharon Robinson and her Bachelors in Music with a minor in Religious Studies at Westmont College. Additional cello teachers include Trevor Handy, John Sant’Ambrogio, and Dr. Nona Pyron. Rebecca also earned an Executive Graduate Certificate in Social Entrepreneurship, Cultural Agency, Community Development, Organization Management, Design Thinking & Education Leadership from the Ivy league-curated Global Leaders Program.