Dr. Wesley Skinner

Holding Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, 32-year-old Cellist, Wesley Skinner, studied with pedagogue Dr. Melissa Kraut. With an emphasis in Suzuki Pedagogy during his Master’s degree, Wesley recently held faculty positions in the Western Reserve Suzuki School, the Hudson School of Music, and the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) Preparatory Program. Now attending Arizona State University (ASU), Wesley is pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts as the Teaching Assistant of Performing Cellist and Pedagogue Thomas Landschoot. Wesley’s chamber ensembles have been coached by members of The Cleveland Quartet, The Cavani Quartet, The Ying Quartet, and The Juilliard String Quartet. He has previously studied with Richard Weiss, Bradley Mansell, and Bob Story; and he has performed in solo master classes for Yo-Yo Ma, Ralph Kirshbaum, Zuill Bailey, Andres Diaz, Amit Peled, and David Ying.

Wesley has won top prizes in the 2014 CIM Concerto Competition, 2015 Paducah Symphony Young Artist Competition (KY), 2015 Tennessee Cello Workshop, 2015 Lewisville Lake Symphony International String Competition (TX), and the coveted “Concert of Soloists” prize at ASU in 2016. During the Summer of 2015, Wesley toured as the cellist of the ensemble Neo Camerata and the band Say Anything. As part of Neo Camerata, he premiered new works in 25 cities in the U.S. and Canada, including Thiago Nascimento’s “Preludes for Cello and Piano” as well as Mark Landson’s “Dream on a Cirrus Sky for cello and piano.” In his continued work with Landson and Nascimento, Wesley has premiered their newest works, the Cello Sonatas: “Moments in Memory” (Landson) and “Ballade” (Nascimento) for Cello and Piano in April 2017. In 2019, Wesley’s String Quartet won the 2019 Hong Kong International Chamber Music Competition. And as a composer, Wesley holds two AriZoni awards for original theatrical score composition.