Jess Dickinson

 Jessica Dickinson, cellist, is available for weddings, public and private events, recording, recitals and concerts. She plays as a solo musician and frequently collaborates with guitar, violin, flute, string quartets and trios.

Jessica's musical education started at the age of eight, when she studied piano in Newton, Kansas. Then three years later she began to study the cello in middle school with Susan Mayo. Her principle teachers since then have been Dr. Andrew Kolb and Jeffrey Lastrapes. She was a student of Alison Wells, first at the Cleveland Institute of Music before transferring to Peabody Conservatory to continue study. She will continue study with Mihai Tetel at the Hartt School. During various summer music festivals Jessica has studied with Wesley Baldwin, Matt Haimovitz, Melissa Kraut, Thomas Landschoot, and Richard Weiss. As a chamber musician, Jessica has studied with Michael Kannen, Maria Lambros, Merry Peckham, Peter Salaff, Mari Sato, and Alison Wells.

Jessica has been a member of several orchestras, including the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, the Quartz Mountain Chamber Orchestra, the Newton Mid-Kansas Symphony Orchestra, the World Orchestra at the Interlochen Arts Camp where she performed alongside Sarah Chang, the Imani Winds, and several renowned conductors, among others. She was a finalist in the Music Teachers National Association regional competition. As the winner of the Anderson Concerto Competition she performed the Boccherini cello concerto with the Hutchinson Symphony.

Community outreach and inspiring musical interest in kids and adults has always been very important for Jessica. Since her first chamber group, a cello quartet in high school, she has been presenting music in schools and the community. The cello studio at Peabody with Alison Wells has gone to local high schools to perform Villa Lobos Bacchianas Brasilieras and to give masterclasses. On her own, she has received a grant from Peabody to create projects that involve combining visual art with music at an elementary school of Baltimore's BRIDGES program. She has also been Peabody's Creative Access volunteer of the month in 2009.

At the age of 22, Jessica will begin to pursue a Masters degree in Cello performance in the fall of 2010 at the Hartt School of Music of the University of Hartford on full scholarship. At the Hartt School Jessica will be part of their honors chamber program, Performance 20-20. She will continue her love of chamber music performance while seeking out new interests such as contemporary music and creative collaborative projects.