Shredding the Mountain West
About Me
Described as one of the hardest shredding cellists of the Mountain West, Cassie Olson began her cello studies a little later than most – at the age of 16 – with the full intention of going into the sciences as her career. But not long after starting college at the University of Utah, she began to see cello performance as her true calling. She switched majors and began to study privately with Utah Symphony members Steve Emerson and John Eckstein, and chamber music with the late Misha Boguslavsky, a founding member of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra.
Upon graduation, Cassie moved to New York City and continued her studies at the Manhattan School of Music. She earned a Masters Degree in Cello Performance as one of only a few cellists admitted into the Orchestral Performance Program that year. While there she studied with Alan Stepansky (former Assistant Principal Cello, New York Philharmonic) and Margo Tatgenhorst-Drakos (formerly with the American String Quartet and Pittsburgh Symphony), and chamber music with members of the Emerson and American String Quartets. Orchestral highlights include working with Kurt Masur and Pinchas Zukerman, and training with members of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
Cassie has participated in many summer festivals and other orchestral programs, including the National Orchestral Institute, the “MMCJ” Festival outside of Tokyo Japan, the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival and was a substitute member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida. She has had the honor of working with such artists and conductors as Kurt Masur, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Naoto Otomo, Joseph Silverstein, Keith Lockhart, Thierry Fischer, Gerard Schwarz, Larry Lesser and Philip Setzer, Ron Leonard, Robert Mann, Marc Johnson, Steve Doane and Pinchas Zukerman, to name a few.
An active freelance musician in Salt Lake City, Cassie is currently the Associate Principal Cello of the Ballet West Orchestra and Principal Cellist of Sinfonia Salt Lake. She also performs with various ensembles including the Utah Symphony, the Utah Chamber Artists, the Cathedral of the Madeleine, Boise Philharmonic, and the Intermezzo Chamber Series.
Cassie is an active recording artist, and is featured on many TV, film, video game and studio album recordings. She often performs at Funk Studios, LDS Motion Picture Studios, and June Audio, and also provides in-home and remote recording services.
In addition to the world of classical music, Cassie has had the honor of performing with bands and artists as varied as Kaskade, Jon Batiste and Hugh Jackman, to Aerosmith and Michael Bublé. Her most recent adventure was rocking the electric cello with the iconic band Air Supply on their 50th Anniversary World Tour.
Cassie teaches privately and conducts cello sectionals for the Utah Youth Symphony and The Waterford School in Sandy, Utah.
A passionate environmental advocate, Cassie has spoken at the White House and United Nations championing for green open spaces. At home in her native Salt Lake City, you can find her teaching, snowshoeing, gardening, and being a mom to her little zoo of beloved pets.
