Musician profiles are in alphabetical order.

Jordan Allen began studying the cello at the age of 10 in his native Wisconsin. He attended the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Steven Doane. After receiving his Bachelor's degree, Allen moved to Miami Beach, Florida to play with the New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. Allen has participated in many music programs and summer festivals, including the New York String Orchestra Seminar, Music Academy of the West, Aspen Music Festival and School, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and the National Repertory Orchestra. He has performed in masterclasses across the country with cellists such as Pieter Wispelwey, Alban Gerhardt, Peter Wiley, Anssi Karrtunnen, David Geber, Desmond Hoebig, Carter Brey, Elenore Schoenfeld, Norman Fischer, and members of the Muir Quartet, Guaneri Quartet, Brentano Quartet, Tackas Quartet, and Cavani Quartet. Allen has had the opportunity to work with conductors such as Osmo Vänskä, Robert Spano, David Zinman, Peter Oundjian, Leonard Slatkin, Andreas Delfs, Franz Welser-Most and Marin Alsop. He plays with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and participates in other freelance teaching and performing opportunities in the area. Allen is fortunate to play a French cello made in 1826, generously on loan to him from a private source.

Karen earned a B.M. in cello performance at Juilliard, where she studied with Maurice Eisenberg and Lorne Munroe. Subsequently she was a winner of Concert Artists Guild competition, NY, as a member of Sonos Chamber Ensemble, and also recipient of a Fulbright scholarship to study cello at the Hochschule für Musik, Vienna, Austria. After playing in the Hong Kong Philharmonic for a short time, she quit playing the cello for 10 years and worked as a programmer, which she continues to do, though forsaking COBOL for the language of the moment.

Noteworthy: B.M. in cello performance, University of Iowa; M.M. in cello performance, UW-Madison; played in the Cedar Rapids and Quad City Symphonies; played the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra. Oddest practice quarters: When I was about 12, a music camp coach had our string quartet practice in a pink tiled women's dorm bathroom to explore acoustics. It was pretty embarrassing, especially for the only boy in the group! What your colleagues don't know about you: I can play piano upside-down. If I were John DeMain for a day: I'd let each section of the orchestra choose a musical work, and program a concert of "MSO musicians' favorites!"

Noteworthy: Recorded for Radio Stuttgart & CBC (Toronto); European tour of West Side Story; masters with Tim Eddy, doctoral candidate with Parry Karp; father of two. Funniest concert moment: When the violinist lost his music through a crack in the stage floor during a Mendelssohn trio. Oddest practice quarters: Back of an Italian bus, on tour. What your colleagues don't know about you: Bicycled competitively; is a marathon runner.

Noteworthy: B.M. in Cello Performance and Instrumental Music Teaching Certification, UW-Madison; currently I'm an elementary orchestra teacher in Shorewood, WI. Oddest practice quarters: The lobby of the Renaissance Hotel in Prague. Funniest concert experience: A summer performance in Texas of Ravel's Bolero. We had to begin the piece slouched in our chairs, legs crossed, and holding our instruments (including cellos) like guitars. By the end, we were to be playing in traditional form, swaying back and forth. It was so strange! What your colleagues don't know about you: I was originally accepted into school on a piano scholarship. If I were John DeMain for a day: I'd invite the orchestra over for a soiree!

Andrea Kleesattel began Suzuki cello lessons with Ellen Shertzer at Schiel Elementary School for Arts Enrichment at the age of 6. Continuing her public education at the School for the Creative and Performing Arts, she began private cello lessons and string quartet coachings with Norman Johns at the age of 14 and at the age of 17 was awarded the Corbett-Mayerson Award at the school. While attending the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, she studied with Lee Fiser and was a member of the Ippolito String Quartet, a group that organized and performed a public concert series at the Public Library and premiered several string quartets by CCM composers. In 2006-2009 she was cellist of the Niles String Quartet, graduate quartet in residence at the University of Kentucky, where she studied cello and string quartet with Benjamin Karp. During this time with the Niles Quartet, she won the MacCauley Chamber Music Competition and attended the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar and the Banff Centre Chamber Music Residency. The quartet also performed as soloists with the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra and was featured in a Lexington Chamber Music Society’s series concert. As the winner of the University of Kentucky Concerto Competition, Ms.Kleesattel performed the Dvorak concerto with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared in masterclasses with Matthew Haimovitz, Timothy Eddy, Wes Baldwin, Zuill Bailey, Benjamin Zander, Lynn Harrell, Andres Diaz, and Ralph Kirshbaum. She is currently working on her doctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the instruction of Uri Vardi. Chamber music and music education have been an important part of Ms.Kleesattel's musical training and she plans to devote her life towards these pursuits. Ms. Kleesattel's photo was taken by Cailyn Huston.

Noteworthy: B.M. in cello performance from University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana, M.M. in cello performance from Rice University in Houston, and continuing studies toward certifications in music education at UW-Madison. Oddest practice quarters: Practicing flute in the cabin of a cruise ship while 30-foot seas were making most passengers green from seasickness. Funniest concert experience: A clothespin holding my music flew off the music stand and into the f-hold of my bass and rattled for the rest of the gig. What your colleagues don't know about you: I play bass in an all-women swing band, "Ladies Must Swing," and a six-piece jazz group, "6 of 1". Recurrent musical fantasy: To play chamber music with my two young sons who play classical guitar and cello.