Ashley Walters
Ashley Walters tap dances when she wakes up in the morning. Our cellist and resident greenthumb, she plays with the focus of fourteen gazelles and the poise of a ballet dancer en pointe (actually, flip those.) She wears her cello backpack so high that one could wonder whether she was carrying it, or it her. Ashley loves to practice, to fearlessly champion new works, and to mentor young musicians. She’s worked with Kaija Saariaho, Lewis Nielson, Nicholas Deyoe, Wolfgang von Schweinitz, and has been a member of Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quintet, released a solo album, and co-founded the Formalist Quartet. She’s on the faculty of the Nief-Norf Summer Festival and holds a DMA from UCSD.