C A L E B Y A N G
CELLIST | NASHVILLE, TN
B I O
Cellist Caleb Yang is a performer, recording artist, and commercial musician based in Nashville.
L I V E
As a classical soloist he has performed Bloch’s “Schelomo” for cello and orchestra with the UCLA Philharmonia under the baton of Neal Stulberg. As an improvising musician, Caleb’s musical voice blends elements from a diverse scope of genres. Combining the cello with electronics and live looping has garnered him unique solo performances at venues including the Moscone Center in San Francisco and the Arts District Mansion in Dallas. As a chamber musician he has performed with the ARC Ensemble artists of The Royal Conservatory. Caleb has participated in solo and chamber music festivals including the Rencontres Musicales Internationales at the Menuhin Academy in Switzerland, and has served as principal cellist at several summer festival orchestras.
N A S H V I L L E
As a commercial musician in Nashville, Caleb has toured with country music singer Martina McBride, performed live with artists including Danielle Bradbery, David Cook and Emily Weisband, and has recorded as a session musician for Postmodern Jukebox, Benjamin William Hastings, Anna Golden and many others.
C O L L A B O R A T I O N S
Collaborations are central to Caleb’s development as a multi-style cellist and musician. Notable duo performances include with Hip-Hop dancer Alex Almaraz at Pauley Pavilion arena and with harpist Alison Bjorkedal at the Walt Disney Concert Hall’s REDCAT theater. He has performed in concert alongside Lebanese singer Abeer Nehme, Indian classical violinist Kala Ramnath, and Klezmer multi-instrumentalist Hankus Netsky for Silkroad’s Global Musician Workshop at New England Conservatory. Other collaborations include performing with the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance and in the PBS special Christmas at Belmont as a soloist with the vocal jazz ensemble Jazzmin.
T E A C H I N G
Caleb is passionate about music education and has taught on faculties including Belmont University’s String Crossing Camp, the O'Connor Method String Camp, and C'est Bon Chamber Music Academy. He has appeared as a guest artist to lead string improvisation workshops, including for undergraduate and graduate level cello performance students at UCLA. As a teaching artist with the Gluck Fellows Music Outreach Program, he has presented educational performances across Los Angeles County. Caleb has also partnered as a teaching artist with the Nashville Symphony and the Metro Nashville Public Schools’ String Residency Program. In his year as the strings teacher at F. H. Jenkins Preparatory School, an ESA-approved institution in Nashville, he created and taught a comprehensive and diverse K-8 curriculum for violin, viola, and cello, organizing classes by age group. In addition to his private cello students, Caleb is also an instructor for The Strum Bowing Groove Academy, founded by Tracy Silverman. His teaching is inspired by his classical training and professional experiences with improvisation and commercial styles. He hopes to help students engage with the music they love and equip them with tools to be uniquely creative and expressive. His master’s thesis focused on the implementation of live looping electronics for classically trained string players to promote improvisation, encourage participation in diverse musical genres, and amplify one’s personal musical voice.
E D U C A T I O N
Caleb began studying the cello at the age of eleven under the instruction of Dr. Vicky Wang. He continued his studies with Antonio Lysy at UCLA and received a Bachelor of Music in cello performance. As a member of the Strings Chamber Music Program at UCLA, he studied with Movses Pogossian, Che-Yen Chen and Ji Young An. He received a Master of Music in Commercial Music at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. There he studied commercial string playing with Tracy Silverman, jazz and fiddle styles with Billy Contreras, and improvisation with Dr. Bruce Dudley. He was the recipient of awards at his alma maters including the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Dean’s Medal and the Belmont University College of Music & Performing Arts Graduate Student Class Award.