Diane Chaplin, Cello

Diane Chaplin, celliste extraordinaire, moved from New York City to Portland, Oregon, in the summer of 2009. Before taking up residence on the west coast, she spent 21 years as the cellist of the Colorado Quartet and with them had an international career which took her around the globe.

Diane has held teaching positions at many prestigious institutions of higher learning, including Bard College, Oberlin College-Conservatory and Swarthmore College and has given master classes at the Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, Indiana University, Cleveland Institute of Music, Cincinnati Conservatory, Stanford University and the Banff Centre. As a member of the Colorado Quartet, she was visiting chamber music faculty at Yale University in 2009. Diane is also an inspiring teacher of young students, and trained hundreds of cellists during a two-decade tenure at the Allen-Stevenson School in Manhattan.

Diane holds a BFA degree from the California Institute of the Arts, where she was a student of Cesare Pascarella, and a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Harvey Shapiro. She received a Special Prize from the International Cello Competition in Vina del Mar, Chile, and a Certificate from the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, and has appeared in solo concerts throughout the United States and Europe. She has performed several times with Mikhail Baryshnikov, and has often appeared in cameo performances with the Flying Karamazov Brothers.

A skilled music administrator, Diane is both the Production Manager for Portland's Metropolitan Youth Symphony and the Administrative/Artistic Director of the Soundfest Chamber Music Festival & Quartet Institute on Cape Cod. She is also an ardent yoga practitioner and certified yoga instructor and volunteers with Street Yoga, a dedicated group that brings yoga to homeless and at-risk youth.

Diane is exploring Portland's musical life with solo and chamber music performances and an active teaching studio. She is also an official Espresso Snob, owns both travel and giant non-portable machines, and never leaves home without one; she even owns one that plugs into the car.