Marcella Schantz
Marcella graduated with honors from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, and has performed in numerous genres: orchestra, opera, ballet, shows, recording, film appearances, pop, rock, backup and more. As a violinist, she performs regularly with many Bay Area Orchestras, including Symphony Silicon Valley, California Symphony, Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Fremont Symphony Orchestra. In Southern California, she performed with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra for 10 years, the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra, along with shows and recording in the music and film industries. In addition to a busy symphonic schedule, she performs with several smaller ensembles, including the Siena Music String Quartet and Trio, which she founded, and the Craig Hansen Band, and has worked with recording artists Randy Travis, Smokey Robinson, Mark O’Connor, Sheryl Crow, Michael McDonald, The Manhattan Transfer, Barry Manilow, Burt Bacharach, Frank Sinatra, Jr., to name a few. She is also the Orchestra Librarian for the Fremont Symphony, Opera and Ballet.
Marcella has a busy teaching studio, with students in violin, viola, cello and piano. She taught group string classes for many years at the South Bay Conservatory in Southern California, and coordinated and taught Music for Minors II for five years in Castro Valley, coordinating up to 200 students for Showcase performances at the Center for the Arts. She was also an Artist-in-Residence at California State University East Bay.
She has two teenage children, and enjoys spending free time with her family, traveling, playing tennis and reading.