Growing up in the Spokane area, Mikaela Elms began her cello career nearly 25 years ago. She first started learning the cello at the age of 5 and instantly fell in love with the instrument. Mikaela holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Cello Performance at Eastern Washington University under the instruction of John Marshall, Principal Cellist of the Spokane Symphony. During her student career at Eastern Washington University, she helped co-teach the Cheney Strings Academy, an after school program for motivated students that focused on ensemble pieces, solos and private lessons. Mikaela was also fortunate to have participated in nearly a dozen masterclasses with world renown artists.
Among her achievements as a cellist, she was the winner of the string division Young Artist Concerto Competition and performed with the Spokane Symphony. Mikaela also won first place for the Eastern Washington University Concerto Competition as well. Additionally, she has won multiple gold medals for her chamber performances in MusicFest. She is currently an active musician in the Spokane community and regularly performs at churches and charity events. She is a member of the Coeur D’Alene Symphony as Assistant Principal cellist and is a substitute cellist for the Spokane Symphony. Mikaela is also the cello coach for the Spokane Symphony’s Young Musician’s Education Program (YMEP), helping coach cello students in all of District 81’s Middle Schools and High Schools.
Currently, Mikaela teaches cello full-time and has a deep passion for cello pedagogy. She has had the privilege of teaching children as young as 4-years-old to adults in their mid-to-late eighties. As an attentive teacher she can help you get moving in the right direction as well as keeping you on that path until you are a self-sufficient musician. A level of musicianship that simply means you can learn whatever you want on your instrument on your own, whether it be for business, pleasure or for mere self-improvement. Mikaela strives to encourage all of her students to pursue whatever interests they have through music and foster their creativity while developing a solid foundation of technique and musicality.
In her free time, Mikaela enjoys spending time outdoors backpacking, biking, running, trying to garden and playing board games with her family. She also enjoys cooking, baking, all forms of art and spending time with her husband and their two daughters. You can also find Mikaela arranging different tunes for cello or improvising using looper pedals.
Cello | Clarinet | Flute | Guitar | Percussion | Piano | Piccolo
Saxophone | Trumpet | Trombone | Violin | Viola | Voice