Collaboration

As a collaborative cellist, Alicia enjoys seeking out opportunities to work with artists of different mediums. She created many original works as a founding member of Cadance Collective, where she worked with dancers and musicians to pursue an innovative creative process. She has also found a niche in the theater world, now having performed in four different productions of An Iliad, the retelling of Homer's epic through one Poet and one Muse, with sound design by Josh Schmidt. She performed opposite James DeVita as the Poet at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater in the spring of 2014, and at American Players Theatre during their 2015 and 2021 seasons. Alicia was also thrilled to work with Emily Trask as the Poet at Hope Summer Repertory Theatre in 2018. She has performed in Songs for Nobodies at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater in the fall of 2018 and also in The Gift of the Magi at American Players Theatre in 2021.

Education

Alicia began playing cello at the age of 10 with the public school music program in her hometown of Mequon, WI, and continued her studies in middle school and high school with Greg Mathews of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Alicia earned a Bachelor of Music from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities under the tutelage of Tanya Remenikova in 2004, and her Master of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2007, where she studied with Stephen Geber.

Upon her return to Milwaukee, Alicia served as cellist in the Leonard Sorkin International Institute of Chamber Music at UW - Milwaukee, where she graduated with a performance certificate in chamber music under Stefan Kartman in 2013. During this time she also worked closely with Dr. Bernard Zinck and members of the Arianna String Quartet. While at UWM, she and her colleague, violinist Megan Buschkopf, won the 2013 Concerto Competition playing the Brahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello. Megan and Alicia were founding members of the Riso Quartet, a Milwaukee-based piano quartet who performed extensively throughout southeast Wisconsin from 2011 through 2019.

Wisconsin

Back in Wisconsin, Alicia served as a member of the Wisconsin Philharmonic for 9 seasons and often played with the Kenosha Symphony Orchestra, the Racine Symphony Orchestra, and the Festival City Symphony. She has also performed several times with both Roger Hodgson of Supertramp and with the Trans Siberian Orchestra. Alicia also performed as a core member and soloist with Camerata Milwaukee, a baroque ensemble. Breaking the mold of string ensembles, Alicia enjoyed performing with the Monarch Ensemble, a woodwind trio plus cello.

Pittsburgh

Alicia relocated to Pittsburgh in late 2019 and has since frequently performed with the Erie Philharmonic, the Butler County Symphony Orchestra, and is the assistant principal of the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra. She has also greatly enjoyed working with Resonance Works.

Teaching

Alicia greatly enjoyed teaching individual and group cello lessons at Hartford Union High School, and also served as adjunct faculty at Alverno College, where her duties included teaching cello, chamber music, and various music history and theory courses. She has also taught for the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, Waukesha String Academie, and at Homestead High School, Donges Bay Elementary School, and Wilson Elementary School as a mentor to small ensembles and cello sectionals.

Early Music

An early music enthusiast, Alicia learned to play the viola da gamba back when she attended Interlochen Arts Camp, and continued playing while at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she also played baroque cello. She served for three years on the executive committee on the board of directors for Milwaukee-based organization Early Music Now.