The Cello Songs Project

Jonatha Brooke has been writing, recording and touring since her early days in Boston with her band, The Story, when her signature guitar playing, densely-stacked harmonies and lyrical storytelling first attracted the attention of fans and music moguls alike.

After four major label releases, she took the reins in 1999 to pioneer her own indie label, Bad Dog Records. She has since released ten additional albums – including the companion CD to her critically acclaimed, one woman, Off-Broadway musical, My Mother Has Four Noses.

She’s co-written with Katy Perry, the Dixie Chicks and Katharine McPhee. She’s written for three Disney films and multiple tv shows. She composed and sang the theme song for Joss Whedon’s Doll House. 

Rolling Stone says, “Brooke is pure folk clarity cut with pure rock opacity. Her vocal pitch is spectacular, her melodies unwind and details themselves at unhurried rhythmic paces, and turns like “Is This All” and “Always” evoke Virginia Woolf’s personal odysseys and Audrey Hepburn’s rich subtlety – associations that Brooke herself invites. The world hasn’t heard the end of her.” 

Since her arrival in Minneapolis, she’s won a McKnight Artist Grant and has recorded and performed with some of the finest and most versatile Minneapolis artists.

Cellist Rebecca Arons is a dynamic performer and in-demand recording artist, arranger and producer that has worked with top orchestras, Broadway stars and rock and pop’s biggest names like Stevie Wonder, The Eagles and Weird Al.

Born in Massachusetts and based in Minneapolis, she has been a member of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra since 1998. Along with composer Adi Yeshaya, she is co-principal of the performance, arranging, and production company STRINGenius. Rebecca and Adi have been collaborating for over twenty years, creating and recording tracks for a broad range of artists, films and television, including all of the orchestral tracks for Prince during the last three years of his life. Rebecca is also a founding member of the Four Voices String Quartet and has also performed with the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

An eclectic artist with a broad ear, Rebecca is a founding member of alt-rock band And the Professors and the jazz fusion group One World Consort. She is currently working with folk/pop songwriter Jonatha Brooke on the Cello Songs Project – a creative collaboration of original songs for voice, guitar and cello. They started working together in 2013, workshopping and touring Jonatha’s critically acclaimed, one-woman, off-Broadway musical My Mother Has Four Noses. Rebecca then went on to co-produce Jonatha’s 2019 album Imposter.

As owner of the orchestral contracting company RDA Productions and co-founder of STRINGenius, she has worked with such artists as The Who, Judith Hill, Dessa, Josh Groban, Kristin Chenoweth, Hugh Jackman, Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Scottish Ballet, Broadway Across America and many others.

Rebecca received her Bachelor of Music Degree in Performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Master and Doctoral degrees from the University of Minnesota School of Music. She is currently Adjunct Professor of Cello at the University of St. Thomas.

Violinist Elise Meichels Parker is assistant principal second violin of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra, and is an active part of the Twin Cities music scene. The Star Tribune has described her playing as “soulful,” while the Pioneer Press wrote “Elise Parker wrings pure beauty from her violin.”

Locally she has recorded and performed with the Guthrie Theater, STRINGenius, the Children’s Theatre Company and the American Composers Forum.  She also performs with Jamison Ensemble, Minnesota Sinfonia, Candlelight Concert Series, and as a guest artist for ensembles including, LOFTrecital, Ladyslipper, VocalEssence, and An Opera Theatre.

Elise also enjoys playing popular music, including performances with Stevie Wonder, The Who, The Eagles, Idina Menzel, Mannheim Steamroller, Evanescence, Celtic Thunder, Josh Groban, Amy Grant and Weird Al Yankovich.  Hennepin Theatre Trust’s Broadway show performances include My Fair Lady, Hello Dolly!, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The King and I, and several tours of The Lion King.

Elise received a Bachelor’s degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison. From there she attended Rice University, earning a Master’s degree on full scholarship. During her time in these cities she performed with numerous ensembles, including the Houston Grand Opera, Houston Ballet, San Antonio Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Opera, Madison Ballet, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, KUHF Houston Public Radio Chamber Players, 21/20 Contemporary Ensemble at the Shepherd School of Music, and the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society.

Since 2010, Elise has been a teacher for the Augsburg University Suzuki Talent Education Program, a nationally and internationally recognized program, as well as adjunct faculty at Augsburg University since 2019.

She plays on a Gasparo da Salò composite violin, whose back and ribs were made in 1580 in Brescia, Italy.  Da Salò is sometimes credited as the co-inventor of the modern violin.

Violist Susan Janda thrives on interpreting a wide variety of musical styles on her otherwise typically ‘classical’ instrument. Vocal influences are important to her playing;  Susan’s own experiences as a singer of choral music, musical theater, and some jazz inspire her to borrow from the nuances and line of expert singers around her.  Susan is a musician of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra, and has premiered works, performed or recorded with VocalEssence, Prince, Adam Levy (And The Professors), Cory Wong, Michael Johnson, Stevie Wonder, The Eagles, Idina Menzel, Luciano Pavarotti, many broadway touring shows, with recordings on Redhouse, Naxos, Ars Nova, Innova, and MPR labels.

Students of the viola and violin benefit from Susan’s endless supply of analogies and dancing gestures to explain musical problem solving and technique.  She is currently Adjunct Professor of Viola at Hamline University, with also small home-studio of students.

Susan is also familiar with interpreting and performing new and modern music. As the violist for Four Voices String Quartet, she collaborated with multi-Grammy Award winning composer Maria Schneider to workshop and premiere her revised "String Quartet No. 1," originally commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by Duke Performances/Duke University. She annually participates in interpreting selected young composer’s works as a part of the American Composer’s Forum project NextNotes.

The opportunity to work with Jonatha Brooke and Adi Yeshaya is for Susan a natural and inspiring combination of singer-songwriter artistry and contemporary instrumental art music.

Jeff Bailey has performed in a wide variety of musical settings as a musician, composer, sound designer, producer, and educator. He has performed with world renowned artists: Craig Taborn, Joey Arias, The Steeles, James Carter, Joey McIntyre (NKOTB), Eric Gravatt, Charles Lazarus, Rodney Jones, Doc Severinsen, Minnesota Orchestra, SPCO, Wessel Anderson, Jonatha Brooke, Geoff Keezer, Andres Prado, Chastity Brown, “Doc” Martin, Fareed Haque, Justin Robinson, Charley Drayton, and James Moody.

Jeff has composed original music and sound design for: Raisin in the Sun (Guthrie Theater), The Royale (Yellow Tree), Rule of Thumb (Park Square), Target’s Lifescape series, Crowns (New Dawn Theater), B.A.M’s Next Wave Festival, White Savior (Sparkhouse), and Punic Wars (Keith Antar Mason and The Hittite Empire).

Jeff served as Bass Department Head at McNally Smith College of Music for six years, developing and implementing a curriculum that integrated modern music technology with traditional conservatory culture. Jeff is currently Director of the Certificate in Music Production program at Hamline University, which encourages traditional and non-traditional music makers to gain fluency with modern music technology.

Jeff is fiercely committed to how the power of music in the world unites and heals. He continues to compose and perform throughout the US and internationally, and run his Minnesota based recording studio, LoweTone Studios. Jeff is certain each day is another opportunity for gratitude and joy.

Aby Wolf is a passionate collaborator with an elastic skillset. Whether writing vocal arrangements for Dessa's wildly successful appearances with the Minnesota Orchestra, fulfilling commissions from American Composers Forum, Prairie Fire Lady Choir, and Cedar Cultural Center, or performing with everyone from The New Standards and Chastity Brown to JT Bates' Grain Trio, Aby brings a palpable element of joy to whatever endeavor she pursues.

Making a career with her voice, Linnea has recorded voiceover for everything from audiobooks about pirates to commercials for cinnamon rolls to audio description for Sesame Street and Law and Order.

She is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and founding member of the band Rogue Valley; touring the U.S. and abroad playing SXSW and the Iceland Airwaves Festival. Other creative collaborations include Coach Said Not To, A. Wolf and her Claws (Aby Wolf), The Alpha Centauri, The James Sewell Ballet, and Live Action Set.

She makes her home in the Hamline/Midway neighborhood of Saint Paul, MN with her kids and partner Luke (she fell in love with the drummer). She’s working on becoming a Master Gardener and transforming her lawn into pollinator habitat.