C A L E B Y A N G
CELLIST | NASHVILLE, TN
B I O
Caleb Yang is a cellist, session musician, and music educator.
Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, he studied at UCLA before relocating to Nashville, where collaboration across genres continues to shape his artistic voice.
P E R F O R M A N C E
Caleb performs in various ensembles, including the Nashville Symphony as a substitute cellist. As a chamber musician, he has performed with the ARC Ensemble (Artists of The Royal Conservatory) and participated in festivals such as the Rencontres Musicales Internationales at the Menuhin Academy in Switzerland. He has also served as principal cellist at several summer festival orchestras. As a soloist, he performed Bloch’s Schelomo for cello and orchestra with the UCLA Philharmonia under the baton of Neal Stulberg.
C O M M E R C I A L W O R K
As a session musician, Caleb has toured with Benjamin William Hastings and Martina McBride, and performed alongside Phil Wickham, Josh Baldwin, and Charity Gayle on the Air1 Worship Now Tour. His session work includes recordings for Postmodern Jukebox, Chris Tomlin, Blessing Offor, Anna Golden, and Michal Leah. He has also contributed to major projects for Marvel Entertainment, Sony, Bungie, Blizzard Entertainment, Apple TV+, and Amazon Prime, spanning video games, film, and television.
C O L L A B O R A T I O N S
Collaboration has been central to Caleb’s development as a multi-style musician. Notable performances include a duo with hip-hop dancer Alex Almaraz at Pauley Pavilion arena and with harpist Alison Bjorkedal at the Walt Disney Concert Hall’s REDCAT Theater. He has performed in concert alongside Lebanese singer Abeer Nehme, Indian classical violinist Kala Ramnath, and Klezmer multi-instrumentalist Hankus Netsky for Silkroad’s Global Musician Workshop at New England Conservatory. Other collaborations include performances with the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance and a solo appearance with vocal jazz ensemble Jazzmin for the PBS special Christmas at Belmont.
A R T I S T I C W O R K
As an improvising musician, Caleb blends elements from pop, cinematic, ambient, and folk traditions. His use of loop pedals has led to featured solo performances at venues across the U.S., including the Moscone Center in San Francisco. His self-produced projects include live looping arrangements, original compositions, and instrumental covers. His videos have connected him with cellists around the world and led to virtual one-on-one sessions exploring creative approaches to live looping. His latest release, Cello Sessions (Live Looping Collection), is a full-length album recorded live for solo cello using a dual-track Boss RC-30, UAD plugins, and an Apollo Twin X interface.
T E A C H I N G
Caleb is passionate about music education. He has taught on the faculties of Belmont University’s String Crossings Camp, the O’Connor Method String Camp, and C’est Bon Chamber Music Academy, and has led improvisation workshops for undergraduate and graduate cello performance students at UCLA. As a teaching artist with the Gluck Fellows Music Outreach Program, he has presented performances across Los Angeles County, and partnered with the Nashville Symphony and Metro Nashville Public Schools’ String Residency Program. At F. H. Jenkins Preparatory School, he created and taught a comprehensive K–8 string program for violin, viola, and cello. He also teaches privately and is an instructor for The Strum Bowing Groove Academy, founded by Tracy Silverman. His teaching blends classical technique with improvisation and commercial music, aiming to help students be creative, expressive, and musically fluent. His master’s thesis focused on using live looping to encourage improvisation and broaden genre participation for classically trained string players.
E D U C A T I O N
Caleb began studying the cello at age eleven with Dr. Vicky Wang, later studying with Antonio Lysy at UCLA, where he earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Cello Performance. As part of the UCLA Strings Chamber Music Program, he worked with Movses Pogossian, Che-Yen Chen, and Ji Young An. He completed his Master of Music in Commercial Music at Belmont University, studying commercial string styles with Tracy Silverman, jazz and fiddle with Billy Contreras, and improvisation with Dr. Bruce Dudley. His awards include the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Dean’s Medal and the Belmont Graduate Student Class Award.