Wesley Skinner is a cellist, teacher, and curator based in Tempe, Arizona. He will serve as Artistic Director of the Arizona Philharmonic for the 2027–2028 season, where he is also principal cellist, and he curates Lit Music, a candlelight concert series in Tempe that blends high-caliber classical performance with cross-genre programming in an intimate, atmospheric setting.

Wesley holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from Arizona State University, where he served as Teaching Assistant to Tom Landschoot from 2016 to 2018. His doctoral research centered on the commissioning and first recording of Moments in Memory, a Sonata for Cello and Piano by Mark Landson, recorded at ASU’s Katzin Concert Hall with pianist Po Hsun “Nielsen” Chen and produced by Tom Landschoot (listen on YouTube). He also holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Melissa Kraut and pursued an emphasis in Cello Pedagogy during his master’s. Earlier in his career, he held faculty positions at the Western Reserve Suzuki School, the Hudson School of Music, and the Cleveland Institute of Music Preparatory Program.

Now in Arizona, Wesley maintains an active private cello studio in Tempe. He serves as a clinician at middle and high schools across the Phoenix area, regularly coaching the cello sections of regional youth orchestras. As a teacher, he combines the philosophy of his Complete Suzuki Teacher Training, the rigor of his conservatory background, and his broad experience outside the classical genre into a comprehensive approach for students at every level and style.

Students from the studio have sat principal cello for Phoenix-area youth ensembles — including Metropolitan Youth Symphony and Phoenix Youth Symphony — and have frequently been top-scoring cellists in Arizona All-State auditions. They have won top prizes at the Arizona Cello Society Competition, the Chandler Symphony Young Artist Concerto Competition, and the Arizona Music Fest Young Artist solo and chamber competitions, and have participated in the Tetra Chamber Music Institute and the Gilbert Fiddlers. Studio members have attended summer programs including Brevard, Madeline Island, Interlochen Arts Camp, and Germany’s Saarburg Music Festival, and have earned full scholarships and scholarship offers at Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, and Northern Arizona University.

Solo & competition highlights

Wesley’s top prizes include the 2014 Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition, the 2015 Paducah Symphony Young Artist Competition (KY), the 2015 Tennessee Cello Workshop, the 2015 Lewisville Lake Symphony International String Competition (TX), and the 2016 ASU Concerto Competition. He has appeared as a concert soloist at the Hot Springs Music Festival (AR) and with ensembles in Cleveland and Phoenix.

Composition

Wesley won the 2017–2018 ariZoni Theater Award of Excellence in Original Music Composition for his score for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with TheaterWorks, and was invited back to compose an original score for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the following year. In 2018, the Hillel Jewish Student Center awarded him the Joan Frazier Memorial Award for his contribution to Judaism in the Arts, recognizing his performances of Swiss-American composer Ernest Bloch’s complete works and arrangements for cello and piano.

Programming & collaboration

Alongside his exploration of contemporary American and Jewish-roots composers, Wesley champions equal programming of female composers and Latin American composers. His innovative programming has included Bach & Beer pairings with Tempe’s Huss Brewing Co. and cross-disciplinary collaborations with ballroom and break dancers. He has toured the U.S. and Canada with artists ranging from the punk-rock band Say Anything to Neo Camerata Ensemble, with whom he premiered new classical works across twenty-five states. Through ongoing work with Dallas-based composers Mark Landson and Thiago Nascimento at Open Classical, Wesley has continued to premiere and record new repertoire, including Nascimento’s “Ballade” for cello and piano.

Recent appearances

Wesley appeared as a guest artist at Germany’s Saarburg Music Festival in summer 2023 and returned as faculty in summer 2024. In May 2026, he joined the Crossing 32nd Street new-music ensemble for Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians. He returns regularly to Cleveland, Ohio as a guest cellist with OPUS 216 during the summers, and frequently records as a session cellist for local studios and songwriters in the Phoenix area.

Chamber music

Wesley has collaborated with principals and section members of the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Nashville Symphony, the Boston Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic. Wesley founded the Laniakea String Quartet in 2019, and as its cellist won first prize at the Sixth Hong Kong International Chamber Music Competition that same year. Members of the ensemble have since gone on to university positions around the world.