Biography

Skip vonKuske is a multi-faceted musician skilled at several string instruments. Adept at guitar, bass, and mandolin, Skip's primary instrument for nearly thirty years has been the cello.

Skip's skills as a young classical cellist brought many scholarship offers. He's attended The Performing Arts School of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, and Michigan State University. His primary teachers included principal cellists of both The Philadelphia Orchestra (William Stokking), and the New York Philharmonic (Lorne Munroe), as well as Owen Carmen of Michigan State University.

At nineteen, Skip played with numerous symphonies in Michigan. In 2001, Skip was placed on the sub list for the Oregon Symphony and continues to work as a freelance classical cellist in Portland.

It is Skip's skills as an improviser that set him apart from his classical music counterparts. Since 1997, Skip has recorded with well over fifty artists in the Portland area. His background as a singer/songwriter and guitar playing give him an insight into songcraft and studio work that few cellists can match. Currently, Skip juggles the schedules of several groups and performs an average of at least twenty times a month in genres of classical, jazz, pop, trance, latin, rock, and folk music of numerous cultures.