biography

Canadian cellist Sybil Shanahan has played the cello for as long as she can remember and has been described as “a rare cellist who so obviously loves both the instrument and the music. We have only to sit back and enjoy the experience of her playing.” (Stephan Rieckhoff, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.)

Relishing the diversity of musical life as a freelance performer, Sybil’s career spans an eclectic range of projects. Recent performances have taken her from playing Brahms’ Piano Trio in B Major in a field to appearing as an on-stage string quartet performer in Tapestry Opera’s production of Rocking Horse Winner, and backing headline artists including Seal, Sigur Rós, and The Tenors. Current projects include the electrifying tango-fusion string quartet Cicada Woods and the Tadioli Duo, a collaboration with violinist Suhashini Arulanandam. Since January 2025 she has also performed regularly with the Toronto Stage Quartet for the widely acclaimed Candlelight Concert Series. In addition to performing, Sybil is a published music arranger and the founder and contractor of Beaux Strings, a boutique Toronto-based strings ensemble specializing in event performances.

An active recording artist, Sybil appears on the doubly nominated 2024 Canadian Folk Music Awards tango album DISTANCIA by Solidaridad Tango and performed in the 120-person orchestra for the multiple award-winning video game soundtrack Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course. She was also the string arranger and contractor for singer Jonathan Michael’s album The Sacred Project, broadcast on Vision TV and touring across Southern Ontario in 2024. She performs on two instruments: “Tiny,” a contemporary Italian cello by Maurizio Tadioli, and “Octo,” a Luis & Clark carbon-fibre cello.

A lover of travel, Sybil’s lifelong commitment to chamber music has taken her around the world, including concert series and festival performances throughout Canada, Europe, the United States, South Africa, the Bahamas, and most recently Buenos Aires. She was a founding member of Solidaridad Tango (2020–2023) and previously recorded four albums and toured extensively across Canada and the United States with Ensemble Vivant, described by the Toronto Star as “Canada’s chamber music treasure.” Her debut album, Caprice (2014), recorded with cellist Coenraad Bloemendal, features several previously unrecorded French Romantic cello duos.

Additional highlights include participating in the first staged opera production in the Bahamas—a production of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess in Nassau in 2011. As a graduate student, she collaborated with distinguished contemporary composers including Betsy Jolas, Jonathan Harvey, and David Philip Hefti, performing at Amsterdam’s Gaudeamus Festival and the ISCM World Music Days in Slovenia.

A dedicated educator and advocate for the role of music in wellbeing and community, Sybil maintains an independent teaching studio for adult cellists in her hometown of Toronto. She has been on faculty at Lake Field Music Camp since 2012 and serves as an adjudicator at both the regional and provincial levels for music festivals. She has presented workshops and masterclasses for organizations including CAMMAC, the Ontario Music Festivals Association, and the Ontario Strings Association, both in person and online. She also performs frequently with Concerts in Care, bringing live music to audiences in care facilities across Southern Ontario. From 2010 to 2017, she served as principal cellist of the community-based NYCO Symphony Orchestra, appearing as soloist in Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations in 2012.

Sybil is grateful for her formative musical training in Toronto. She began her studies with Dr. Barbara Pepper and continued at the Etobicoke School of the Arts and the Royal Conservatory of Music, studying with Coenraad Bloemendal in the Young Artists Performance Academy (now the Taylor Academy of the Glenn Gould School). At nineteen, she made her concerto debut performing the Lalo Cello Concerto with the Etobicoke School of the Arts Symphony Orchestra. She later attended the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity chamber music program and received several awards, including the Elora Festival Young Performer’s Competition, the Gooderham Music Scholarship, and the Bill Weatherspoon “Most Outstanding Performance” Award.

Sybil completed her Bachelor’s degree at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in the class of Gregor Horsch and went on to pursue a Master’s degree in Lausanne, Switzerland, studying with internationally renowned cellist Patrick Demenga. During her studies she served as principal cellist of the European Youth Chamber Orchestra in Austria and participated in orchestral internship programs with the Orchestre Symphonique de Bienne, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, and the Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra. She was a national finalist in the Yamaha International Music Scholarship competition in the Netherlands and a prizewinner at the Rovere d’Oro Chamber Music Competition in San Bartolomeo al Mare, Italy, with Duo AfriCan, a piano-cello duo formed in 2004 with pianist Mareli Stolp.

Website: www.sybilshanahan.com

SHORT BIO

Canadian cellist Sybil Shanahan can’t remember life without a cello in her hands. A passionate chamber musician, she believes deeply in music’s power to create community and embraces a wide spectrum of musical styles. Her enthusiasm for music and travel has taken her from her hometown of Toronto to concert series and festivals across Europe, South Africa, Canada, the United States, the Bahamas, and Buenos Aires. Current projects include the electrifying tango-fusion string quartet Cicada Woods and the Tadioli Duo, a collaboration with violinist Suhashini Arulanandam.

In addition to performing, Sybil is a published music arranger and the founder and contractor of Beaux Strings, a boutique Toronto-based strings ensemble specializing in event performances. Since January 2025 she has also performed regularly with the Toronto Stage Quartet for the widely acclaimed Candlelight Concert Series.

An active recording artist, Sybil appears on the doubly nominated 2024 Canadian Folk Music Awards tango album DISTANCIA by Solidaridad Tango. She also performed in the 120-piece orchestra for the award-winning soundtrack to the video game Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course, recorded in 2021 during the height of the pandemic. As string arranger and contractor, she collaborated on singer Jonathan Michael’s The Sacred Project, broadcast on Vision TV and touring across Southern Ontario in 2024 and 2025. Earlier in her career, she recorded four albums and toured extensively across Canada and the United States with Ensemble Vivant. Her debut recording, Caprice (2014), with cellist Coenraad Bloemendal, features French Romantic duets.

A dedicated pedagogue, Sybil serves as an adjudicator for the Ontario Music Festivals Association and the Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival. She maintains a thriving independent studio for adult cellists in Toronto and has been on faculty at Lake Field Music Camp since 2012. A frequent clinician, she recently presented workshops and concerts across Northern Ontario during the 2022–2023 season. Sybil completed postgraduate studies in Europe with renowned cellist Patrick Demenga and earned her undergraduate degree and teacher training at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, studying with Gregor Horsch.

When not involved in musical pursuits, she can often be found researching her next trip, reading, adventuring on her stand up paddle board, skis or bike, or tending to her spoiled cats. Website: www.sybilshanahan.com

Sybil is a member of the American Federation of Musicians (Toronto Musician’s Association 149) and an ACTRA Apprentice Member.

All materials here are copyright to Sybil Shanahan 2025 and must be used with permission.

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