Alison Wells

British cellist Alison Wells is on the cello and faculty of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She was a founding member of the British-based Pirasti Trio, whose performances have been described as "absolutely incandescent" (The Strad) and "eloquent, unfailingly stylish" (Gramophone), and whose recordings on ASV were recommended by BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone, International Record Review and Fanfare and were selected recordings by BBC Radio 3's Building a Library. Her performing career has taken her to over 20 countries throughout Europe, North America and Asia, performing at venues including London's Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, New York's 92nd Street Y and Merkin Hall; the Bath, Warwick, and Schleswig-Holstein International Festivals, and the Orlando Festival in Holland. She has broadcast on BBC Radio 3, London's Classic FM, Dutch National Radio, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, North German Radio, and WQXR in New York. In 1986 she was featured in a British Channel 4 TV documentary on the Chamber Music of Penderecki, working with the composer.

Ms Wells is a graduate of Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music in England, studying with Ralph Kirshbaum and David Strange. She holds a doctorate from Yale University, where she studied with Aldo Parisot as a Harkness Fellow. Additional awards from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Martin Musical Scholarship Fund enabled her to participate in further studies at Prussia Cove and the International Menuhin Academy in Gstaad, Switzerland. In 1988 she joined the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, under Simon Rattle, and was honored as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. The following year she gave her London solo recital debut at the South Bank, sponsored by the Maisie Lewis Young Artists' Trust.

Ms Wells is a former faculty member of the Peabody Conservatory, London's Trinity College of Music, the Purcell School, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. She has served on the faculties of the Dartington and Aberystwyth summer festivals in Britain, La Loingtaine in France, the Paxos Festival in Greece, and in the United States the ENCORE School for Strings, Madeline Island, ARIA and the Heifetz Institute.

A passionate supporter of increasing access to the arts, she has participated n numerous community initiatives, educational workshops, and outreach concerts. She was formerly on the board of the Cleveland Cello Society and currently serves as Chairman of the Board of TUBA:The Uganda-Baltimore Alliance, an organization linking young musicians from Uganda and Baltimore, providing mentorship for a youth brass band program that supports rural communities in Uganda.