Micah Fusselman

Micah began playing cello at the age of five. His mother was a piano teacher and taught him and his four siblings to play stringed instruments using the Suzuki method. When he was eight, he began traveling regularly to Lincoln to study with Tracey Sands. At fifteen he joined the Chicago-based studio of Tanya Carey, who helped adapt the Suzuki violin method for cello. Summers were spent studying cello with Hans Jensen at the Meadowmount School of Music in New York.

In the fall of 1997 he began university studies with Richard Aaron at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and two years later transferred to the University of Nebraska – Lincoln to study with Dr. Karen Becker and be closer to family. While in Lincoln he was a regular member of the Lincoln Symphony, maintaining a small studio of cello students. He graduated from UNL in 2003 with a Bachelor of Music.

After graduating from UNL, Micah joined the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and studied with members of the Chicago Symphony. During his four years there he graduated with a Masters in Music from DePaul University, worked as a free-lance cellist, played in Civic under conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Ricardo Muti, and Pierre Boulez, and performed with the Advent Chamber Orchestra, the Oistrakh Symphony, the Lyra Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony.

Micah enrolled at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music for doctoral studies in 2007, and was a student of Yehuda Hanani, for whom he also served as a teaching assistant. This assistantship provided the opportunity to teach numerous cello students at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The College-Conservatory also had a small early music program where he learned to play the viola da gamba, soon joining the Catacoustic Consort, an internationally-acclaimed early music ensemble, as a bass viol player.

In 2012 Micah decided to move back home to Nebraska to build a private studio, and has been teaching in Omaha since. In addition to teaching, he regularly plays cello and gamba at St. Cecelia’s Cathedral and performs with the Omaha Chamber Music Society.

Micah met his wife, Elizabeth, at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, and they have six children: Claudia (21), Quintus (17), Thaddaeus (8), Job (6), Hannibal (4), and Hekte (2). All but the two youngest play either violin or cello.