Performer Biography

Gabriel Ramos, cello

Gabriel Ramos recently completed his Master’s Degree in Cello Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Dr. Melissa Kraut. He earned his Bachelor of Music Performance with David Requiro at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he was the recipient of the Louis and Harold Price Foundation Scholarship, the Herbert T. Clark Foundation Scholarship, as well as other substantial academic and musical awards. Gabriel, a California native, began studying the cello at age 10, and his teachers have included Jonathan Koh, Michael Mermagen, and Si-Yan Darren Li. He currently studies with Charles Bernard, Assistant Principal cello of The Cleveland Orchestra.

In 2015, Gabriel won a position in a fellowship quartet sponsored by the North Carolina Chamber Music Institute and WCPE 89.7 FM, The Classical Station. Subsequently, he made several guest performances in 2016 with principal players of the North Carolina Symphony. More recently in 2022, he continued to express his passion for chamber music as a member of both the Intensive Duo Program and the Advanced Piano Trio Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

On Memorial Day of 2016, Gabriel presented a solo Bach recital in New York City’s Carnegie Hall after winning 2nd prize in The American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition. He also captured 2nd prize in the North Carolina Symphony’s 2019 Kathleen Price and Joseph M. Bryan Youth Concerto Competition. Last November, he joined the Heights Chamber Orchestra to present Camille Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 1. In addition to his activity as a soloist, he recently won the non-rotating 2nd chair vacancy at the Akron Symphony Orchestra. Presently, he is on the substitute roster for the North Carolina Symphony, Firelands Symphony Orchestra, Canton Symphony, the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and the New World Symphony. In Cleveland, he has performed on multiple occasions as principal cello of CIM’s orchestra.

Over the past several summers, Gabriel has enjoyed making music both solo and alongside esteemed colleagues at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Meadowmount School of Music, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Sitka International Cello Seminar. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, going to the gym, and searching for the best BBQ in town.