Hailed by San Francisco's Civic Center for her "...professional and highest caliber of playing," Los Angeles-based cellist Mikala Schmitz is an avid performer of many different styles of cello playing. Ms. Schmitz often finds herself crossing over into a variety of musical genres. From jazz and electronic to classical and baroque, Mikala continues to find new and fascinating collaborative avenues.

Mikala's work with the English rock group The Last Shadow Puppets took her all over Europe, and you can hear her on their EP Dream Synopsis. You can also hear her on television shows such as Netflix's Chef's Table and HBO's The Brink. Ms. Schmitz will resume her award-winning tenure next Spring with Tim Robbins’s acting troupe, The Actors’ Gang, on a national tour of their production of The New Colossus, an original one-act play written and directed by Tim Robbins and members of the cast, with original music by Ms. Schmitz and David Robbins.

Ms. Schmitz holds a B.M. degree from Oberlin College Conservatory, where she studied cello with Darrett Adkins. Mikala also holds a M.M. degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with The Cleveland Orchestra's assistant principal cellist.