Cellist Branson Yeast, a native of Houston, TX, is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music (B.M.), the Juilliard School (M.M.), and is also a protégé of cellist Wendy Warner. His performances as a chamber musician, soloist (recently, the Dvorak Concerto with Litha Symphony in Manhattan, 2023), and orchestral musician have brought him to perform in Chicago, London, Lucerne, Hamburg, Heidelberg, St-Jean-de-Luz (broadcast on RadioFrance), and across the north-eastern United States. While at Curtis, Branson was the last student of the late David Soyer of the Guarneri Quartet, a Jacqueline du Pré Memorial Fellow, and his graduation recital aired on WHYY Television. His passions for contemporary music and cross-disciplinary projects brought him to perform a memorized production of Pierrot Lunaire as part of a tour with the Grammy-award winning group “eighth blackbird,” and has also led him to make dozens of premieres of new works, including many chamber music and solo performances in halls such as Alice Tully and with contemporary dance companies such as Philadelphia’s BalletX. Branson currently resides in Philadelphia and was recently named Principal Cello of both Opera Philadelphia and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the latter of whom he recently performed concerti of CPE Bach, Boccherini, and Vivaldi