Aminda Asher is an NYC-based cellist and educator who performs orchestral and chamber music throughout the tri-state area.  She has appeared in concerts at many of New York’s greatest performance venues including: Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall,  Bargemusic, Symphony Space,  and The Beacon Theater.  More recently she has been an active substitute cellist on a few Broadway shows.

In the orchestral setting, Ms. Asher plays with the Chamber Orchestra of New York, Distinguished Concerts Orchestra, Modus Opera Orchestra, and has been a member of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic for over 10 years. As a recurring sub with the Albany Symphony, she has joined them on their series concerts as well as several recording sessions.

TV and movie credits include recording for the 2014 feature film Noah. She has also appeared as a backup performer on America’s Got Talent, and could be seen in a GMC Acadia commercial in 2016. 

As an avid performer of contemporary music, Ms. Asher has performed with new music collective Hotel Elefant and Telos Consort. Previously she was the cellist for Cadillac Moon Ensemble and Periapsis Music and Dance. In the spring of 2019 she debuted a new duo with her husband, percussionist Sean Statser, called The Contingency Plan. 

Alongside performing, Ms. Asher maintains a very active teaching schedule.  She received her Suzuki certification from the Chicago Suzuki Institute over the course of a few summers and has been teaching steadily in NYC since she arrived in 2006.  She has taught at many fine institutions in the area, but ultimately found herself primarily at the 92nd Street Y and teaching privately at a studio on the Upper West Side. Please see Aminda’s teaching bio for more information on her philosophy and style of teaching. 

Aminda would not be where she is without her incredible teachers over the years. She started playing cello when she was 4 years old at the Rockford Music Academy in Illinois with Martha Frantz. In middle school she started studying with Linc Smelser in DeKalb, IL, and studied with him until she went to Indiana University for her B.M. in Music, studying with Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and Sharon Robinson. She then moved to NYC to further her education at the Manhattan School of Music to earn her M.M. in Orchestral Performance, studying with Alan Stepansky.