Dr. Nicole Cherry is Assistant Professor of Violin at The University of Texas at San Antonio and second violinist of the award-winning Marian Anderson String Quartet. Based in Texas for over twenty years, Dr. Cherry is a dedicated teacher and has held artist-teacher residencies at Texas A&M, Prairie View A&M, University of Washington, and Brown University where she has trained promising string players of all ages. 

Dr. Cherry received her Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School with training that has exposed her to the teaching and mentorship of the world’s most distinguished artists such as members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Emerson, Colorado and the Takács String Quartet; as well as esteemed violinists including Isidore Cohen, Erick Friedman, Joseph Fuchs, Felix Galimir, and renowned Baroque violinist, Jaap Schroeder. 

She has performed in ensembles conducted by Pierre Boulez, Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman, and as concertmaster under the baton of Mstislav Rostropovich. Dr. Cherry received her Bachelor of Music degree from University of Maryland and completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Texas Tech University. Dr. Cherry has also received graduate fellowships from the Peabody Institute of Music and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.

Dr. Cherry has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician in such venues as the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Strathmore Hall, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. She has performed in Europe, the Middle East and Asia including a tour as a featured soloist in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and South Africa. During this tour, Dr. Cherry had the honor of performing before the Queen Noor of Jordan and sharing music with underdeveloped townships in Johannesburg during Apartheid. 

Comfortable in various styles of music, Dr. Cherry has shared the stage with a diverse list of artists such as members of prestigious chamber ensembles; the International Contemporary Ensemble, the San Francisco Contemporary Chamber Players, the American Chamber Players, the Colorado, Pacifica, Audubon, Penderecki and Cleveland Quartets as well great jazz pianist Stanley Cowell, gospel music icon, Richard Smallwood, and the late Whitney Houston. 

Dr. Cherry has made several radio and television appearances with solo performances at some of the world’s most prestigious festivals including the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, and the Pablo Casals Festival. Dr. Cherry has also presented and performed at the Hawaii International Conference on the Arts, Texas Music Educators Association Conference, American String Teacher’s Association Conference, Chamber Music America Conference, Hot Springs Music Festival, American Festival of the Arts, and the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Dr. Cherry has served as membership coordinator and Secretary of the Texas American String Teachers Association.  Dr. Cherry is on the faculty of Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music.

As a member of the Marian Anderson String Quartet, artistic endeavors have brought them to venues such as New York City’s Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, the Ravinia Festival, the Fischoff Chamber Music Foundation, Washington DC area’s Strathmore Hall, the Smithsonian Institute as well as a recent TEDx Talk hosted by Blinn College, in Bryan, Texas. 

Dr. Cherry served as President of the Marian Anderson String Quartet Community Music School, Inc. and Artistic Director of the Marian Anderson String Quartet Summer Chamber Music Institute in its Texas and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands locations. In recognition of committed music outreach with the quartet, Dr. Cherry garnered two Mayoral Proclamations, Chamber Music America’s Guarneri String Quartet Award, the Congress of Racial Equality’s MLK JR. Award for Outstanding Arts Achievement, as well as a $200,000 grant to tour the US from the Texaco Foundation partnered with Da Camera of Houston.

A champion of new music, Dr. Cherry has commissioned several works including companion pieces based on her research of 19th century Afro-European violinist, George Bridgetower (The ForgewithGeorge Music Project – 2033). Commissions include Berklee College composer, David Wallace’s 2017 work, “The Bridgetower” for speaking, singing, solo violinist, which incorporates the text of Pulitzer Prize winning poet Rita Dove’s book, “Sonata Mulattica.” Dr. Cherry has since premiered the work all over the US, and Canada with scheduled dates in Europe. Subsequent commissions include composers, Jessie Cox, Yvette Janine Jackson, Philip Wharton and Grammy-nominated composer, D. J. Sparr. Upcoming projects include a recording of these new works with Albany Records and a major publication of Beethoven’s Sonata for Piano and Violin, Op. 47 with the inclusion of George Bridgetower’s original performance embellishments and his original compositions.

Dr. Cherry’s doctoral research on the nineteenth-century Afro-European violin virtuoso, George Bridgetower, which explores historical socio-cultural theories in string music, led to a featured performance at the President’s Lecture Series opening for renowned orator, Michael Eric Dyson followed by featured interview segments on Lubbock, Texas’ NPR Station, KTTZ and PBS TV. Dr. Cherry is also the recipient of Texas Tech University’s Paul Whitfield Horn Award and the President’s Excellence in Diversity and Equity Award. The Juilliard School profiled Dr. Cherry in the Juilliard Journal’s 100th-anniversary issue, “A Quiet Revolution: Juilliard Alumni and the Transformation of Education in America Through the Arts.”