Emily Stoops

Emily Gosma Stoops began her cello studies in Davenport, Iowa at the age of four, and began studying piano at the age of 7. She holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan, and Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts in English degrees from the University of Iowa. She has studied and performed in prominent summer music programs including Banff(Alberta, Canada) and Encore (Cleveland, OH). Her most influential traditional cello teachers include Anthony Elliott and Charles Wendt. She studied Suzuki cello pedagogy with Tanya Carey at Western Illinois University and traditional string pedagogy with Robert Culver at the University of Michigan. Emily enjoys a balanced career of teaching, orchestral playing, and chamber music performance and coaching. She runs a yearly summer cello workshop,“Cellobration”, at the Norman School for Strings and teaches cello, chamber music and sectionals yearly at the Great Midwestern String Clinic, which in 2013 celebrated its 15th anniversary, engaging over 80 young musicians in intense musical study. Emily is a member of the cello section of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, a position she has held since moving to Oklahoma in 2006. Her other extensive orchestral experience includes performing in the Quad City, Toledo, Flint, Lawton, Saginaw, and Ann Arbor symphony orchestras. Her students are highly successful and can be found in top chairs not only in their school orchestras, but in the Oklahoma Youth Orchestras and in the Oklahoma All-State orchestra as well. They consistently receive top ratings at regional and state solo contests, and participate regularly in regional music camps, including the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain. Emily lives in Norman with her husband Anthony, who is Professor of Double Bass at the University of Oklahoma, and their two young children, who are learning to play the violin and cello.