Artist · Scholar · Visionary
Nicole Cherry
International Violinist
A Juilliard graduate, 2027 Visiting Fellow of Trinity Hall at the University of Cambridge, Fulbright Adjudicator, and Principal Investigator of an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, Dr. Nicole Cherry stands among the most decorated artist-scholars of her generation. She has performed on the world's most celebrated stages — from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to the Cairo Opera House and Jordan's Royal Cultural Center.
30+
Commissioned Works
25+
Years Performing
4
Continents
Juilliard
Graduate
Performer & Orchestral Artist
Cherry's orchestral career includes performances under legendary conductors Pierre Boulez, Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman, and Mstislav Rostropovich, under whose direction she served as concertmaster for a Kennedy Center performance early in her career. Selected through a competitive blind audition, she joined the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, where she also served as Acting Principal Second Violin.
She has appeared as soloist with the Richmond Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, New England Symphonic Ensemble, Symphony of the Hills, and other orchestras, with international engagements including performances at the Cairo Opera House and Jordan's Royal Cultural Center before Queen Noor. Her orchestral experience further includes appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and Gateways Festival Orchestra.
Her artistry has attracted national critical recognition. The Washington Post described a performance by Cherry's Euphoric Quartet as "one of the most compelling events" of the Reston Prelude Festival. In September 2025, her performance of Joseph Bologne's Sonata No. 1 for Two Violins with violinist Scott St. John, recorded with Houston's ROCO, Houston's Chamber Orchestra, was featured nationally on American Public Media's Performance Today.
Marian Anderson String Quartet
A devoted chamber musician, Cherry has been a member of the internationally touring Marian Anderson String Quartet since 2001. The historically significant ensemble became the first African-American chamber ensemble to win an international classical music competition when it received first prize at the Cleveland Quartet Competition in 1991.
Named in honor of the legendary contralto Marian Anderson, the quartet has performed at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, Strathmore, the Smithsonian Institution, and Ravinia. With the quartet, Cherry has received Chamber Music America's Guarneri String Quartet Residency Award and recognition from the Congress of Racial Equality for outstanding achievement in arts and culture.
The ensemble's distinguished residency history includes Brown University, the University of Washington, Rice University, Texas A&M University, and Prairie View A&M University. In 2026, the quartet was honored at the Rhode Island School of Design's Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative concert and returned to Brown University as Heimark Artists in Residence.
Scholarship & the Bridgetower Legacy
In parallel with her performing career, Cherry has emerged as a leading artistic voice in the recovery of the legacy of George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower (1778–1860) — the celebrated Afro-European violin virtuoso, composer, and original dedicatee of Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 9, Op. 47, now known as the Kreutzer Sonata.
Her pioneering research earned her election as a Visiting Fellow of Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge — one of the world's most distinguished academic appointments — with her fellowship residency scheduled for 2027. Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum identified her as a "Bridgetower expert," and in 2025 she collaborated with Museum scholar Professor Victoria Avery on presentations at Trinity Hall in connection with the landmark exhibition Rise Up.
A defining scholarly achievement came with the publication of George Bridgetower: Two Quintets for Flute and Strings, co-edited with Beethoven scholar Mark Ferraguto and published by A-R Editions in 2025 — the first critical edition of these works. The publication received scholarly attention in Nineteenth-Century Music Review, published by Cambridge University Press. Cherry's work has been presented at Oxford, the Royal Academy of Music in London, Cambridge, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Oberlin Conservatory, and Berklee College of Music.
Her international scholarly influence extends to her appointment as Principal Investigator on an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, administered by the University of Sydney — a competitively funded grant awarded to the most rigorous and consequential research in the humanities. The project investigates historical musical exchanges between African-American and Aboriginal Australian musicians, placing Dr. Cherry at the forefront of a new field of intercultural musicological inquiry.
FORGEwithGEORGE
In 2016, Cherry founded FORGEwithGEORGE, an international commissioning, performance, and research initiative inspired by Bridgetower's extraordinary life and the poetry of Pulitzer Prize winner Rita Dove. What began as doctoral research has developed into a distinctive artistic enterprise encompassing nearly thirty commissioned and premiered works, international performances, scholarly publications, recordings, and educational collaborations.
Among its signature commissions is Texas composer David Wallace's The Bridgetower, a theatrical work for solo violin and voice incorporating poetry from Dove's Sonata Mulattica. Cherry presented the work in 2025 with ROCO, Houston's Chamber Orchestra at Houston's historic DeLUXE Theater, alongside violinist Scott St. John and fellow chamber musicians.
In 2025, Cherry inaugurated the Jubilee Project at Oberlin Conservatory, bringing together an ensemble of approximately eighteen violinists to perform music inspired by Bridgetower's surviving compositions. Through FORGEwithGEORGE, Cherry has established an artistic model in which historical scholarship gives rise to new compositions, restored repertoire, professional performances, and opportunities for future generations of violinists.
Texas Legacy & Academic Leadership
Cherry's contributions to the cultural life of Texas began in 2000 with a graduate chamber music fellowship at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. Over more than two decades, her work has encompassed orchestral and chamber performance, commissioning, institution-building, artistic direction, and music education throughout the state.
As artist-in-residence with the Marian Anderson String Quartet at Texas A&M University and Prairie View A&M University, she helped establish far-reaching chamber music and educational initiatives. She served as Principal Second Violin of the Brazos Valley Symphony and conceived and directed the Marian Anderson String Quartet Chamber Music Institute, expanding enrollment from nineteen to one hundred participants and extending the program's reach to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Cherry is Associate Professor of Violin, String Area Coordinator, and Director of Public Performances at The University of Texas at San Antonio, where she combines an active international artistic career with innovative programming, student mentorship, and cultural leadership. She serves as a Fulbright Adjudicator on the National Screening Committee for String Instruments — evaluating the next generation of American artists seeking to represent the nation on the world stage. Her honors include Texas Tech University's President's Excellence Award, the Paul Whitfield Horn Fellowship, and UT San Antonio's 2026 Faculty Mentoring Award.
Education & Credentials
Graduate
The Juilliard School
Undergraduate
University of Maryland
Doctorate
Texas Tech University
Graduate Fellowship
Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins
Graduate Fellowship
Rice University, Shepherd School
Visiting Fellow, 2027
Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge
National Adjudicator, Strings
Fulbright Program
Principal Investigator, Discovery Project
Australian Research Council
Work With Nicole
Available for solo performances, masterclasses, residencies, and scholarly collaborations worldwide.
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