Cecilia Belcher
Assistant Principal Second Violin
Violinist Cecilia Belcher, who joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 2014, was named assistant principal second violin in 2017. Previously, she performed with the St. Louis Symphony from 2008 to 2014, and also frequently performed with the Houston Symphony Orchestra and the New York City chamber orchestra The Knights. She has been principal second violin of ROCO in Houston and the Minnesota Bach Ensemble and, as concertmaster, she led the New World Symphony, Reno Philharmonic, Aspen Music Festival Opera Orchestra and Mississippi Valley Orchestra. She has enjoyed traveling the world for festivals and performances, including to Aspen, Tanglewood, Verbier, Banff, Beijing, the BBC Proms, South Africa, New Zealand and throughout Europe.
From St. Louis, Missouri, Belcher began violin studies at the age of 3, and was a student of the renowned Suzuki pedagogue Winifred Crock. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Paul Kantor, and a master’s degree from the Shepherd School of Music, studying with Kathleen Winkler. She and her husband Richard Belcher, a cellist in the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, live in Minneapolis with their two young children.