Cellist Ani Aznavoorian has appeared as soloist with orchestras around the world including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, and Boston Pops. Aznavoorian is the principal cellist of Camerata Pacifica and appears regularly at chamber music festivals globally. She has also served on the music faculty at the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana. She is the recipient of the Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award, was named Presidential Scholar in the Arts upon receiving a medal from President Bill
Clinton, and was a top prize winner of the International Paulo Cello Competition. She is a proponent of new music and has premiered concertos by Lera Auerbach and Ezra Laderman and chamber music repertoire by John Harbison, David Bruce, and Bright Sheng. She proudly performs on a cello made by her father Peter Aznavoorian in Chicago.