BIlly Tobenkin

Billy Tobenkin earned a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Cornell University. His interest in literature led him to classical music and eventually to the cello. In May of 2013, Billy finished his B.M. in cello performance at California State University, Northridge summa cum laude, as well as his tenure as cellist in CSUN’s Samuel Goldberg Honors String Quartet. He has played with the symphonies at CSUN and Santa Monica College, the Orchestra Italiana del Cinema, the San Fernando Valley, West Coast, and Topanga Symphonies, the Los Angeles Dream Orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the Brentwood Westwood Symphony Orchestra. As cellist of the genre-bending chamber music group, The Whyman Project, Billy was a winner of the 2014 Beverly Hills Auditions. Billy currently studies privately with Ronald Leonard, faculty member at the Colburn School and former principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Highlights in 2015 include a three-city tour with The Whyman Project at venues such as the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills as well as a performance of the Vivaldi Concerto for 2 cellos in G minor with fellow soloist Daniel Grab and the Esterhazy Chamber Orchestra of Calabasas.