About

My story ...

Hola! Me llamo CLAUDIA.

Roots? Born in El Salvador and now based in the Mission District of San Francisco, I love sharing good vibes via the cello (and voice) both Solo and Ensemble ('together' as part of a group).

What's my sound? I grew up in a family that listened to ALL the diverse musical genres of Latin America. Once in San Francisco - a diverse jewel of a town - I've travelled within the classical, jazz, folk, tango, rock worlds. Add a little improv here and a little romance there, and voilá, you get my own special, soulful sauce.

My current venues in the Bay Area? You can find me at SF City Hall (weddings are my faves), Art Galleries, and Patio & Home Concerts around the Bay Area. So far, I've had a couple of corp gigs - one as far away as at a winery in Rutherford. Looking forward to more of those. Catch me at MAPP or new schedule in 2024, my 3rd Saturday Residency: Radio Habana Social Club - at the corner of Valencia & 22nd Sts in San Francisco.

2023 | October 14@KQED - "Somos Esenciales" docu-theatre by Paul. S. Flores. See NEWS for more details.

My music training? SFUSD, SFCM/Prep Dept, SFSU, CMC-SF, Tango@Reed ... various symphonic orchestras: Lowell High School, Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra (Kent Nagano and Calvin Simmons), UCSF Doctor's Orchestra (now known as the Parnassus Symphony), the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra (Urs Steiner), Charanga@CCSF (Anthony Blea), LOFT (La Orquesta Fusion Tango), Awesome Orchestra Collective (David Mochler), and jazz through ongoing independent studies.

Eventually, my need for the more intimate led me into chamber music - trios & quartets - only now with an amp.

RomantiXella? [Romanti-CHELA]. Romance just flows out of my fingers! Add my love for Español, plus my affection for the Ch sound of the X (from Guatemala where some of my roots are also planted), and you get the delicious phonetic jumble that is Xella, the feminine form of my beautiful instrument