This masterclass is free and open to the public.

Cellist Yumi Kendall - Assistant Principal of the Philadelphia Orchestra - is a citizen artist whose inspiration comes from exploring human flourishing in music performance, community building, pedagogy, and organizational health.

As an orchestral and chamber musician, Yumi has played on many of the world’s prominent stages, including the Kimmel Center, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Suntory Hall, and Musikverein, and has been presented by such organizations as Marlboro Music Festival, Kingston Chamber Music Festival, 21st Century Consort, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. By special invitation, Yumi has appeared as guest Principal Cello with the Toronto and Baltimore symphony orchestras, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra in Japan.

Sparked with curiosity to understand her personal agency amidst the collective effort of orchestral playing, Yumi earned a Master’s in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. As a speaker, Yumi shares her work at conferences, non-profit and corporate board retreats, workshops, and academically, presenting ideas and experiences from music performance, teaching, and striving for excellence in both, as well as positive psychology, including intrinsic motivation, cultivating meaning at work, and social connections. With her long time friend and colleague, Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Bass Joseph Conyers, Yumi hosts a new podcast: Tacet No More. It is a landing pad for positive discussions about the classical music industry, saying the things that need to be said and asking the questions that need to be asked, inviting inspiring guests to lend insight on how the power of music can better humanity.

Yumi is steeped in joyful childhood memories of music making with her family, especially her violinist brother Nick Kendall of Time for Three, and lessons with her grandfather, violinist pedagogue John Kendall, who introduced Suzuki education to the United States and trained teachers from around the world. Drawing on her vivid childhood experiences, working with young musicians opens new horizons for Yumi. She is a regular guest instructor at her alma mater the Curtis Institute of Music, as well as at the National Orchestral Institute, and serves on the boards of Project 440 and Wildflower Composers, with prior service for Astral Artists. A proud Suzuki alumna, Yumi founded The Suzuki Alumni Project as a way to celebrate Suzuki education and express gratitude to the movement’s teachers for believing in their students’ potential and that of all children.  

Yumi remains forever thankful to her mentors: John Kendall, Nancy Hair, Carol Tarr, Alice Vierra, David Hardy, David Soyer, and Peter Wiley; and generous supporters Elaine Woo Camarda and A. Morris Williams, Jr., who established a Philadelphia Orchestra Chair for her and endowed it in perpetuity.