Paula Tuttle

Biography

Paula Tuttle’s enterprising career as a performer, podcaster, non-profit director, educator and producer is brimming with innovation and initiative. She is currently a cellist with Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Ballet, PBS MyMusic, and the chamber ensembles associated with Chambersite. As director of Chambersite, she produces concerts, recordings, and videos – as well as commissioning new works – for the Pittsburgh Festival Orchestra, a charitable non-profit 501c(3). She created the organization’s ensembles that perform concerts in the Western Pennsylvania Region, namely, the Diamante Orchestra, Emerald Celtic Trio, Zaffiro Trio, Quartz String Quartet and the Diamante Trio.

Her experience in the pit is versatile as a section player, solo player and Principal. She performs currently with Pittsburgh Opera and Pittsburgh Ballet, and has played with Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera and Pittsburgh Broadway Series frequently. Her experience on prominent cello solos includes Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, Minkus’ Don Quixote, Verdi’s Rigoletto and Massanet’s Werther. As solo cello she performed on Weill’s Lost in the Stars, Anais Michell’s Hadestown, and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song and Dance.

The list of artists she has performed and recorded with includes: Patti Labelle, Aretha Franklin, Glen Campbell, Gloria Gaynor, Isaac Hayes, BJ Thomas, The Manhattans, Franki Valli, Engelbert Humperdinck, Ronnie Specter, The Smothers Brothers, Davy Jones, The Miracles, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Mary Wilson, The McGuire Sisters, The Drifters, The Skyliners, Lou Rawls, Jerry Butler, Chuck Berry, Jay Black and the Americans, Maxine Nightengale, The Cadilacs, The Cleftones, The Chiffons, Irene Cara, The Chi-lites, The Manhattans, Dennis Edward’s The Temptations, Blue Magic, Bloodstone, Billy Paul, The Tramps, The Duprees. Eddie Floyd, Edwin Starr, The Flamingos, Fontella Bass, The Four Aces, Frankie Avalon, The Emotions, Leslie Gore, Moments, Peaches and Herb, Howard Hewitt, Eddie Holman, The Impressions, Frank Pizarro, Percy Sledge, Jive Five, The Marcels, Martha Reeves, Lloyd Price, Cuba Gooding (Sr.) and the Main Ingredients, The Intruders, Heatwave, Roger McGuinn, The Shirells, The Fifth Dimension, Dionne Warwick, Tyrone Davis, Pookie Hudson and the Spaniels, The Harptones, Mel Carter, The Chantels, The Dubs, Dee Dee Sharp, Leo Sayer, Sonny Turner, The Ventures, The Vogues, and many more.

Her podcast Accelerando, published weekly since April 2022, features musicians in Pittsburgh and elsewhere. Accelerando topics have featured: technology, marketing, music history, neuroscience as it relates to music and humans, focus on composers, music history, innovation in music, Solresol - an actual language, women in music, the El Sistema method, copyrights and royalties, local arts organizations, spotlight on local performance groups, the development of local orchestras including the Benedum Orchestra, the process of acquiring a new piano for world class concerto performers at the Pittsburgh Symphony, in depth coverage on The Violins of Hope’s Pittsburgh residence, a tribute to Barbara Krakauer: a vibrant violinist from the Galamian school, union involvement, military careers in music, innovation and entrepreneurship, and much more.

In addition to her classical performance, she performs music of multiple styles including Latin Pop, Celtic, and Rock. The Diamante Trio began in 2016, playing all styles of Latin American music. Their CD No More Blues was released in 2018, which features Latin Pop and Brazilian Soprano Lilly Abreu. The expanded Diamante Orchestra plays in addition to Latin Pop, Rock, Jazz and Motown styles and covers. Emerald Celtic explores the traditional music of Scotland and Ireland playing original works of Charles May (violin) and covers of works by other Celtic groups.

As an educator, she teaches as many as twenty cello students during the Fall and Spring semesters at Carnegie Mellon University and The University of Pittsburgh. She holds a String Seminar every summer as part of the Carnegie Mellon University’s Pre College six-week program. She taught at the Music Studies Abroad in Provence France for several summers, as well as Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan for two summers. Previous teaching positions she held include Duquesne University, Slippery Rock University, Chatham University, Centers for the Musically Talented (Pittsburgh Public Schools), Pittsburgh Citiparks and sectional coach for the Edgewood Symphony. Her undergraduate students have continued at Cleveland Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, Penn State, Baldwin Wallace, Yale, Curtis, Carnegie Mellon University, Columbia and Indiana University. Many students auditioned and entered the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony, Interlochen School for the Arts, Three Rivers Young People’s Orchestras, District, Regional and Honors Orchestras and more.

She continues to perform as a pianist in groups including Bo Wagner’s Orchestra. She played piano for Ballet companies including Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Ballet Ulm (Germany), Western Slope Music Festival (Crested Butte, CO), Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, Point Park University for Regional Dance Council. While at Eastman, she played for the Eastman School of Music Accompanying Department and for the studios of Sylvia Rosenberg, Charles Castleman and Oliver Steiner.

Paula holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music Degree from Carnegie Mellon University and did her Post-Master’s Studies at New England Conservatory. She has performed in Asia, Europe and all over the United States.

A new project under development is the creation of a dynamic educational online platform that helps classical musicians further their careers.