About
The Cello Institute
of Milwaukee
"After the standing ovation, eventually people sit down. But teaching moves through generations." – Janos Starker
The Cello Institute of Milwaukee
Started in 2014 by Scott Cook, the CIM has become the leading music studio for serious cello students throughout Wisconsin. The institute not only provides weekly lessons for cellists of all ages and skill levels, it also provides extra learning experiences through group ensembles and many performances, for peers and parents. The group ensembles consists of students at a similar skill level, meaning each student is put in an environment that is conducive to their learning. Throughout a student's time at the Cello Institute, they gain valuable performance skills as well as character building skills, such as hard work, determination, and team work.
Scott Cook
Nebraska native Scott Cook is well known as a teacher, chamber musician, and orchestral
musician. He was described in the Greenville News as “a cellist who plays with the depth and
intensity of Pablo Casals.” As a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and orchestral
musician, he has performed around the world as principal cellist of many orchestras in the
Southeast and Wisconsin, as member of the AIMS Orchestra in Graz, Austria and the Grand
Teton Festival. He was cellist with the Belle Terre Piano Quartet and the Cezanne String
Quartet and has appeared on major recital series in Toronto, Chicago and Milwaukee. He has
made numerous recordings including those with members of the Swingle Singers, jazz
recordings with Chuck Hedges and for Hal Leonard. Other chamber music collaborations
include live broadcasts in Saint Louis, Greenville, SC, Wisconsin Public Radio and “Live at the Elvehjem Museum.” He has appeared as concerto soloist with orchestras in Cleveland, Saint Louis, Greenville (SC), Asheville (NC), and Beloit (WI). He is the artistic director of the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival Workshop and the director of the international teaching workshop, Teaching Cello to Children at the String Academy of Wisconsin at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Mr. Cook has taught at virtually every level and in every possible teaching environment. At the college level with positions at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Converse College, Carroll University, Alverno College and Limestone College. At the pre-college level at the String Academy of Wisconsin at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee converse College and the Greenville County Schools in South Carolina. In 2008 he was honored to be named the Studio Teacher of the Year by the Civic Music Association of Milwaukee. As the recipient of a full scholarship he received his Bachelor of Music from the Saint Louis Conservatory and a Master of Music degree from The University of Akron. His major cello teachers were Savely Schuster, Steven Schumway and Michael Haber.
