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Justin Lepard
Psychedelic Cello

a cellist for the modern world

Today's musician must solve a paradox to thrive: how to understand and interface with a more digital, individualized world while retaining expertise in the instrument and art at the forefront. Addicted to learning and becoming a better musician, for me cello sits atop a pyramid built of recording and video skills, content production, composition and arrangement, music theory, and even spreading out to incorporate things like business, economics, and philosophy. And as for the cello itself? Having explored a LOT of different genres and approaches, I feel now like a cellist steeped not in classical tradition, but jazz. An improvisers approach to playing, a jazz theorists approach to harmony, and most importantly, a strong sense of rhythm. Here I hope you find a fresh outlook on the instrument.

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Leaf Pattern Design

Formal Bio

 

Justin Lepard is an innovative, genre-defying cello virtuoso. Originally from Nebraska, he studied with Juilliard alumni Greg Beaver of the former Chiara Quartet, as well as studying jazz with trumpet faculty Darryl White. In college he found a niche playing contemporary classical music, and with that won an audition to play in the Lucerne Festival Academy in Switzerland, which subsequently led to a series of short tours in Europe. Always a musician who wanted music to feel good and not just be intellectualized, Justin continued with his own endeavors composing, producing, creating content, and developing jazz improvisation skills as the core of his cello playing. He spent the previous 6 years living in LA, where he got some cool opportunities to play in movies like The Invisible Man (screen credit), and Bad Boys III (as part of an RMA orchestra at Warner Bros). But a love of vanlife and the outdoors led him and his wife to venture up the coast more and more, and are now in demand private event musicians in the Portland area (Alexis plays violin). Justin’s YouTube channel (Justin Lepard Psychedelic Cello) continues to grow as he pushes the boundaries of cello and musical storytelling for an online audience.

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