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.