Natalia Vilchis

Natalia Vilchis is a cellist originally from Monterrey, Mexico. She has won the first prize in the Nacional Violoncello Competition (Mexico) three consecutive times (2010, 2012 and 2014). In 2012 she obtained the Silver Medal at the Forte International Music Competition in New York City. She was a Semifinalist at the Young Virtuosos International Music Competition 2017 in Sofia, Bulgaria. In 2020 she won the second prize in the Mount Vernon Virtuosi Cello Competition. Natalia has performed as a soloist accompanied by the Youth Orchestra of ESMDM, the Chamber Orchestra of UANL, and the National Mexican Baroque Orchestra performing in several concert halls in Monterrey (Centro de las Artes, Aula Magna, Teatro de la Ciudad), Morelia (National Library) and Mexico City (Blas Galindo Hall), as well as the Liederkranz Concert Hall in New York City. She has also performed as a soloist in the Santa Lucia’s International Festival, and Morelia’s Baroque Music Festival.

Since 2023, Natalia serves as the principal cellist of Fairfax Symphony Orchestra. She is also the principal cellist of the Mount Vernon Virtuosi Orchestra and a regular member of the Mount Vernon Virtuosi Cello Gang. From 2015 until 2018 she was a member of the ESMDM String Quartet and was also principal cellist at the Chamber Orchestra of UANL. She was selected to perform in a Master Class with the renowned cellist Yo-yo Ma. Natalia has also taken masterclasses with Zvi Plesser, Hillel Zori, Alan Stepansky, Troels Svane, Anatoli Krastev, among others. She has been a student at Academia Musicale Chigiana, in the Studio of Antonio Meneses in Siena, Italy. She also attended the Keshet Eilon Summer Master-course 2022 in Israel, performing alongside with Sergei Ostrovsky and Noemie Bialobroda. She performed as a soloist at Festival Internacional de Música de Cámara San Miguel de Allende 2021, and in the summer of 2023 she performed as a soloist at Festival de Axixic Haus der Musik. Natalia recently recorded the album “Bach 6 with 4” released by CTM Classics with Amit Peled and the MVV Cello Gang.

Through her playing in Mount Vernon Virtuosi, she was awarded and currently plays a French cello, graciously donated by Rhonda Stoffel, that was played by her late husband, Peter Rudolfi. She graduated with a Master’s Degree in Violoncello Performance and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland in the Studio of Professor Amit Peled.