Award-winning cellist Tatum Hodgson is known for her rich tone, expressive artistry, and deep commitment to both education and audience engagement. She has performed in major venues such as Walt Disney Concert Hall, Severance Hall, and concert halls throughout Austria and Switzerland.

As a soloist, she has appeared with orchestra performing Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations and Vivaldi’s A Major Concerto, following competition wins in California and at Indiana University. Most recently, she earned first prize at the 2025 ASTA Solo Strings Competition with Ligeti’s sonata for solo cello.

She has participated in prestigious music festivals across the U.S. and abroad, including fellowships at the Aspen Music Festival and School, Colorado College Summer Music Festival, the Britt Festival Orchestra, and the AIMS Opera Orchestra in Graz, Austria.

Chamber music is the heart of Tatum’s artistic identity, shaping her approach to performance, collaboration, and musical storytelling. She views music as a powerful means of communication—capable of expressing the depth of human experience and fostering connection across cultures and communities. Her performances, whether solo, orchestral, or collaborative, are driven by a passion for storytelling and connection.

An avid chamber musician, Tatum was a member of the Advanced String Quartet Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music and earned first prize at the 2023 Glass City Chamber Music Competition with her quartet. She has performed in masterclasses for the Emerson, Dover, and Danish String Quartets, and continues to seek collaborative projects that deepen musical dialogue and inspire audiences. In 2026, Tatum was featured on Performance Today, America’s most-listened-to classical music radio program, performing William Grant Still’s Ennanga with the Shepherd School Chamber Players.

Tatum has a breadth of orchestral experience, playing in notable ensembles such as Canton Symphony Orchestra, and the Cleveland Ballet Orchestra, and holding principal positions in baroque and opera ensembles at the Aspen Festival, Suburban Symphony Orchestra, the CIM Orchestra, and the Shepherd School Symphony and Chamber Orchestras.

As an educator, Tatum has had extensive pedagogical training and experience teaching private lessons, group classes, large ensemble coaching, theory instruction, and competition adjudicating. Tatum regularly presents educational concerts, passionate about introducing audiences to new repertoire and sharing her love for music with the local community. She believes in music education not only for its artistic value, but for its power to cultivate empathy, develop character, foster community, and build the problem-solving skills that carry into every area of life. She is dedicated to lifelong professional development in her performance career and teaching methods so that she can provide the highest-level training to her students.

Tatum received her Master’s degree in Cello Performance from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in 2026, where she studied with Desmond Hoebig and Valentin Radutiu and was a recipient of the Demaris De Lange Hudspeth Scholarship in Music. For her undergraduate studies, she graduated with honors from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Cello Performance and a minor in Suzuki Pedagogy, studying with Dr. Melissa Kraut.

Tatum performs on a 2015 Ruggerio-model cello crafted by William Whebee.