Cellist Jonathan Simmons is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma in cello performance from Columbus State University's Schwob School of Music studying with Wendy Warner. He recently completed an MM at CSU after graduating from Bob Jones University summa cum laude with a BMus in Cello Performance studying with Dr. Yuriy Leonovich. At BJU he served as co-principal cellist of the Bob Jones University Orchestra and was twice the recipient of the William McEver String Scholarship. As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras in Tennessee and South Carolina with a performance of David Popper’s Hungarian Rhapsody in the Greenville Peace Center and multiple performances of Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D Major. In 2016 Jonathan was a winner of the Tennessee Cello Workshop Concerto Competition at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Jonathan has attended the Cincinnati Young Artists Chamber Music Festival as a Conservatory Fellow as well as the Masterworks Performing Arts Festival. His teachers include Dr. Christopher Hutton, Martha Brons, and Sharon Mulfinger Gerber. He has taken lessons and masterclasses with Zuil Bailey, Melissa Kraut, Alan Rafferty, Richard Weiss, David Kim, and the Rawlins Piano Trio among others.Jonathan performs with the Columbus Symphony and the LaGrange Symphony and has taught at a number of studios including Musical Innovations Conservatory, Distinctive Music Studios, Majesty Music Academy, and the Schwob School of Music Preparatory Division. His current and former students whom he teaches live and online as far away as Australia are music majors in college and perform with youth orchestras across the southeast.