Danielle Blumhardt

Graduate Student (1st Year)

Musician, arranger, and writer, Danielle Blumhardt (1st-year graduate student) holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Cello Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied under cellists Stephen Geber and Dr. Melissa Kraut and graduated with Academic Honors. As a researcher, Danielle’s work has explored the intersection of queer/trans cultural production, virtual community formation, and musical resistance to capitalist hegemony. Her other research interests include experimental industrial/noise musics, the processes of genre creation and policing, Marxist aesthetic methodologies, and ludomusicology. Also an accomplished performer of various Western art music disciplines, Danielle, as soloist and chamber musician, has concertized across the country from historic halls — such as the Kennedy Center, the Symphony Center, Severance Hall, and Carnegie Hall — to renowned festivals and residencies — including the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, Madeline Island Chamber Music, Centrum Chamber Music, the Schubert Club, and the Cleveland Chamber Music Society. Danielle is also a prizewinner of the Fischoff, WDAV, and New York International Artists Competitions and has performed alongside prominent solo and chamber musicians, such as members of the St. Lawrence and Juilliard Quartets. A passionate advocate for the performance of contemporary classical music, she has collaborated with some of the foremost composers of our time, including Yu-Hui Chang, Keith Fitch, Jeffrey Mumford, and Andrew Norman. Alongside her musicological research, Danielle continues to perform and arrange a varied repertoire, from George Crumb’s Black Angels and Kaija Saariaho’s Sept Papillons to the music of Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. series.