Autumn Rinaldi has been studying the cello since age 5, when she first discovered her passion for cello after seeing one being played at a friend’s birthday party. A rising junior at Cincinnati Country Day School, Autumn, 16, lives in Indian Hill, Ohio. She is thrilled to be spending her third consecutive year at Ascent’s Cello Festival, and her first year at its International Chamber Festival. Autumn made her solo debut this past March with the Blue Ash Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, as the Senior Strings winner of the 2024 Jack and Lucille Wonnell Memorial Competition. In May, as a prize winner of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra’s annual concerto competition, she was featured as a soloist with the CSYO Philharmonic. Other recent recognitions include: the 2024 Cleveland Cello Society Scholarship Competition (1st Place), the 2023 OhioMTA State Buckeye Auditions (1st Place), and the 2021 and 2023 Jack and Lucille Wonnell Memorial Concerto Competition (2nd Place, Senior and Junior Divisions). She has had the opportunity to perform in solo masterclasses with Richard Aaron, Sterling Elliott, Melissa Kraut, Astrid Schween, and Bruce Uchimura. On the chamber side, she has played in masterclasses for the Aizuri, Brentano and Cavani Quartets; as well as with the Horszowski Trio. Autumn has been a member of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestras for the past four seasons and has seved as Assistant Principal Cellist of the Philharmonic Orchestra for the past two. This past winter, Autumn served as Principal Cellist of the OMEA All-State Orchestra (2005) and the Southwest Regional Orchestra (2024). Autumn is a pre-college student of Dr. Sarah Kim, and also studies with Alan Rafferty. In addition, she has been greatly influenced by the teachings of Hans Jorgen Jensen, with whom she studied with for two summers at the Meadowmount School of Music.