Cellist Karissa Shivone joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra during the 2016-2017 season. She comes to Pennsylvania most recently from Southern California, where she performed regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as a substitute cellist under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, Semyon Bychkov, Leonard Slatkin and John Williams. Originally from Seattle, her interest in an orchestra career was sparked at age 17 during her time as a substitute cellist with the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera. 

Karissa Shivone made her solo debut at age 15 performing with Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony as a winner of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Audition. Subsequently, she appeared as soloist with both the Colburn Orchestra at Zipper Hall and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and with the Philharmonia Northwest at Kane Hall. She has also performed recitals throughout the Pacific Northwest and greater Los Angeles areas. Shivone has distinguished herself in numerous solo competitions including the Seattle Young Artist Music Festival Concerto Competition, Coeur d’Alene National Concerto Competition, Mondavi Young Artists National Competition, and the Philadelphia International Concerto Competition. She performed on the live KING 5 television program “New Day Northwest,” as well as interactive performances on KING FM 98.1 Northwest Focus Live. 

An avid chamber musician, Karissa Shivone  won the Silver Medal at the 2015 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition as the former cellist of the Calla Quartet. The same year, Calla performed at the Perlman Music Program’s Chamber Music Workshop and Mimir Chamber Music Festival in Melbourne, Australia and Fort Worth, Texas. She has performed alongside artists including Joseph Silverstein, Alessio Bax, Martin Chalifour, Alexander Kerr, Donald Weilerstein and Barbara Westphal at the Sarasota Music Festival, Mimir Chamber Music Festival, Perlman Music Program and Heifetz International Music Institute. In June 2018 she performed with the Strings Music Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado where she will return next summer as well.  

Karissa Shivone received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Colburn Conservatory of Music where she studied with Mr. Ronald Leonard. She began her studies at age seven with Leslie Marckx, and she has worked with many renowned cellists including Steven Isserlis, Efe Baltacigil, Raymond Davis, Meeka Quan-diLorenzo, Johannes Moser, Desmond Hoebig and Richard Aaron. Her chamber music coaches at the Colburn Conservatory have included Arnold Steinhardt, Martin Beaver, Clive Greensmith, Peter Lloyd and Paul Coletti. 

Karissa Shivone also finds great fulfillment in community engagement projects; in 2011, she served on the Board of Directors for the Society of Emerging Artists, which raised benefits for various charities. Her time with the Calla Quartet included interactive performances that brought 1,500 elementary school students into the Colburn School’s Zipper Hall. As part of Colburn’s community engagement program, she visited multiple elementary public schools in Los Angeles County as a soloist with the Colburn Orchestra to bring music to underserved  students.