Niklas Bertani is a free-lance cellist and teacher in the Los Angeles area. He is currently the principal cellist of the Santa Monica Symphony, and he performs regularly with Orchestra Santa Monica and the Golden State Pops Orchestra.  His interest in teaching stems from not having had any formal music training until high school, when former PCM faculty member Rosemarie Krovoza was instrumental in introducing him to the cello through the string quartet literature. His principal teachers were David Garrett, Fritz Magg and John Hubbard. He received his training in the Suzuki method from Rick Mooney at PCM and has been actively involved with the National Cello Institute for the past ten years. He holds a B.S. in computer science from Yale University.