Cellist Annamarie Wellems has built a career marked by musical excellence and a passion for education. As an orchestral musician, she has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and served as principal cellist of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Annamarie was a guest artist at the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, and has collaborated with artists such as Yura Lee, Nikki Chooi, the Miró Quartet, and Nathan Hughes. Her chamber ensembles have received national recognition, including gold medals at the M-Prize, Saint Paul String Quartet, and ENKOR competitions, silver medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and featured on the WFMT 98.7 Introductions Broadcast. She performed the Fanny Mendelssohn Piano Trio with Jon Kimura Parker on Rice University’s Spotlight Recital, and in 2025 gave the world premiere of Moscardi’s “Theme and Variations” on CIM’s Insiders concert series with faculty pianist Antonio Pompa-Bladi.

Annamarie’s festival experiences include summers at the Sarasota Music Festival, Heifetz International Music Festival, Bowdoin Music Festival, and Meadowmount School of Music, working with mentors including Clive Greensmith, Timothy Eddy and Steve Doane. As a Colorado College festival fellow, she was featured on the PBS series Now Hear This, performing Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” with members of The Cleveland Orchestra. She was twice an orchestral fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and School, where she served as assistant principal of the Aspen Chamber Symphony and studied with Darrett Adkins and Richard Aaron.

Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Annamarie received her early musical training at the Academy of the Music Institute of Chicago with Tanya Carey and Hans Jørgen Jensen. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music under Desmond Hoebig and went on to complete her Master’s of Music at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Dr. Melissa Kraut, where she was a member of the Advanced String Quartet Seminar and coached by the Emerson Quartet.

Annamarie returned to her Suzuki roots to complete her pedagogy and practicum training with Dr. Tanya Carey, Avi Friedlander and Abbey Hansen, and is a registered teacher with the Suzuki Association of the Americas for all ten books. She has served on the faculty of institutions including The Cleveland School of the Arts, Cuyahoga Community College TOP, The People’s Music School, The Music Settlement Suzuki Program, Civic Orchestra Mentorship Program, and the Contemporary Youth Orchestra. She maintains a private studio of all ages and stages– working with beginners, advanced pre-college students, and adult learners. Throughout her years of teaching, Annamarie has seen how access to music education is transformative, and aims to empower students at every stage of their musical and personal journey. She emphasizes curiosity, perseverance, and physical ease– elements that lay the groundwork for technical excellence and joyful life-long music making. Learn more here.

Annamarie plays on a 1997 Garavaglia commissioned by renowned Hungarian-American cellist János Starker. She lives in Denver, Colorado, where she spends her days off hiking mountains and jumping in icy rivers.