22 year old multi-genre cellist and electric cellist Tina Guo has appeared as a soloist with the San Diego Symphony, the State of Mexico National Symphony, the Palomar Symphony, the Paducah Symphony, the Petrobras Symphony of Brazil, the Pueblo Symphony, the Auburn Symphony, the Idylwild Symphony, and the Vancouver Island Symphony. Upcoming concerts this season include performances of the Shostakovich Concerto with the Cobb Symphony in Georgia, the Saint-Saens Concerto with the Barra Mansa Symphony in Brazil, and the Elgar Concerto in Italy with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana. In August, Tina will be performing a Jimi Hendrix Tribute Concert at the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janiero with Brazilian guitarist Victor Biglione. She also performed recently at the 2008 Grammy Awards with the Foo Fighters, and played shows at the Playboy Mansion, The Knitting Factory, The Roxy, and The Whisky in Los Angeles.

The latest season highlights have included a performance with violinist Midori Goto in Dvorak's American String Quartet at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. In January of 2008, she performed with her progressive metal band "Off the Deep End" at the wrap party for the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. Tina has also performed with Stevie Wonder, Josh Groban, John Legend, and Michael McDonald, and was featured in a show for the PGA. Tina recently recorded solo cello on John Legend's new album, played in the soundtrack for the movie "Hancock," and was also featured on the electric cello in an album for the Yamaha SV Quartet Series which were distributed to music programs in schools nationwide, introducing electric string instruments to the music curriculum in America.

Last summer, Tina toured with rock/classical crossover girl-band "Metaphor" through Australia, performing 22 consecutive shows in 21 cities on the electric cello. She also traveled to France and Brazil with the "Pegasus Piano Trio" for the Franco-Américaine Rencontre de Musique de la Chambre at the Château de la Bretesche in Missillac and the Rio XIII International Cello Encounter. Tina performed the Elgar Concerto with the Petrobras Symphony while in Brazil, and the concert was broadcasted on national television. After Brazil, Tina performed with crossover pianist William Joseph in Majorca, Spain for the International Philanthropy Summit.

Tina recently gave a classical cello masterclass at Colorado State University, and also presented three classical and alternative electric cello workshops at local high schools in the state. She demonstrated the diversity of the cello to the students in the band, orchestra, and choir classes to hundreds of students at these public and special program schools. Coming up this summer, Tina will be returning to Rio de Janiero for multiple concerts and to give a masterclass at the XIV Rio International Cello Encounter 2008.

Tina has won first prize in the MTAC VOCE California State Solo Competition, the ASTA California State Concerto Competition, the CAPMT California State Solo Competition, the La Jolla Symphony Young Artists Competition, the Music Heritage Incorporated String Competition, the San Diego Symphony Young Artists Competition, and the Parness Concerto Competition for Young Artists. She was also presented with the "Most Promising Talent" Award at the California Young Artists Competition.
Most recently, Tina won first place in the University of Southern California's Thorton School of Music Concerto Competition. A published composer, Tina has been awarded first place in the MTNA's California State Composition Competition for her series of cello duets. They can be found in Davina Music Publications' chamber music books.

Tina began playing the cello under the instruction of her father, Lu-Yan Guo. She then continued her studies with Professor Eleonore Schoenfeld and Nathaniel Rosen at the the University of Southern California's Thorton School of Music on full scholarship.

Currently in the studio, Tina is recording with her progressive metal band, "Off the Deep End," in which she plays the electric cello, keyboard, and also sings. They will be playing with Styx in Hawaii at the Blaisell Arena and the Hilton Waikoloa Village in October. In addition to "Off the Deep End," her newest project currently in pre-production is a progressive rock fusion band with Kee Marcello on guitar, Vitalij Kuprij on keyboards, Billy Sheehan on bass, and Virgil Donati on drums.

Tina performs on a 1787 Perry on loan from the Colburn Foundation.
On electric cello, she plays the Yamaha SVC-200.
Tina is endorsed by Carvin and uses the BR610 Bass Combo Amp.
She is also endorsed by Voodoo Lab, Coffin Case, Pedaltrain, Zoom, and Samson.

"When I play my cello, I am completely pure, naked, and open. I long for the moments when my outer shell no longer matters. I hunger for every genuine tear of sorrow, joy, or understanding shared. When you can hear me for who I am, and see me in a way that doesn't involve looking at me, but rather looking through me, only then can I be satisfied.

When I play, I see ghosts. I am only aware of undiluted emotions manifesting; those that arise from the tribulations of life and of death, of the most beautiful love and the most heart wrenching grief. The same purity of feeling that has inspired every creator of art, of music; every human being that has ever dreamed of an ideal, lives in the flowing melodies. Expression through an abstract is blessed in its form to be free from the stains of reality.

When I make music, I rediscover my identity. Not a daughter, a sister, a lover, nor a friend, but only one soul connected to every other person that has walked the earth.

I ache to show you what is inside my heart. I ache to be understood. I ache for all of us to understand our humanity. I ache to tell the world an eternal story. Watch me, hear me pray in the only way I know how."