Originally from Los Angeles, California, Atticus Mellor-Goldman is one of three cellists with the Air Force Strings, winning his position with the ensemble in 2021.
Mellor-Goldman received his Bachelor’s degree in 2019 from the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music, where he was the recipient of a full-tuition, Presidential Scholarship and studied with Julie Albers, Hans Jensen, and Richard Aaron. He went on to earn his Masters degree from Yale University, where he studied with Paul Watkins and Ole Akahoshi.
Mellor-Goldman has served as principal cello of the Yale Philharmonia and the McDuffie Center for Strings Chamber Orchestra, and has been featured on NPR’s “From the Top” and American Public Media’s “Performance Today,”. In 2015, his string quartet from Los Angeles was awarded the Gold Medal Prize in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition’s Junior division. In 2014, he was selected as one of two musicians to act as a “cultural ambassador” for New York University Abu Dhabi. Additionally, he is a past winner of the Townsend School of Music’s concerto competition.
Mellor-Goldman has performed at concert venues around the world including Disney Hall, the Dresden Opera House, the Kennedy Center, Boston Symphony Hall, Royce Hall, and Carnegie Hall. He has benefitted from a rich teaching experience including masterclasses with internationally renowned artists David Finckel, Clive Greensmith, Paul Watkins, Vivian Weilerstein, Edward Arron, Paul Coletti, Schmuel Ashkenasi, Natasha Brofsky, Timothy Eddy, Anne Marie McDermott, and Wu Han. He has also been privileged to perform chamber music alongside distinguished artists Osmo Vänskä, Erin Keefe, Edgar Meyer, Ivano Zaneghi, Amy Moretti, Rebecca Albers, Annie Fullard, Andy Akiho, and Robert McDuffie. His chamber music and orchestral experience includes the prominent summer festivals of Kneisel Hall, Rome Chamber Music Festival, Moritzburg Festival Academy, Sarasota Music Festival, Festival Schiermonnikoog, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival Fellowship Program.
Recent highlights include performing the east coast premiere of Indian American composer Reena Esmail’s work “When the Violin” for solo cello and choir, the world premiere of Amy Mill’s “Flee” for string quartet, and the world premiere of Grammy award-winning composer Christopher Theofanidis’ Quintet for clarinet and string quartet.
He currently lives in Fairfax, Virginia, and enjoys cooking Korean food with his wife, Minji, and playing Pickleball in his spare time.