Profile

Executive and Artistic Director of Viridian Strings, cellist Kyle Stachnik is the newly appointed Professor of Cello at Sacramento State . He is also the Fourth Chair Cellist of the Santa Rosa Symphony and the Assistant Principal Cellist of the Bay Philharmonic. He holds a Master’s degree in Chamber Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Jennifer Culp, and a Bachelor of Music from the Frost School of Music, where he studied under Ross Harbaugh. He is an alumnus of Interlochen Arts Academy, where he studied with Crispin Campbell.

An active performer in the Bay Area, Stachnik has played with ensembles such as the New Century Chamber Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, Opera San José, Vallejo Festival Orchestra, and SF Broadway. He has recorded at Skywalker Sound and recently appeared on a Deutsche Grammophon release with the New Century Chamber Orchestra.

In addition to his position at Sacramento State, he is also Professor of Cello at Pacific Union College in Angwin, CA, and maintains a private teaching studio. Stachnik is the co-director of Viridian Strings, a summer chamber music series in Northern Michigan, now in its eighth season in 2025. He performs on a 2018 Raymond Schryer cello and a John Greenwood bow.