Tanya Tomkins

Cellist Tanya Tomkins is equally at home on Baroque and modern instruments. Tomkins spent 14 years in the Netherlands during which time she traveled throughout Europe, performing with many chamber ensembles. She has been featured on many chamber music series to critical acclaim, including those at the Frick Collection, 92nd Street Y, and Concertgebouw Kleine Zaal, as well as Great Performances at Lincoln Center and San Francisco Performances. 

Tomkins is renowned for her interpretation of the Bach Cello Suites, having recorded all of them for the Avie label and performed them many times at venues such as New York’s Le Poisson Rouge, Seattle’s Early Music Guild, Vancouver’s Early Music Society, and the Library of Congress. 

For the past 20 years, Tomkins has been one of the principal cellists of San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Portland Baroque Orchestra, and she has appeared with both numerous times as a soloist. On modern cello, Tomkins is a long-time participant at the Moab Music Festival in Utah, Music in the Vineyards in Napa, and a member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble. 

Tomkins is currently a member of the Bay Area-based Delphi Piano Trio and Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival. As an educator, Tomkins has given masterclasses at Yale, Juilliard, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and together with Eric Zivian, she runs the Valley of the Moon Music Festival’s Apprenticeship Program.