Vanessa Ruotolo is a cellist and educator based in San Francisco. She earned degrees from the New England and San Francisco Conservatories of Music and is a tenured member of the Santa Rosa Symphony, Pacific Chamber Orchestra, and Midsummer Mozart Festival Orchestra. Vanessa plays with the Skywalker Sound Orchestra as well as opera companies Opera Parallèle, Opera On Tap and San Francisco Opera's Merola program. She has performed with several new music ensembles including Earplay, SFCMP, Eco Ensemble, Pacific Rim, April in Santa Cruz, and Other Minds Festival. As a former member of Del Sol, Hidden Valley, Rhythm Sisters and Real Vocal String Quartets, among others, Ms. Ruotolo appreciates exploring a wide range of musical styles.

Vanessa has performed with popular music icons Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, The Eagles, The Who, and Mary J. Blige, as well as recorded for several motion picture scores, including the upcoming release of the vampire horror film Renfield starring Nicolas Cage.

She has served as lecturer in music at UC Santa Cruz since 2009 where she enjoys the challenges and rewards of teaching while also performing new music compositions of students and faculty alike, having recorded original works for New World and Other Minds Records.

She recently travelled to West Africa to support music programs at the University of Ghana, the Accra Youth Symphony and a student orchestra at Kinder Paradise, an orphanage in Prampram.

Dedicated to encouraging music education in public schools, Vanessa has spent nearly 20 years scripting and performing children's concerts for the San Francisco Symphony's Education program, serving every student in the San Francisco Unified School District.