Drake Driscoll

Cellist Drake Driscoll has established herself as both a versatile performer and advocate for social change through music. She is the Executive Director and Co-founder of The VISION Collective, an ensemble dedicated to building meaningful relationships with and among refugees and new Americans by exchanging music between diverse communities. Drake is also a member of the United Nations Chamber Music Society and was a Gluck Community Service fellow at The Juilliard School. A passionate teacher and arts administrator, Drake is a mentor and substitute coach for Juilliard Pre-College chamber music, Management Associate for After Arts, and Marketing and Production Assistant for the NYC branch of Music for Food. She has also served as the Teaching Assistant to Hans Jørgen Jensen and Julia Lichten at the Meadowmount School of Music and has her own private teaching studio in NYC.

Drake’s recent solo performances with orchestra include Elgar’s Concerto in E minor with the Triangle Youth Philharmonic and Lalo’s Concerto in D minor with the Lowell Philharmonic Orchestra. While participating in the Holland International Music Sessions, Drake was heard on National Public Radio in the Netherlands, performing Debussy’s Cello Sonata and Paganini’s Moses Variations. A recent highlight of Drake’s orchestral career was an appearance in the legendary BBC Proms Royal Albert Hall as part of the 2019 Juilliard/Royal Academy of Music orchestral collaboration.

Drake has held many leadership positions including principal cello of the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra, the Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra, the Triangle Youth Philharmonic, and the North Carolina Symphony Youth Sinfonietta.Drake is a member of the 2020-2021 Global Leaders Program cohort, pursuing an Executive Graduate Certificate in Social Entrepreneurship, Cultural Agency, Teaching Artistry, and Civic Leadership. She recently graduated from The Juilliard School with a Master of Music degree where she was the recipient of the 2020 Entrepreneurship Grant and the Norman Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and previously attended the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and Walnut Hill School for the Arts where she graduated with the Music Department Award. Her previous teachers include Elizabeth Beilman, Natasha Brofsky, Hans Jørgen Jensen, and Nicole Johnson.