Ceridwen McCooey - Cello Teacher at Keys To Success
Ceridwen is an Australian cellist, composer and teacher based in New York. She holds a Bachelor of Music Performance at The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music with a first class honours and a Masters of Music Degree from The New School in New York City.
Ceridwen has been teaching for almost 10 years and has cultivated a philosophy that is centred around passing on the techniques of cello playing to each student in a way that instils passion and discipline. Ceridwen’s creative instincts allow her to adapt to each cellist’s individual learning style, making the most out of each class. Ceridwen is supportive of her students in all their musical endeavours whether they have specific goals such as participating in NYSSMA/ABRSM exams or just play for fun. She has experience with students aged 3 to people in their 60s and she firmly believes it is never too late to learn the cello! She believes strongly that learning the cello is one of the most rewarding ways to spend time and she is excited to pass on knowledge she has learnt from her own many years of experience with the instrument.
Ceridwen is an award-winning composer-performer, recognised for her creative achievements and numerous scholarships. In 2019 she received in first prize in the Allan Zavod Performer’s Award. She was commissioned by Arts Centre Melbourne in 2020, was mentored by the Australian Art Orchestra and Ensemble Offspring in 2021, and was selected for the Flinders Quartet’s Emerging Composers program. Her accolades in 2022 include being named a Dots and Loops Performance Fellow and winning the 3MBS The Talent competition. In 2023, she received the New School Merit Scholarship, the Joyce McKenna Scholarship, and the Ian Potter Cultural Trust award for study abroad, in addition to being nominated for the Freedman Fellowship and selected for the Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, to name a few. In 2021 Ceridwen released her debut EP, The Conference of the Birds, with New York-based label RHODIUM in 2021. In March 2026, Ceridwen released her debut full length album Forget - Me - Nots for solo cello and voice. In May 2026, Ceridwen was a recipient of the Australian Art Music Fund and is currently working on a piece for solo cello and string quartet that will be premiered in New York in February 2026.