Cellist Nelly Rocha has performed as a soloist, chamber , pit and orchestra musician in Europe, Asia, Mexico and across the United States.
Nelly was a cellist in the Broadway show Gypsy featuring Audra McDonald at the Majestic Theatre and the new musical The Seat of Our Pants at the Public Theatre and has also appeared in Death Becomes Her (Broadway), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Off-Broadway), and Porgy and Bess (National Tour).
Nelly has performed with artists including: Michael Bublé, Disturbed, Suki Waterhouse, Hanson, Pink Martini, Smokey Robinson, Watsky, Deltron 3030, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and Natalia Lafourcade. She has appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Mozart in the Jungle, The Late Night Show with David Letterman, the National Public Radio shows All Of It, and Soundcheck. Nelly can be heard in the the GRAMMY award winning album All the Ladies by Joanie Leeds, the GRAMMY award nominated Broadway cast recording of Gypsy featuring Audra McDonald, and the album Mi Alma Mexicana with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas released by SONY.
Nelly has performed with the Distinguished Concerts International New York Orchestra, Miami Symphony, Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, National Lyric Opera, Martina Arroyo Opera, Opera North, Reading Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and the Verbier Festival Orchestra. As a founding member of Quartetto Tomassini, Nelly performed at the Met Museum’s Balcony Music Series and New York’s Latin American Cultural Week.
A passionate advocate of music by women, Nelly has performed recitals featuring female composers at the International Congress of Women in Music, the Encuentro Internacional de Mujeres en el Arte, the Universal Forum of Cultures, the Ossie Davis Theater (NY), the Musicians Club of Women (Chicago) and the Friday Noonday Concert series at Fourth Church (Chicago).
Nelly enjoys performing with the non-profit organizations Concerts in Motion, which provides free concerts for seniors, veterans, the disabled and homeless, and with Music for Autism, which provides free autism-friendly concerts for individuals with autism and their families.
Nelly is originally from Mexico, where she began her musical studies. She holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Houston and a Master of Music degree from Arizona State University.
A dedicated teacher, Nelly has taught at Harold Washington College, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and the Music Conservatory of Westchester. She completed the two year Suzuki teacher training program at the School for Strings in New York.
