About the Director

Dr. Katarina Pliego is a passionate and innovative educator, cellist, and author. She holds a Doctorate in Cello Performance from the University of Northern Colorado, where she studied with Dr. Gal Faganel. She earned her Master’s degree from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and her Bachelor’s degree from Anglia Ruskin University Cambridge. Her mentors include Rudi de Groote, Caroline Bosanquet, Natalia Gutman, Daniel Rothmuller, Peter Stumpf, Alexander Buzlov, David Grigorian, and members of the Brodsky and Chilingirian Quartets.

At the heart of Dr. Pliego’s work is a deep commitment to music education. For three years, she served as a teaching assistant at UNC, where she taught cello, studio class, and chamber music. She also spent eight years on the faculty at Front Range Community College, teaching cello, music appreciation, and music history. She is now excited to be a part of the Silver Creek High School music team, where she aims to inspire students and provide them with a well-rounded education in both music and life skills. Known for her student-centered approach, she fosters creativity, discipline, and joy in music-making. Her teaching has led to impressive student accomplishments, including placements in competitive district and state orchestras and scholarship offers from major universities for cello performance.

Beyond the classroom, Dr. Pliego maintains a thriving private cello studio and serves on the summer faculty of Rocky Ridge Music and Just Chamber Music. She is also active an guest clinician and presenter. She regularly leads SVVSD Honor Orchestra Cello Sectionals (middle and high school), and adjudicates All State Orchestra auditions. She recently presented at the CCIRA National Literacy Conference, and played a featured role in the inaugural SVVSD Preschool event in partnership with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. In April 2025, she was both narrator and soloist in two children’s concerts with the Aurora Symphony Orchestra.

As an author, Dr. Pliego extends her educational mission through literature. Her bilingual children’s book, Emilia Tries the Cello (Emilia Prueba el Violonchelo), earned national recognition and was published in 2022 to introduce young audiences to music through storytelling.

In addition to her teaching and outreach work, Dr. Pliego is an avid performer. She appears regularly as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player across the U.S. and Europe. She has performed with ensembles such as the Health and Wellness Orchestra Fort Collins, UNC Wind Ensemble, Anglia Ruskin University Orchestra, K239 Orchestra, and Nottingham Youth Orchestra. Her orchestral appearances have taken her to world-renowned venues including Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Cadogan Hall, and the Royal Albert Hall. Her genre-crossing versatility includes collaborations with artists such as Father John Misty (Red Rocks), Michael Bublé (Ball Arena), and Ben Folds (FoCo Botanic Gardens).

Dr. Pliego performs on a modern cello by a British luthier Roderick Ward and a French Mirecourt bow, both of which were acquired with the inheritance from her late cello teacher, Caroline R. Bosanquet, a source of profound inspiration and mentorship.