Viola with Déborah R.

Déborah Ramos-Smiley began playing the cello in 1998 and has been teaching cello for over a decade. They began teaching locally in 2004 as a high school student at both Deep Creek High School and the Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, VA. Déb Ramos-Smiley went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude from East Carolina University earning two Bachelor’s degrees in Music Education and Cello Performance in 2010. Since then, they continue to perform professionally with the Tar River Symphony, Symphonicity of Virginia Beach, and Club Violin. A full teaching career has included teaching chamber music at the NC Suzuki Institute and the Williamsburg Youth Orchestras, rock for string instruments at QORDS summer camp, and teaching in public schools in both North Carolina and Virginia. Currently, Déborah is the orchestra director at Deep Creek Middle School in Chesapeake, VA. Mx. Ramos-Smiley continues to maintain a private studio and performs locally on both electric and acoustic cellos in weddings, musicals, operas, and concerts in a variety of styles and repertoires. In addition to a musical career, they are an avid cyclist and group fitness instructor- and hopes to create a more beautiful world through movement and the arts.