In demand as an orchestral musician, Celeste was recently appointed to the position of 3rd & Bass Clarinet with the Dayton Philharmonic. She has performed with a variety of orchestras across the United States on both clarinet and bass clarinet, including the Fort Collins Symphony, Boulder Philharmonic, and Steamboat Springs Symphony Orchestra in Colorado, the Richmond and Williamsburg Symphonies in Virginia, the Virginia Opera Orchestra, the Fayetteville Symphony (North Carolina), the Charleston Symphony (South Carolina), the Las Colinas and Austin Symphonies in Texas, the Las Vegas Philharmonic, the Bozeman Symphony in Montana, the Springfield and Akron Symphonies in Ohio, and the Dayton Philharmonic. She can also be heard as principal clarinet on the Dallas Chamber Choir’s 2019 Spotify album of Mozart’s Requiem.

Celeste has also appeared with numerous music festivals, including the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado, two international tours with the Orchestra of the Americas to Europe and the Caribbean, the Brevard Music Center, and two seasons with Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina. She has also performed in the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia. In 2016, Celeste was a featured performer at the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest, joining her mentor Chicago Symphony bass clarinetist Lawrie Bloom and seven of his former students for an all-bass clarinet recital entitled “Lawrie Bloom and Friends.” As a chamber musician, she has collaborated with musicians such as Alexander Kerr, David Cooper, Almita Vamos, Erin Hannigan, William Ludwig, Ted Soluri, and Alcides Rodriguez, as well as the Escher String Quartet and the Dayton Philharmonic Wind Quintet.

A passionate advocate for new and modern works, Celeste regularly performs with the Texas New Music Ensemble in both Houston and Dallas. She was also the solo clarinet and bass clarinet fellow with the 2019 Atlantic Music Festival’s contemporary ensemble, where she assisted in the premiere of over fifty new works by composition fellows and faculty. 

Committed to educating the next generation of clarinetists, Celeste maintains a private teaching studio in Columbus, Ohio and has given masterclasses in the United States, Germany, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic. Former students have gone on to pursue music performance and education at UT Austin, SUNY Potsdam, SUNY Fredonia, New York University, the University of Kansas, Liberty University in San Antonio, Ithaca College, Cal State Long Beach, and Cal State Fullerton. Celeste served on the faculty of the Mahanaim School’s collegiate conservatory in Huntington, New York for the 2016-2017 academic year, and was also a Teaching Artist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s Young Musicians Program. The Young Musicians Program is modeled after El Sistema, Venezuela’s publicly financed music education program. Using music as a vehicle for social change, DSO Teaching Artists work with hundreds of students each week to create a vibrant musical community in Southern Dallas.

Born in Orange, California, Celeste started her musical career on piano at age six, and began studying the clarinet at age ten. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of California, Irvine, where she graduated cum laude and also completed a minor in Political Science. Celeste received her Master of Music Performance from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and has performed in masterclasses for Mark Nuccio, John Bruce Yeh, David Howard, Daniel Matsukawa, Richie Hawley, Michael Wayne, Ralph Skiano, Anthony McGill, and Sasha Potiomkin. Celeste also holds a Performance Diploma from Southern Methodist University and counts Lawrie Bloom, Steve Cohen, Amanda Walker, Greg Raden, and Yehuda Gilad amongst her principal teachers.

Outside of the concert hall, Celeste enjoys cycling, hiking, distance running, a good cup of coffee, cooking, and hanging out with her two mischievous felines, Theo and Toby.

Celeste is a member of the Local 101-473 Chapter of the American Federation of Musicians.