Q: How do you pronounce your last name?

A: In all honestly, I seesaw between a few pronunciations myself, so I happily accept many variations. My last name is Czechoslovakian (before they split), and if I pronounced it correctly it would be hloo-SHKO-va (add “-va” for a female). My parents Americanized it when I was young to LUH-skoh (silent H), so that’s what I became used to growing up, and what I usually say when I’m not thinking about it. Any iteration you attempt I will respond to and accept with a smile :)

Q: How did you start playing the cello?

A: Both of my parents are veterinarians, with no musical background whatsoever. When my older brother was in preschool, my mother just happened to be paired with another mother for babysitting duties of the “other” children, and as fate would have it, our pair was with a pianist! As the story goes, when she was watching me, the only time she could get my curious self to sit still was when she played the piano. When she began, I’d race from wherever I was in the house, sit under the piano, and put my hand on it. She recently told me that when I was one and a half, she would sit me on her lap at the piano and play a tune that I had heard her play before, like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and then leave she would off the last note for me to play. She says I was correct every time, and she knew I had to start an instrument of my own. She was going to start her own son on cello, so suggested to my mother that the 4 of us try the Suzuki method together, with a wonderful teacher from my area named Anne Vallentyne. The rest is history…!

Q: Why the cello?

A: The cello has such a beautiful vocal quality; its range is similar to that of a human voice, and something about it’s depth and range makes its sound deeply human and personal to me. Ultimately, I have spent so much of my life searching for my own voice through this beautiful wooden box, that my love for the cello is so intertwined with my own identity and personality; I not only love it, but I can’t really imagine living without it.

Q: What sparked your love of nature?

A: I was extremely fortunate to grow up in a rural area, with parents who were passionate about the outdoors and encouraged us to explore and discover nature from the time we were born. There are photos of my father with one kid on his shoulders, another on his back, and another strapped to his front hiking through the woods. With no shortage of trails and paths accessible by foot from our front doorstep, I spent so much of my childhood outside (I even often practiced outside whenever it was warm enough!) that I never even thought about it. The outdoors — fresh air, sunshine, birdsong, and the excitement of exploration are such an inherent part of my makeup that it’s less a “love” and more a simple part of me — like breathing, eating, or sleeping. Spending time in nature is a necessity to my existence.

Q: What prompted you to found “Philadelphia Performances for Autism”?

A: I didn’t realize this until after I’d begun working on the series, but I had been curious about autism from the time I was 7 years old and did a independent study on it (my Mom recently found the project and showed it to me). I don’t remember how or why I became curious about autism, but I know over time, and especially during my time studying in Philadelphia, I became aware of a lack of programming available for families with children on the spectrum (wonderfully, this has been improving in recent years!). Through working in classrooms with children on the spectrum and becoming involved in the community in Philadelphia, I began to meet and connect with families. One thing I realized in our conversations was that many of these families had few opportunities that were appropriate for both their children with autism and their typically developing children. This made me sad, as many of my warmest childhood memories, especially pertaining to music, were the shared experience of awe at Young Peoples Concerts — not just the music itself, but discovering and sharing it with my brothers and my parents. I wanted to come up with an interactive concert series that was welcoming for families of all ages and abilities, to experience and engage with music in a safe space that had considerations for all types of learners. The first season was an incredibly moving and rewarding experience — and also very challenging, as my first experience not just performing, but curating, contracting, advertising, building an audience for, and securing funding for. I have every intention of rebuilding the series in the coming years, incorporating how I can best serve the community with all I learned from the first several concerts.