Mara Finkelstein, cello, studied at the Gnessin College of Music and the Tchaikowsky Conservatory in Moscow before coming to the United States in 1989. Currently principal cellist of the Northwest Sinfonietta, she has performed with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, Cornish Chamber Series, Silsbee Piano Trio, Seattle International Music Festival, and Fear No Music Twentieth Century Ensemble. She has appeared regularly with Music of Remembrance since its inaugural year, and is the cellist in Schulhoff’s Five Pieces for String Quartet recorded on MOR’s Art from Ashes, Vol. 1, and in Gerard Schwarz’s In Memoriam on MOR’s 2008 recording, available on Naxos records.