Mark Summer is the Turtle Island String Quartet's cellist as of 2009; he is an original member and the only member to have performed every TISQ performance since their founding in 1985.
Mark Summer grew up in Los Angeles, California playing piano, guitar, and, starting at the age of nine, cello. From the beginning he was very interested in alternative genres, playing in a rock band called The Purple Testament as a teenager as well as arranging tu...
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Mark Summer is the Turtle Island String Quartet's cellist as of 2009; he is an original member and the only member to have performed every TISQ performance since their founding in 1985.
Mark Summer grew up in Los Angeles, California playing piano, guitar, and, starting at the age of nine, cello. From the beginning he was very interested in alternative genres, playing in a rock band called The Purple Testament as a teenager as well as arranging tunes for his high school jazz band. Summer studied cello with Edwin Geber of the Los Angeles Philharmonic as a child and eventually, after nearly-dropping out, graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music continuing his studies with the Geber family with Stephen Geber with a cello performance major. After conservatory, Summer went on to secure a spot in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for three years, still unhappy. Looking for alternative genres, he left the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra playing in an assortment of alternative ensembles until...
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