Italia Raimond Jones, cello
Italia (Tia) Raimond Jones is a classical cellist, chamber musician, and vocalist born and raised in New York City. Her repertoire spans from baroque to contemporary, and she has performed on stages big and small.
She studied classical violoncello in the studio of Julia Lichten at Manhattan School of Music (BM ’25). She is a cellist with Westside Chamber Players, a student-led ensemble based in the New York Metropolitan. She is an alum of the Special Music School in New York City (’21). Throughout her tenure from kindergarten through graduation, she studied with Yari Bond and performed annually in Ms. Bond’s Concerts Con Brio series.
During her early formative years, she was mentored by From the Top recipient, cellist Sebastian Stöger in a practice/coaching workshop. She was selected for Face the Music’s Kronos Quartet at Kaufman, a String Quartet coached by Kronos Quartet. In middle school she was a member of Inter School Orchestra’s Symphony Orchestra and ISO’s Concert Orchestra, and performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Trinity Church and as principal cellist in a performance at Carnegie Hall. In high school, her New York Youth Symphony quartet ECHO performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Concert Hall and Lincoln Center.
She attended numerous master classes and performed extensively in music festivals, class concerts, music competitions, chorus concerts and solo performances while at SMS. Solo performance highlights include Dam Mwen Yo by Nathalie Joachim for solo cello + electronics, Lamentation by Giovanni Sollima for the Contemporary Music Festival at Merkin Concert Hall, and Julie-O by Mark Summer for Face the Music at The Firehouse Space in Brooklyn, NY. She delighted in performing in high school chamber groups including a piano, cello, violin trio coached by Irina Nuzova and a string quartet coached by Rebecca Fischer. She was the principal cellist in the orchestra of MSM’s Musical Theatre’s production of Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim.
Summer music programs include Vivace in Wilmington, NC, and National Music Festival in Chestertown, MD. She attended 4 summer sessions at Kinhaven Music School in Vermont, where she was the Manager of the Dining Hall for two summers. She is an Activities Director at Kinhaven Music School for the 2025 summer sessions.
As a vocal powerhouse, she has thrilled audiences during her high school’s Cover Me Vocal Competition and a cello/vocal performance for the grand opening of the Raimond Cultural Center in Chestertown, Maryland.