Paula Hochhalter has had a long-standing career as a Los Angeles cellist and a 20-year collaboration with the Malibu Coast String Quartet. She has performed and recorded many compositions by violinist/composer Maria Newman, including her string quartet “Lauds,” several silent film scars including Willful Peggy, What Daisy Said, The Kate Shelly Story, and La Perte de la Terre.
She can also be heard as half of the duo Trufflemusik alongside pianist Elizabeth Myers, playing the piano music of Beethoven in duo form as well as the late solo piano pieces of Brahms Op. 117 and 118. Violinist Clayton Haslop said of the duo, “The arrangements are terrific, the playing sumptuous.” The duo can be heard on Apple Music and Spotify as well as live broadcasts and performances in the LA area.
Paula has been principal cellist with Malibu Concerts on the Bluffs, collaborating with principal dancers of the New York City Ballet. She was previously a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under the batons of Neville Mariner and Gerard Schwarz. She has worked with Mehli Mehta, Henri Temianka, Dan Lewis, and Aaron Copland, for whom she was chosen to perform his piano trio at USC. While there, she was often asked to perform with Jascha Heifitz and his violin students as their quartet cellist.
Paula was a student of Hungarian cellist Gabor Reito, a student of Pablo Casals. She also worked with the Schonfeld sisters at USC. While there, she formed the Vuillame String Quartet, which played in a summer quartet program through Yale University in Norfolk, Connecticut. The coaches for the quartet program were the Tokyo String Quartet and Raphael Hillyer. The Vuillame Quartet went on to perform at the International String Quartet Competition in Munich, also playing concerts in Europe and the East/West coasts of the US.
After graduating USC, with her jazz pianist father as inspiration, Paula performed in a world tour with jazz trumpeter Don Ellis. Later, she went on to join Chick Corea on his world tour. Recordings followed both of these tours of Europe, Asia, Australia, and America. She has played with various orchestras including LA Phil, Santa Barbara Symphony, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, New West Symphony, and Los Angeles Jazz Orchestra to name a few.
Over the years, Paula has played on hundreds of movies and with many iconic artists as well as appearing on award shows including the Academy Awards and the Grammys. She has also performed on tours for other artists such as Keith Jarret, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, and Hans Zimmer. She has performed at many music festivals including Coachella, Eastern Sierra Festival in Mammoth, Strawberry Creek Festival in Malibu, Mozart Festival in San Luis Obispo, Guemes Island Festival with Robert Cani and Karie Prescott, Newport Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Sofia Bulgaria Festival, and Malibu Coast Chamber Festival as the principal cellist. She has recently performed solo cello and various chamber works on Montgomery Arts House Presents.
Paula has taught and coached students throughout her career and now teaches privately through Valley Music Workshop in Los Angeles. She has recently recorded and performed with bass virtuoso Stanley Clarke, soloed with Nan Schwartz at Vibrato Grill Jazz, and performed with vocal trio JEMS. Her work with Trufflemusik continues, as well as performances with the Viklarbo Ensemble and Malibu String Quartet. She also regularly hosts house concerts featuring many of her talented colleagues as well as her children, who are also professional musicians.
