Nora Willauer, D.M.A.

About Nora

Nora Willauer, D.M.A., is a freelance cellist and music educator based in Cleveland, Ohio, and Midcoast Maine. She completed her doctoral studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Dr. Melissa Kraut and Mark Kosower. Willauer's culminating lecture recital explored the relationship between groove and cello pedagogy, and her work was awarded CIM’s Kaplow prize for uncommon creativity.

Willauer maintains an active performance schedule as a chamber musician both in NE Ohio and New England. She plays with the Bernhardt-Kowal-Willauer trio, a piano trio that made its professional debut in 2026 at the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, and she is currently touring with “Strings Attached,” an interactive performance focused on 20th century virtuosity. Willauer holds section positions with the Cleveland Pops and the Canton Symphony Orchestra, and collaborates in chamber music settings with members of The Cleveland Orchestra.

As a teacher, Willauer helps her students create a healthy and joyful relationship with their instruments. She focuses on balanced foundational technique that works with the natural laws of students' individual bodies, and creates myriad performance opportunities so that each student learns to befriend center stage. Willauer served as the cello professor at the University of Akron for three years, where she grew cello studio enrollment three-fold.

Willauer now owns and operates Willauer Cello Studios, a competitive Suzuki studio of 25 cellists ages 3-65. Students in Willauer Cello Studios take private lessons and weekly group classes, and they often win top competitions in Cleveland and NE Ohio. Recent graduates secured large scholarships to music programs at Eastman, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and Howard University. For more advanced cellists (professionals age 22+), Willauer runs Resonance Cello Coaching — a virtual coaching community for cellists who crave a health-oriented reset. This six-month program, now in its third cycle, draws participants from across the U.S.