Meet Mr. Flaus

Teaches: Cello · Violin · Viola

Zachary picked up the cello and never really put it down. He studied at Duquesne on a full scholarship, earning a Bachelor's in Music Education and then a Master's in Cello Performance, and he's played with the Duquesne University Symphony Orchestra, around Pittsburgh's theater scene, for weddings, events and more! During his years in the DC area he also played with the Washington Metropolitan Gamer Symphony Orchestra — a full orchestra devoted to video game music, which tells you most of what you need to know about how he thinks about repertoire.

His favorite moment in teaching is a small one. It's the lesson where a student plays a note slightly out of tune, hears it themselves, and fixes it before he can say anything. That's the whole goal, really - not getting through the next piece, but building a player who can eventually coach themselves.

So technique, tone, posture, and theory all get attention from the first lesson, alongside whatever the student actually wants to play. His own listening runs from the standard cello repertoire straight through rock, jazz, folk, and film scores, and he's happy to meet a student wherever theirs lives. Complete beginners are welcome. So are the adults who played through high school, stopped, and have been meaning to start again for about fifteen years.