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Cello

Allen Probus

Allen Probus has been a cellist in the Kansas City Symphony since 2002. He received a bachelor’s degree from Bob Jones University and holds a master’s degree with the Cleveland Institute of Music, having studied with Stephen Geber, former principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra. While in Cleveland, Probus was also principal cellist of the Canton Symphony Orchestra and acting assistant principal of the Akron Symphony Orchestra. He has substituted with the Cleveland Orchestra and has toured Europe and the Far East with the Detroit and Pittsburgh Symphonies. Past summer festival engagements have included the Eastern Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Spoleto USA, Blossom Music Festival, and the National Repertory Orchestra. Probus maintains a full private teaching studio and is the music director at Tri-City Baptist Church in Blue Springs, MO. During the summer, he conducts and teaches at the Sforzando String Camp in Chicago. He is also a member of the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra and a founding member of the Kansas City Cello Quartet.


Allen Probus

Allen Probus has been a cellist in the Kansas City Symphony since 2002. He received a bachelor’s degree from Bob Jones University and holds a master’s degree with the Cleveland Institute of Music, having studied with Stephen Geber, former principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra. While in Cleveland, Probus was also principal cellist of the Canton Symphony Orchestra and acting assistant principal of the Akron Symphony Orchestra. He has substituted with the Cleveland Orchestra and has toured Europe and the Far East with the Detroit and Pittsburgh Symphonies. Past summer festival engagements have included the Eastern Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Spoleto USA, Blossom Music Festival, and the National Repertory Orchestra. Probus maintains a full private teaching studio and is the music director at Tri-City Baptist Church in Blue Springs, MO. During the summer, he conducts and teaches at the Sforzando String Camp in Chicago. He is also a member of the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra and a founding member of the Kansas City Cello Quartet.

Probably law or some sort of church ministry.

The school I attended had a string program that started in fourth grade. At the beginning of each year, they would have an instrument demonstration for all the kids. My older sister had started on the violin a year earlier, and my parents had encouraged me to pick an instrument as well. I saw the cello and even got to try it out afterwards. I loved the sound and knew that was the one for me. I told my parents about it that afternoon. The morning of the first class, I found a cello on the breakfast table for me!

My wife, Andrea, and I were married in 2000. We now have 9 children.

I play in the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra. My wife is a violinist, and we play a few gigs around town.

Find a good teacher, listen to as many great musicians as you can, and PRACTICE!!!

I visited Sydney, Australia while on an orchestra tour and was immediately struck with the beauty of the harbor there. So far, no other city has come close in my mind.

Spicy Italian sausage, LOTS of cheese, plenty of veggies, but NO mushrooms!

As a kid, I had a lot of short term ambition, but not a lot of long term career thinking. It wasn’t really until a month before I went to college that I decided to pursue music as a career, and it was more with the idea of teaching music. I didn’t think I would ever be good enough to get a job performing. The summer before graduate school was when I really started to latch onto the idea of playing in an orchestra.

Consistency and kindness

Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony with Christoph von Dohnányi