Janelle Ragno started playing the cello entirely by accident at the age of ten in the public school system…

She was put in the wrong class, discovered the cello, and then just kept playing it until someone handed her a doctorate in cello performance. She was very fortunate to have inspiring teachers all throughout her musical education and now is passionate about being an inspiring teacher for others. Her private cello teachers include: Sharol Fast, Vsevolod (Sieva) Lezhnev, Julian Tryczynski, and Phyllis Young.

Janelle has earned multiple degrees in music: a Bachelor of Music in cello performance degree at Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University, a Master of Music in String Pedagogy and Literature and a Doctor of Musical Arts in cello performance at the University of Texas at Austin where she served as Phyllis Young’s teaching assistant and had extensive pedagogical training.  During her graduate studies she also received Suzuki training in both cello and violin. Her doctoral treatise is entitled “The Lutheran Hymn ‘Ein’ feste Burg’ in Claude Debussy’s Cello Sonata (1915): Motivic Variation and Transformation” and in it she overturns existing beliefs regarding the sonata, showing instead that Debussy depicts the battles between French and German armies during World War I through dichotomies of motives, styles and tonal areas.  Prof. Young also had Janelle assist her at the International String Workshops both in Biarritz, France, and Graz, Austria. 

Janelle is an accomplished teacher whose students frequently win awards and honours at festivals, pass Royal Conservatory of Music exams with high honours and are often selected as principal chairs of the youth orchestras in which they participate. Her students have also been accepted into cello performance programs on scholarship at various universities and have now become professional cellists.   In Austin, TX, Janelle held various teaching positions at the University of Texas String Project, the Orpheus Academy and the Austin Chamber Music Center and co-founded the Northwest Hills Chamber Music Festival. Now in Vancouver, she runs a successful home studio with her husband, Andrew Luchkow.

Janelle has also enjoyed conducting various ensembles.  At the present time she is the musical director of the Newbie Adult Chamber Orchestra (NACHO), a beginner-to-intermediate symphony orchestra that meets at the St. James Community Square and was featured on the CBC radio podcast North by Northwest with Cheryl MacKay.  In the past she has conducted the senior orchestra at St. Jude Catholic School in Vancouver and the Advanced Orchestra at the University of Texas String Project.  In October 2020 she will conduct the full orchestra at the New Horizons Camp in Mt. Tremblant, Quebec.

In addition to teaching Cello and conducting, Janelle is often called upon to teach sectionals and master classes as well as adjudicate at various festivals and institutions including the University of Texas String Project, the Association of Christian Schools International Solo and Ensemble Festivals, the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Langley School of Music, the Richmond Delta Youth Orchestra, the Vancouver Academy of Music and the Chancellor Music Festival at St. Thomas More Collegiate.  She is a member of the British Columbia Registered Music Teachers’ Association. 2009, she presented a lecture for the British Columbia Music Educators’ Association conference entitled “Off to a Good Start: Encouraging Correct Technique in the Beginning School Orchestra”.   

As a performer, Janelle was a member of the Blue Ridge String Quartet which toured Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, and in Austin performed as a chamber and orchestral musician at the International Festival-Institute at Round Top (Texas), played with Mid-Texas Symphony and Brazos Symphony and was a weekly soloist at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Austin. Since moving to Vancouver in 2008, Janelle has focused more on building a teaching studio and raising her two children but has still found time to perform with such groups as Orchestra Armonia, Sentio Dance Company, and Samuel Sixto.  You can see her “five seconds of fame” towards the end of the Hallmark movie Miss Matched.  Janelle has formed the Cello Cieli duo with her husband, Andrew Luchkow which played at the In the House Festival in 2009.  She also contracts chamber music for weddings and other events.