Featured Guest

DJ Cheek joined the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra as Principal Viola in August 2021. He has appeared as soloist with the orchestra in works by Bartók, Berlioz, Bruch, and Mozart, collaborating with conductors Anna Skryleva, Robert Spano, Taichi Fukumura, and Kevin John Edusei. Prior to his current appointment, DJ played Principal Viola in the Jacksonville Symphony. In recent years he appeared as guest Principal with the Indianapolis Symphony and IRIS Orchestra in Tennessee.

DJ is a dedicated teacher, and has mentored students at Round Top, Kneisel Hall, Interlochen, and the Texas Chamber Music Institute. As a chamber musician, he has appeared at festivals such as Music@Menlo, the Perlman Music Program, Lucerne, Sarasota, Olympic, and Yellow Barn. DJ performed as a guest artist with Donald Weilerstein and Kim Kashkashian in support of Music for Food, and he continues to perform with the Music for Food chapter in Fort Worth. 

DJ holds a master’s degree from New England Conservatory and a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College-Conservatory, where he studied with Kim Kashkashian and Peter Slowik, respectively. He was further mentored by Beth Guterman Chu.