April Dawn Guthrie is a Los Angeles based composer/cellist/vocalist and Cherokee Nation citizen who grew up in Kansas City as the daughter of a 6th generation carpenter. She holds an MFA in Multi-Focus Cello Performance from the California Institute of the Arts and a double major BA in Cello Performance and Environmental Studies from Illinois Wesleyan University. Guthrie has recorded/performed with The Alan Parsons Project, Björk, Bonobo, Halsey, Guster, X Ambassadors, Angel Olsen, Amanda Palmer, and Fun. Her teaching, hand-doubling, and recording for television includes Young Sheldon, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Heroes. Guthrie’s focus on contemporary music/performance art/improvisation has brought her to work directly with The Industry, WildUp, Louis Andriessen, Georges Aperghis, Joan LaBarbara, Vinny Golia, Wadada Leo Smith, and John Zorn. 

Guthrie’s recent compositions include Wagon Burning Savage, which is inspired by the social unrest in Mexico and the United States. She recently completed a composition fellowship at The Wyoming Festival, as well as a commission from the Dogstar Orchestra (May 2019) for her larger suite, Our Founding Foremothers, about influential women in American history; e.g. the first women to summit the Grand Tetons (Grand Bitches of the Tetons), Wilma Mankiller the first female Cherokee Nation Chief (I Become the Buffalo), and Robbie McBride and Beth Ward of Reno, Nevada who represent the women entrepreneurs that ran the divorce ranches of the mid 1900s (The Whitney Reno Cure, commissioned by the Reno Modern Brass Quintet for a November 2019 performance). 

This year her composition and collaboration with Matthew Paul Olmos of so go the ghosts of méxico, part three, a poet sings the daughter songs was recognized for Best Original Music/Songs of 2019 by Theatre Jones. “Music is an integral part of Olmos’ trilogy, and Guthrie’s score somehow manages to ground the story while also giving flight to the characters.”