Brent Selby, cellist and teacher, is from the small town of Bath, North Carolina, where he was raised on a farm. Up until age eleven he thought he would end up farming, but after seeing Yo Yo Ma perform on PBS he decided he was interested in music and learning to play the cello.  Luckily, a retired violinist had recently moved to the area and agreed to teach him until she could find him a proper cello teacher.  He eventually went on to study with Wendy Bissinger and then at seventeen he studied with Emanuel Gruber, cello faculty of East Carolina University.  Mr. Selby earned his bachelors degree from New England Conservatory studying with Natasha Brofsky and then privately studied with violinist, Mela Tenenbaum.  In addition to performing with various local ensembles, he began teaching cello for Lifelong Learning Academy in Franklin, MA where he has now been teaching for ten years; Mr. Selby is passionate about providing quality music instruction for children as much as he loves performing.  In 2018, Mr. Selby joined the Rhode Island Philharmonic’s cello section, and in 2021 he was appointed assistant principal cellist of the Portland Symphony Orchestra. Although he swore off farming, he currently resides in Franklin, MA with his wife Jackie, who is also a cellist and ropes him into weeding her ever expanding garden.