Vanessa Freebairn-Smith is a cellist, based in Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

. She is a founding member of the Sonus Quartet

Sonus Quartet

Sonus Quartet is a Los Angeles based string quartet whose members include Caroline Campbell , Kathleen Sloan , Neel Hammond , and Vanessa Freebairn-Smith...

, formed in 2003, which presents art music

Art music

Art music is an umbrella term used to refer to musical traditions implying advanced structural and theoretical considerations and a written musical tradition...

 in alternative and unusual ways, fusing classical with pop, rock, and hip-hop.

Freebairn-Smith has performed with the Sonus Quartet at presentations such as The Grammy's, The AMA's, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Show with David Letterman

Late Show with David Letterman

Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...

. Over the past few years, she has worked in conjunction with artists such as Sarah McLachlan

Sarah McLachlan

Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. Known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range, as of 2006, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards and four...

, Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr

Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...

, Billy Preston

Billy Preston

William Everett "Billy" Preston was a musician who gained notoriety and fame, first as a session musician for the likes of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and The Beatles, and later finding fame as a solo artist with hits such as "Space Race", "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing from...

 and Dhani Harrison

Dhani Harrison

Dhani Harrison is an English musician and the son of George Harrison of The Beatles and Olivia Harrison. Harrison debuted as a professional musician when completing his father's final album Brainwashed after George Harrison's death in November 2001...

, Sting, Jay-Z

Jay-Z

Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...

, Jewel, John Frusciante

John Frusciante

John Anthony Frusciante is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, record and film producer. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom he had been for a number of years and recorded five studio albums...

, and K.D. Lang

K.D. Lang

Kathryn Dawn Lang, OC , known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress...

.

When she's not working with the Sonus Quartet, Freebairn-Smith plays a wide variety of musical genres

Music genre

A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...

 from classical to rock and does both studio work for albums as well as film and television scores, also performing live in many venues and television presentations. She recently toured with Gnarls Barkley

Gnarls Barkley

Gnarls Barkley is an American soul duo comprising Danger Mouse and Cee Lo Green. Their first studio album St. Elsewhere was released in 2006; along with its first single "Crazy". Both single and album were a major commercial success and have been noted for their large sales by download...

 as well as Josh Groban

Josh Groban

Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country...

on his 'Awake' tour.