Ellie Nishi trained as a classical violist under Detlef Olshausen and Felix Khuner. She has a degree from the University of California, Berkeley where she was the recipient of the Eisner Prize for Creative Achievement. While there, Ellie was first exposed to baroque performance practice in class with Alan Curtis and Lucy van Daal. This was a wake-up call culminating in an epic first rehearsal as a founding member of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. That first experience of hearing the opening chords of a full orchestra of original instruments was a life and career changer. Playing with Philharmonia has provided decades of opportunities to play and record with world-class conductors and colleagues in some of the most exciting venues in Europe, the UK, Canada and the US.