Bio

Jackie Ludwig Selby, cellist and yogini, currently teaches and performs in Boston. She started her journey as a pianist at age three, but battled performance anxiety and wished to play a string instrument like her sister, Sarah and brother, Tommy. On the way home from a piano lesson when she was sixteen, she heard Gabriel Faure’s Elegie on “From the Top,” a classical music show on National Public Radio, and in that moment decided to become a cellist.

While learning a new instrument is a challenge, she has always loved learning and was motivated to improve her musical voice. She earned a full tuition scholarship to Boston University, and during orientation, discovered that her childhood best friend had passed away. Her cello teacher, Michael Reynolds, recommended that she take yoga, and it was through the guidance of Barbara Feldman, hatha yoga teacher, that she discovered the many benefits of yoga and meditation. Yoga not only gave her the tools to make peace with a great loss in her life, but also gave her courage and tranquility on stage.

While at Boston University, Peggy Espinda, a family friend and music-lover, gave her an 1831 Carl Cristian Otto cello she plays on today, and she continued cello studies with George Neikrug, who not only gave her healthy cello technique, but a sense of confidence that took her to Kent/Blossom Music Festival in Kent, Ohio; RoundTop Music Festival in RoundTop, Texas; New England Conservatory where she worked with Natasha Brofsky, a fantastic cellist that inspired her to be the best cellist and musician possible; and Boston Conservatory, where she was honored to work with Rhonda Rider, one of the most inspiring people and musicians she has ever met.

In her journey of working with wonderful teachers, she realized she wanted to help people the way her teachers had helped her. She has taught beginning and intermediate yoga classes at Boston University, coached chamber music at Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, taught after-school cello classes at Coakley Middle School and Foxboro High School, maintained a private studio, and performed regularly with Boston Philhamonic Orchestra, Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, Boston University’s Marsh Chapel Collegium, and Neponset Valley Philharmonic.

In June 2012, she enjoyed a month at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health studying with Brahmani Liebman and Jashoda Edmunds. She is very happy to be a 200 hour certified Kripalu Yoga teacher and enjoys sharing her yoga with whomever she meets. Following her certification, she moved to New York City, where she taught for Fit4Life Kids, Abrons Arts Center, Turtle Bay Music School, and Soyulla Artists. Alas, her time in NYC was meant to be for but a year, so then she moved back to home to Atlanta, where she taught at Musik21, played with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, took orchestral auditions, and caught up on her favorite show, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. Most importantly, she married her best friend and fellow cellist, Brent Selby, and finally moved back to Boston. She currently lives in Franklin, MA where she teaches at several after-school music programs and free-lances for anything from orchestra concerts to the Trans Siberian Orchestra.  In her free time, she enjoys going to ballet classes, baking, and gardening.

“In India when we meet and part we often say “Namaste,” which means I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides, I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace. I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us. Namaste.”