Ifetayo Ali-Landing, age 16, began her musical studies on the violin and switched to cello at the age of 4. Her teachers and coaches have included Lucinda Ali-Landing, Megan Lauterbach, and Martine Benmann at the Hyde Park Suzuki Institute in Chicago, as well as Tahirah Whittington, Oleksa Mycyk, and Hans Jørgen Jensen. Additionally, she has studied with teachers at the summer music camps of the Chicago Suzuki Institute (Deerfield, IL), Illinois Wesleyan University, Sphinx Performance Academy, Meadowmount School of Music, and the Young Artists Program.

Ifetayo is the Sphinx Competition Junior Division First-Place Laureate for 2017 and performed as soloist with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra at Orchestra Hall in Detroit. At the 2016 Sphinx Competition, she was awarded Second-Place Laureate in the Junior Division. Ifetayo was also one of the winners of the 2016 DePaul Concerto Festival for Young Performers and performed as soloist with the Festival’s Oistrakh Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with the Wilmington (NC) Symphony at the Wilson Center, New World Symphony at New World Center in Miami Beach, Florida, Detroit Symphony in Orchestra Hall, Pittsburgh Symphony in Heinz Hall, South Bend Symphony at Morris Performing Arts Center, Buffalo Philharmonic in Kleinhans Music Hall, Elgin Symphony at Hemmens Cultural Center, Chicago Sinfonietta at Chicago Symphony Center, and Southwest Michigan Symphony at Howard Performing Arts Center.

Recordings, radio, and television appearances include “Holes in the Sky” a Lara Downes Project, “White Christmas” for Jessie J with the Matt Jones Orchestra, NPR’s From the Top Show 349 with host Christopher O’Riley in New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, and WFMT Radio “Introductions.”

In 2013, at the age of ten, Ifetayo was honored at the Friends of the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra Rising Stars Showcase, where she recorded the 1st movement of the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto (No. 1). To date, the video has over 105,000 YouTube views and over 15 million Facebook views. She also recorded “Celtic Hymn” by James MacMillan, who discovered the video and complimented Ifetayo via Twitter. Her most recent YouTube recordings are the first movement of the Shostakovich Cello Concerto (No. 1) and Pampeana No. 2 by Alberto Ginastera.

Ifetayo also enjoys singing, dancing, and playing the piano.