Fern Glass Boyd is a founding member of the String Orchestra of the Rockies and has served as its principal cellist since the Orchestra’s beginnings in 1985. As Artistic Director from 2008 to 2018, she oversaw and managed the Orchestra’s many musical activities as its chief artistic authority. Fern began her early music training at the Settlement Music School in her native city of Philadelphia. She went on to earn music degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Yale University, receiving graduate fellowships at both institutions. Her 39-year teaching and performing career was spent as a faculty member at the University of Montana in Missoula until her retirement in 2018. She continues to perform as a cellist around the region and enjoys working with young students as an adjudicator and clinician throughout Montana. Fern’s cello is a beautiful example by the English maker, Joseph Hill, of the celebrated Hill & Sons of London, England, made in 1811.