Cellist Titilayo Ayangade, originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, is a passionate chamber musician, deeply curious artist and curator of a diverse collection of music. Titilayo holds a Bachelor of Music degree from CCM where she studied with Ilya Finkelshteyn, as well as a Masters degree from UT- Austin where she worked closely with the Miro Quartet. Titilayo is the cellist of Thalea String Quartet which serves as the Graduate Fellowship Quartet at the University of Maryland where she is pursuing a Doctoral degree. Thalea String Quartet has also held the Associated Artists position at Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo, Belgium where they were mentored by the Artemis Quartet. 

As an avid chamber musician Titilayo has worked with celebrated quartets such as the Miro Quartet, Emerson Quartet, Artemis Quartet and many others. The cellist of the Thalea String Quartet, Titilayo was a top prize winner at both the 2018 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the 2018 Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition. From 2015-2017 Titilayo was a member of the Yas Quartet based in Chicago, which was the 3rd prize winner at the 2016 Schoenfeld International String Competition in China. In addition, she was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 2014-2016 and a Chicago Sinfonietta Project Inclusion Orchestral Fellow from 2015-2017. Titilayo has attended summer music retreats such as the Bowdoin International Music Festival, Sphinx Performance Academy at the Walnut Hill School, Meadowmount Summer Music Festival, International Festival de Inverno Campos do Jordao, Aspen Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute (NOI), Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival. Beyond the concert stage, Titilayo has made several appearances on Fox's hit TV show Empire and  enjoys her work as a professional photographer: www.titilayoandco.com.