A native of Memphis, Tennessee, she played with the Kronos Quartet from 1978 until 1999, when, after a sabbatical, she left to pursue a solo career and collaborations with other artists,[2][3] in part due to being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

[4] She has staged and recorded solo performance pieces, playing the cello in tandem with electronic instruments.

Her first solo album, Metamorphosis, was described by Greg Cahill in Strings as "visceral, hypnotic, and often compelling.

"[8] She also has performed in collaborations with Larry Ochs' group Kihnoua at San Francisco's De Young Museum (2008).

[9] She has performed in many film scores by composer William Susman and appears on the soundtrack CDs for Oil on Ice (2005), Fate of the Lhapa (2007) and Music for Moving Pictures (2009).