Andrés David Vera - Cellist

Andrés is a San Francisco-based concert cellist and professional operating at the intersection of music, technology, and social impact. With a focus on connecting communities, his career blends artistic entrepreneurship and community engagement. Andrés co-founded Least Common Productions, a record label and production house that produces content, including albums, music videos, and events for singer-songwriters and artists. This venture builds on his experience as the founder of the Cello Street Quartet and a former member of the Grammy-nominated Quartet San Francisco. Andrés holds a Master’s Degree in Music Performance and uses this background to lead in artistic performance, arts administration, and creative production. His mission is to initiate projects that spur action in the arts, technology, and the environment, grounded in the belief that every profession has a critical role in solving the climate crisis.

Andrés's dedication to social good is evident in his work with the Wiki Education Foundation, a nonprofit that teaches students and experts how to edit Wikipedia. In this role, he encourages instructors at institutions of higher education to have students contribute course-related content to Wikipedia instead of writing a traditional term paper. This work is crucial for providing high-quality knowledge to the world, as Wikipedia serves as one of the largest datasets underlying many large language models. Beyond his professional life, Andrés is an amateur astronomer, paleontologist, and avid skier who is fascinated by the sociological theory of symbolic interactionism and how people interact in the world. Combining these broad interests with his expertise in nonprofit administration, Andrés translates artistic excellence and an entrepreneurial spirit into measurable social impact.