Carolyn Stuart, violinist
Poème Lyriqueby Nikolai Roslavets
"Donkey or cow, cockerel or horse
On to the skin of a violin
A singing man a single bird
An agile dancer with his wife"
Paul Eluard, from To Marc Chagall
Paul Eluard, from To Marc Chagall
Violin playing described as “tonally resplendent and affectingly assured both stylistically and technically” (Fanfare Magazine) and a performer of "astonishing effectiveness, radiant inspiration, deep sensitivity, and colossal temperament" (Musical Horizons - Sofia), violinist Carolyn Stuart performs internationally as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. She has appeared at major venues and festivals across Europe, Asia, and the United States. Alongside established violin and chamber repertoire, her work explores varying sound worlds which encompass unconventional chamber ensembles, composers of our time, and sonic experiences across a full spectrum of decibel levels and possibilities.
Stuart is a member of MoVE (modernviolinensemble.org), an innovative violin quartet of four internationally acclaimed performers whose debut double-CD album, MoVE Premieres with Phenotypic Records features twelve world-premiere commissions by renowned and emerging composers. For over two decades she has also toured as a member of the Stuart-Ivanov Duo with pianist Svetozar Ivanov. Their album, Nikolai Roslavets: Short Works for Violin and Piano features the repressed Soviet composer, and their latest CD of duo commissions, Butterfly Dreams will be released this Fall.
Among her diverse recordings are Victor Chouchkov’s Triple Concerto with the Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra, the premiere of Kati Agocs’ Song Cycle Imagination of Their Hearts for Blue Griffin, her Quorum Albany CD of Evan Chambers’ music Cold Water, Dry Stone: New Music with Traditional Roots, and Equilibrium by Chihchun Chi-Sun Lee on Innova. Named “Critics Choice” by American Record Guide, her Bridge CD American Flute Quintets, features the world-premiere recording of Joan Tower’s Rising with preeminent flutist Carol Wincenc.
Carolyn Stuart is Associate Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at University of South Florida where she serves as Artistic Director of The Joan and Daniel Rutenberg Chamber Music Series. She is Artist Faculty at the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, co-Artistic Director of Haris Arts, and recently served as guest violin faculty at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. For six seasons she was Director of Strings and Chamber Music at the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Italy, and she served as Visiting Violin Professor at DePaul University School of Music in 2017-18.
Stuart earned degrees from The Juilliard School (BM), University of Michigan (MM), and Stony Brook University (DMA). Stuart’s recordings may be heard regularly on BBC and WQXR Playlists, and on Phenotypic Records, Bridge, Gega New, Albany, Capstone, Innova, Glorious Pantheons, Ravello, and Blue Griffin labels.
