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About

Caroline (Carrie Sue as she was called growing up - after her Grandmother Sue - and now Carrie informally) was born in Edmonton, Canada, and began her musical life at the age of two in Scotland, inspired solely by her older sister Sarah's violin playing, and pioneered the use of thumb position on the violin (see photos). She switched to cello at age four, studying through the Edmonton section of the Talent Education Society, study which culminated in a trip to the Suzuki Conference in Japan at age 8, where she ate plums, drank grape Fanta pop and met Mr. Suzuki himself. With a Grandma who was a serious singer, a Grandpa who played harmonica, a sister with whom to play chamber music and parents who were all too happy to encourage, chauffeur to and from and document musical happenings, there was an abundance of activity and there is a rich archive of photos that document it all. As a nine year-old, there were few cellists on the radar besides Yo-Yo Ma, and Caroline expressed the sincerest form of flattery through imitation, as the photos show. Caroline busied herself in High School by participating in musical theatre and drama at Old Scona Academic High School, running around as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes and one of the Pink Ladies in Grease. Records of these performances exist, but are tightly sealed. Thank goodness for her cello teacher, Tanya Prochazka, whose sound she heard every week and whose seemingly limitless ability made cello playing and music making a tangibly exciting reality to pursue.

Full Biography 2009/10 (965 words) / [standard]

Praised for her vibrant lyricism, fresh interpretations and expressive performances, cellist Caroline Stinson is sought after by orchestras and fellow musicians nationally and abroad for solo and chamber music concerts of both traditional and contemporary repertoire. Ms. Stinson's performance credits include Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, the Museum of Modern Art's Summergarden Series in New York, Boston's Gardner Museum, Washington D.C.'s Smithsonian in the United States; Germany's Koelner Philharmonie, Switzerland's Lucerne Festival and France's Cité de la Musique and Theatre at Rennes, in Europe, and the Centennial Centre and Winspear Halls in Canada. A champion of contemporary music, Ms. Stinson has joined forces with the acclaimed LARK Quartet and Chamber Artists, renowned for its commissions of new works by some of today's foremost composers, including Aaron Jay Kernis, William Bolcom and Jennifer Higdon.

Caroline Stinson's 2009-2010 season includes performances in the United States, Canada and France. Highlights include a November residency at Syracuse University with the LARK, a solo recital at Bargemusic in New York in February, at the South Orange Performing Arts Center in NJ in May, and a recital and masterclass at the Conservatoire Nationale de RŽgion in Strasbourg, France. With the LARK in the spring of 2010, Ms. Stinson premieres ensemble commissions by Paul Moravek and William Bolcom at Merkin Hall in New York with Jeremy Denk and at Stanford University with Stephen Salters respectively. Performances in recent seasons have included concerto performances with the Syracuse Symphony under Daniel Hege, recitals in Oregon and Maryland with duo partner, Molly Morkoski, appearances at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland with Pierre Boulez conducting Elliott Carter's Triple Duo, and as a returning featured artist for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's International New Music Festival, where she appeared in multiple performances broadcast nationally on CBC Radio.

A popular collaborator, Ms. Stinson has played in New York and on tour with Accroche Note of France, the Bang On A Can All-Stars, Continuum, the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, Sequitur, Ensemble Pi and NewBand (the Harry Partch Ensemble), and has performed with many leading artists in the field including Pierre Boulez, Pinchas Zukerman, guitarist Bill Frisell, violinist Andrew Dawes and pianist Gloria Cheng. Advocating for new music through premieres, commissions and recordings, she has worked with composers Ross Bauer, T. Patrick Carrabré, George Crumb, Peter Eötvös, Michael Gordon, John Harbison, Aaron Jay Kernis, John Link, George Rochberg, Steven Stucky, Ushio Torikai, Andrew Waggoner, Anna Weesner and with Joan Tower, performing with the composer at the piano. . Collaborating in the dance arena, she has performed with Donlin Foreman, founder of Buglisi-Foreman Dance, live in improvisation at the Joyce Theatre in New York, Daniel Gwirtzman at St. Mark's and with Morphoses, the Wheeldon Company, live at City Center. Caroline continues to be active with several ensembles: Open End, a new music and free improvisation ensemble she founded in 2005 with her husband, composer Andrew Waggoner; the Grammy-nominated quartet Contrasts, and the cello quartet, CELLO.

In the last 9 years, Ms. Stinson has made 11 CDs for the Naxos, Albany, Koch International, Bridge, Phoenix, Capstone, Innova and Estile labels. The various works recorded include the Popper Requiem for three celli and orchestra with Maria Kliegel for Naxos; string quartets by Steven Stucky (Nell'ombra, nella luce) and Tina Davidson (The Delight of Angels), as well as Davidson's piano quintet, It is my Heart Singing, for Albany Records; and Daniel S. GodfreyÕs Romanza and String Quartet No. 3 on Koch. Caroline also appears on the Innova album Rest in music by Ushio Torikai with the ensemble Continuum. With Contrasts, a quartet in violin, clarinet, cello and piano formation, she has recorded Aaron Jay Kernis' Ballad for cello and piano, Trio In Red for clarinet trio, and Fanfare and Still Movement with Hymn for full quartet on an album to be released in 2010 on Phoenix Records. Through the Juilliard Artist Diploma Program, Ms. Stinson completes her debut solo CD recording of repertoire that traces the influence of European composers of the last century through the roles of mentor and teacher on two subsequent generations of North American voices. The CD will be released during the 2010-2011 season.

Caroline is the recipient of the 2007 J.B.C. Watkins Prize in Music from the Canada Council, first prize in the Hohnen Foundation Cello Competition of Germany, the American Music Award from the Seventeen/GM National Concerto Competition in the U.S., and has performed concerti as winner of competitions at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Interlochen Arts Camp, and at the invitation of Aldo Parisot, the Banff Center Orchestra. She is the recipient of prizes, grants and scholarships from the Alberta Heritage Scholarship Fund, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Winspear Fund of Edmonton, the Anne Burrows Foundation of Edmonton and the Canada Council for the Arts, as well as fellowships from festivals and seminars including Aspen, Lucerne, Verbier, Sarasota, and the Piatigorsky Seminar for Cellists in Los Angeles.

In additional to her active performance career, Caroline Stinson is on the faculty of Syracuse University coordinating the chamber music program, and is a teaching assistant to Joel Krosnick at The Juilliard School. She earned degrees with honors at the Interlochen Arts Academy, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Hochschule für Musik Köln (with First Prize), and completed her MasterÕs Degree as an Irene Diamond and Genevieve Kniese Chaudhuri Fellow at the Juilliard School. While at festivals and living in Germany, she had the opportunity to study in extended masterclass courses with Natalia Gutman, Boris Pergamenschikow, Siegfried Palm, Janos Starker and Aldo Parisot. Her principal teachers were, very gratefully, Tanya Prochazka, Alan Harris, Maria Kliegel, Frans Helmerson and Joel Krosnick. Born in Edmonton, Canada, Caroline lives in New York City with her husband.

(downloadable bio in press section)

Caroline Stinson with Violoncello (outside)

Standard (300 words) / [full]

Praised for her vibrant lyricism, fresh interpretations and expressive performances, cellist Caroline Stinson is sought after by orchestras and fellow musicians nationally and abroad for solo and chamber music concerts of both traditional and contemporary repertoire. Ms. Stinson's performance credits include Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, the Museum of Modern Art's Summergarden Series in New York, Boston's Gardner Museum, Washington D.C.'s Smithsonian in the United States; Germany's Koelner Philharmonie, Switzerland's Lucerne Festival and France's Cité de la Musique and Theatre at Rennes, in Europe, and the Centennial Centre and Winspear Halls in Canada. A champion of contemporary music, Ms. Stinson has joined forces with the acclaimed LARK Quartet and Chamber Artists, renowned for its commissions of new works by some of today's foremost composers, including Aaron Jay Kernis, William Bolcom and Jennifer Higdon. Caroline Stinson's 2009-2010 season includes performances in the United States, Canada and France. Highlights include a November residency at Syracuse University with the LARK, a solo recital at Bargemusic in New York in February, at the South Orange Performing Arts Center in NJ in May, and a recital and masterclass at the Conservatoire Nationale de RŽgion in Strasbourg, France. With the LARK in the spring of 2010, Ms. Stinson premieres ensemble commissions by Paul Moravek and William Bolcom at Merkin Hall in New York with Jeremy Denk and at Stanford University with Stephen Salters respectively. Caroline is a member of Open End (a new music and improvisation group founded with her husband, composer and violinist Andrew Waggoner), CELLO and Contrasts. Her teachers have been Alan Harris (Cleveland), Maria Kliegel (Germany), Joel Krosnick (Juilliard) and Tanya Prochazka. Caroline is a teaching assistant to Joel Krosnick at the Juilliard School and is on faculty and coordinates the chamber music program at the Setnor School of Music at Syracuse University.

(downloadable bio in press section)