ABOUT CAROLINE

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Cellist Caroline Stinson is a native of Canada and has made her career across North America and Europe as a soloist and chamber musician, from baroque cello to new music and improvisation. Ms. Stinson’s concert invitations include Carnegie’s Weill and Zankel Halls, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Museum of Modern Art’s Summergarden Series, Bargemusic and Le Poisson Rouge in New York, Boston’s Gardner Museum, Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian; the Koelner Philharmonie, Lucerne Festival and Cité de la Musique in Europe, and the Centennial and Winspear Centres in Canada. As cellist of the internationally acclaimed Ciompi String Quartet at Duke University, she has toured the US, Taiwan, Italy, and China. She is a regular guest at summer festivals across the US and abroad and leads Masterclasses at Domaine Forget in Québec.

Passionate about contemporary music, Caroline created the documentary series Origin Story (originstorymusic.org) to recount the journey of a musical work from compositional roots to interpreted performance. Each story in the series includes a film documenting in-depth interpretive work with the composer, a performance, annotated score, and interviews.

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Ms. Stinson has an extensive discography of almost two dozen CDs, including Albany Records (debut 2011), Bridge (Lark Quartet 2009-2018), and New Focus (Ciompi Quartet 2025), and collaborations with Gary Graffman and Jeremy Denk, featured and praised on the BBC, Gramophone Magazine, WQXR and NY Times.  Fanfare praised her in recordings as one “whose beautiful instrument invariably glows like the voice of hope.”  In 2026 she will release “Presences”, the complete works for cello by John Harbison.

Ms. Stinson joined the faculty of Duke University in 2018 where she is a Professor of the Practice and Director of the Chamber Music Program. With Andrew Waggoner, Caroline is co-artistic Director of the Weekend of Chamber Music, a summer festival in the Southern Catskills Mountains (NY). She taught at The Juilliard School and earned degrees with distinction from Cleveland (CIM), Hochschule für Musik Köln, and Juilliard. Her principal teachers were Alan Harris, Maria Keligel and Joel Krosnick.

Caroline performs on a cello by Thomas Dodd from 1800 and a Baroque cello by Wolfgang Schnabl from 2022.

  • Sun
    01
    Nov
    2026

    Ciompi Quartet - Music at Saint Mary’s

    16:00
    The Ciompi Quartet returns to Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church for a program commemorating All Saints Day.  more...
    St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Kinston, NC 800 Rountree St., Kinston, NC, United States

     
  • Sun
    08
    Nov
    2026

    Duke Arts Presents: Ciompi String Quartet

    2:00PM
    Follow Me... with baritone Robert Sims | honoring America’s 250th anniversary including spirituals arranged by Andrew Waggoner | Music of Barber, Ives, Burleigh, Price, and  more... 
    Baldwin Auditorium, Duke University, Durham, NC
  • Thu
    19
    Nov
    2026

    Ciompi Quartet | Downtown

    17:30
    String Quartets by Hugo Kauder |  more...
    Trinity Avenue Presbyterian Church | 927 W Trinity Ave, Durham, NC
  • Fri
    20
    Nov
    2026

    Ciompi Quartet | Lunchtime Classics

    12:00

    String Quartets by Hugo Kauder.  The Ciompi continues its two concert series at the beautiful Goodson Chapel.
    Goodson Chapel, Duke University, Durham, NC
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"Ms. Stinson’s excellent teaching has brought to light many important aspects of cello playing. As a great example, her teaching approach emphasizes musicality as integral to the development of technique, instead of as a component of music that comes after the technique."
–Cassandra Marcussen

TEACHING

Caroline Stinson joined the Duke University Faculty in 2018 as Associate Professor of the Practice of Music. In 2019 she became Director of the Chamber Music Program, which has grown to more than 80 students and 2 dozen ensembles. Previously she taught cello and chamber music at The Juilliard School in New York, as Assistant Faculty for Joel Krosnick and Juilliard Pre-College from 2009-2018.

Caroline gives masterclasses at Universities and Conservatories across Canada, the US, Mexico and Europe, and through her extensive chamber music work has been an Artist in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Iowa, SUNY Buffalo and Syracuse University.  She regularly teaches for the NYU Summer Strings Program and at Columbia University.

In Durham, Caroline’s local cello studio is made up of Duke Undergraduates pursuing all majors including music, and local cellists of all ages. Her former high school students have gone on to attend Peabody Conservatory, Stanford University, Brown University and Harvard.

"Caroline Stinson inhabits the role of interpreter with true purpose.
The mission of rendering music expressive and exciting
is one she makes her own every time she plays."
–Anna Weesner, Composer

"Stinson's impassioned and compelling renditions, coupled with an inner warmth and calm that are truly remarkable… and what about the tone that Stinson produces from the instrument? Absolutely impeccable and sublime."
–Recording Review Classical.net

Connect Here

E-MAIL

caroline.stinson@duke.edu

"Stinson… performed with conviction and flair."
–NYTimes

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