Jennifer Carsillo, violinist
Jennifer Carsillo’s versatility and wide-ranging musical interests have shaped a diverse career spanning the gamut of styles from Baroque to contemporary popular idioms. Critics called her performance of Bach's E-major violin concerto with the Shreveport Symphony "athletic and evocative" and “an impressive showcase for violinist Jennifer Carsillo,” noting, “its three movements came off as a unified, often rhapsodic whole, making Bach's mysterious gifts of counterpoint all the more magical."
Ms. Carsillo has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in Russia, Jamaica, Austria, California, Florida, Texas, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, Georgia, Arkansas, Louisiana, and the District of Columbia, and has performed recitals throughout the United States and in England, France and Italy. With her colleagues from the Evangeline Trio (cellist Ruth Drummond and pianist Gay Grosz), Jennifer Carsillo performed Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Centenary’s Hurley Orchestra in April, as well as piano trio recitals throughout the season. Ms. Carsillo also toured the southern United States with cellist Wesley Baldwin in a series of duo recitals. Earlier in the 2010-2011 season, Jennifer Carsillo performed Bach's E-Major Concerto with the Old Bridge Chamber Orchestra as part of the orchestra's October Music Festival and performed two other Baroque concerti (including Vivaldi’s “Spring” Concerto) with Baroque Artists of Shreveport.
This musical season started in a lively way, with Jennifer and her husband, conductor Michael Butterman, performing six violin and piano recitals to usher in the Fall. The Evangeline Trio will perform new recitals throughout the season as well, and Jennifer Carsillo will also perform with the Rochester (NY) Philharmonic as Narrator and Narrator/Vocal soloist for Glen Roven’s The Runaway Bunny and Stephen McNeff’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit, respectively. This summer, the Rochester Philharmonic released a commercial recording of The Story of Babar & A Family for Baby Grand, featuring narrators John Lithgow and Jennifer Carsillo.
An advocate for new music, Ms. Carsillo is a founding member of Rhythmic Salt, a string quartet and percussion group that debuted in October of 2003, introducing premieres by Iranian and Lebanese composers, works by Luciano Berio, Steve Reich and Peter Sculthorpe, and the concert premiere of a piece from an NBC movie score. Ms. Carsillo is also a founding member of the Ava (Audio-Visual-Arts) Ensemble, a chamber music group devoted to exploring the connections between music and other forms of art.
In 2002, Jennifer Carsillo was in residence as the violinist for the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, performing and recording seven world premieres written for the group, together with the standard works of living composers. She was also a featured artist at the Prince Albert Chamber Music Festival in Hawaii, and in 2003, traveled to France and Italy to perform a series of violin and harp duo recitals with Parisian harpist Isabelle Perrin for the Chateau de Montcaud and the Maestro Foundation Cremona. The success of these recitals led to a new collaborative project: a concerto for harp and violin by the French master composer, Jean-Michel Damase, written for the duo and debuted in October 2007. Ms. Carsillo has also performed with the Ritz Chamber Players and was featured with the band Metro Area at Miami Beach’s Winter Music Conference—the dance music industry’s signature annual event.
Ms. Carsillo spent three seasons at the Wintergreen Music Festival, where she performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and Concertmaster of the Festival Orchestra. Jennifer also enjoyed three summers as a Faculty Artist at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music in New Hampshire, performing and coaching for Apple Hill's "Playing for Peace" project, a program designed to bring musicians from different countries together—in friendship, as well as in music.
A native of Menlo Park, California, Ms. Carsillo was introduced to the violin through the public school system, and her passion for music led her to the Oberlin Conservatory as a student of Marilyn McDonald. After winning the Oberlin Concerto Competition, Ms. Carsillo continued her education as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and under the tutelage of the legendary pedagogues Franco Gulli and Josef Gingold at Indiana University, earning her Master’s Degree in violin performance. Jennifer Carsillo was also a member of the New York String Orchestra and the Carnegie Hall Project with Sir Georg Solti.
Jennifer Carsillo’s latest CD project is Lullabies for Little Dreamers, a jazz-inspired lullaby album that she recorded with her sister, San Francisco-based jazz vocalist Lori Carsillo.
A native of Menlo Park, California, Ms. Carsillo was introduced to the violin through the public school system, and her passion for music led her to the Oberlin Conservatory as a student of Marilyn McDonald. After winning the Oberlin Concerto Competition, Ms. Carsillo continued her education as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and under the tutelage of the legendary pedagogues Franco Gulli and Josef Gingold at Indiana University, earning her Master’s Degree in violin performance. Jennifer Carsillo was also a member of the New York String Orchestra and the Carnegie Hall Project with Sir Georg Solti.