Jennifer Carsillo
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. She has appeared as an orchestral soloist and recitalist throughout the US, as well as in the United Kingdom, Austria, Italy, Russia, Jamaica, and in France, where critics described her playing as “...full of delicacy, expression...an interpretation full of personality and self-sacrifice in return for all the beauties.” (OPMUDA, France)
Finding in chamber music an ideal outlet for her love of people and music, Jennifer Carsillo joined the well-established Evangeline Trio in 2006, and in 2014 founded the Gloriosa Trio. Receiving critical acclaim after their debut concerts in Palm Beach and New York, the Gloriosa Trio has been invited to perform on recital series around the country. Recitals this fall include the Music Series at Harvard Club in New York City, New Jersey City University, and the Parrish Art Museum Concert Series in the Hamptons. Other chamber music this season includes performing Beethoven’s “Ghost” Trio with the renowned pianist Alon Goldstein and Evangeline Trio cellist Ruth Drummond, and, for the Noel Foundation Chamber Music Series, Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet with special guest cellist John-Henry Crawford and 2017 Wideman Gold Medalist Tzu-Yin Huang.
The Gloriosa Trio has had the privilege of premiering two works created for the group, Vinea Gloriosa, by Theodore Wiprud, and Gloriosa by Karen LeFrak. These pieces reflect the trio’s commitment to new music, a dedication that was fostered early in Jennifer’s career when she was the violinist for the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, with whom she performed and recorded seven world premieres written for the group, together with standard works of living composers. Jennifer’s Evangeline Trio also takes pride in the promotion of living composers, especially ones who are Louisiana-based; Quartet for piano and strings by Todd Gabriel and Trio by Gregory Robin were written for the Evangelines, as well as other pieces for members of the trio, including Gabriel’s Harmony, Sincerity, and Energy for Violin and Piano. Jennifer has also collaborated with her sister, jazz vocalist Lori Carsillo, on her album Lullabies for Little Dreamers, and is excited to explore her “country” side in a double violin and mandolin concerto that mandolinist/composer Jeff Midkiff dedicated to her!
Also an actress and writer, Jennifer Carsillo will make her debut this season with Shreveport Little Theatre in the lead role (Jean) in Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl, directed by John Daniel. Jennifer will also narrate Daniel Dorff’s A Treeful of Monkeys in New York with the Rochester Philharmonic in the work’s orchestral premiere. Ms. Carsillo played the role of Fiddler in the Shreveport Opera’s 2017 production of Fiddler on the Roof, directed by Nate Wasson, and has narrated or sung settings of Eudora Welty’s fable The Shoe Bird by composer Samuel Jones, Margaret Wise Brown’s The Runaway Bunny by Glen Roven (with the virtuoso violinist Ittai Shapira), Four Tales from Beatrix Potter: Orchestral Suites by Stephen McNeff, Daniel Dorff’s The Tortoise and the Hare, Bill Holcombe’s setting of Clement Moore’s classic poem T’was the Night Before Christmas, Poulenc’s The Story of Babar and Bradford Ross’s A Family for Baby Grand with the Rochester Philharmonic, Syracuse Symphony, and the Jacksonville Symphony. Jennifer Carsillo had the privilege of recording A Family for Baby Grand with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, which tells the tale of a baby grand piano that longs for a musical home, showcasing Jennifer’s unusual gift as a many-voiced narrator. The disc also features the great American actor John Lithgow narrating Francis Poulenc’s The Story of Babar. Jennifer Carsillo’s original narration for Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kijé Suite has been performed by the Rochester Philharmonic and the Jacksonville Symphony.
A native of Menlo Park, California, Jennifer 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, Jennifer 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 also met her husband at IU, the conductor Michael Butterman, with whom she had the pleasure of joining in the Boulder Philharmonic at the Kennedy Center for the inaugural SHIFT Festival 2017, especially their violin and piano recital for SHIFT in front of the Jefferson Memorial during the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
Finding in chamber music an ideal outlet for her love of people and music, Jennifer Carsillo joined the well-established Evangeline Trio in 2006, and in 2014 founded the Gloriosa Trio. Receiving critical acclaim after their debut concerts in Palm Beach and New York, the Gloriosa Trio has been invited to perform on recital series around the country. Recitals this fall include the Music Series at Harvard Club in New York City, New Jersey City University, and the Parrish Art Museum Concert Series in the Hamptons. Other chamber music this season includes performing Beethoven’s “Ghost” Trio with the renowned pianist Alon Goldstein and Evangeline Trio cellist Ruth Drummond, and, for the Noel Foundation Chamber Music Series, Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet with special guest cellist John-Henry Crawford and 2017 Wideman Gold Medalist Tzu-Yin Huang.
The Gloriosa Trio has had the privilege of premiering two works created for the group, Vinea Gloriosa, by Theodore Wiprud, and Gloriosa by Karen LeFrak. These pieces reflect the trio’s commitment to new music, a dedication that was fostered early in Jennifer’s career when she was the violinist for the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, with whom she performed and recorded seven world premieres written for the group, together with standard works of living composers. Jennifer’s Evangeline Trio also takes pride in the promotion of living composers, especially ones who are Louisiana-based; Quartet for piano and strings by Todd Gabriel and Trio by Gregory Robin were written for the Evangelines, as well as other pieces for members of the trio, including Gabriel’s Harmony, Sincerity, and Energy for Violin and Piano. Jennifer has also collaborated with her sister, jazz vocalist Lori Carsillo, on her album Lullabies for Little Dreamers, and is excited to explore her “country” side in a double violin and mandolin concerto that mandolinist/composer Jeff Midkiff dedicated to her!
Also an actress and writer, Jennifer Carsillo will make her debut this season with Shreveport Little Theatre in the lead role (Jean) in Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl, directed by John Daniel. Jennifer will also narrate Daniel Dorff’s A Treeful of Monkeys in New York with the Rochester Philharmonic in the work’s orchestral premiere. Ms. Carsillo played the role of Fiddler in the Shreveport Opera’s 2017 production of Fiddler on the Roof, directed by Nate Wasson, and has narrated or sung settings of Eudora Welty’s fable The Shoe Bird by composer Samuel Jones, Margaret Wise Brown’s The Runaway Bunny by Glen Roven (with the virtuoso violinist Ittai Shapira), Four Tales from Beatrix Potter: Orchestral Suites by Stephen McNeff, Daniel Dorff’s The Tortoise and the Hare, Bill Holcombe’s setting of Clement Moore’s classic poem T’was the Night Before Christmas, Poulenc’s The Story of Babar and Bradford Ross’s A Family for Baby Grand with the Rochester Philharmonic, Syracuse Symphony, and the Jacksonville Symphony. Jennifer Carsillo had the privilege of recording A Family for Baby Grand with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, which tells the tale of a baby grand piano that longs for a musical home, showcasing Jennifer’s unusual gift as a many-voiced narrator. The disc also features the great American actor John Lithgow narrating Francis Poulenc’s The Story of Babar. Jennifer Carsillo’s original narration for Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kijé Suite has been performed by the Rochester Philharmonic and the Jacksonville Symphony.
A native of Menlo Park, California, Jennifer 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, Jennifer 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 also met her husband at IU, the conductor Michael Butterman, with whom she had the pleasure of joining in the Boulder Philharmonic at the Kennedy Center for the inaugural SHIFT Festival 2017, especially their violin and piano recital for SHIFT in front of the Jefferson Memorial during the National Cherry Blossom Festival.