Carol Rodland

Biography

Praised by Fanfare for possessing a tone which is “larger than life, sweetly in tune, and infinitely variegated”, and for her “delicious” playing, Carol Rodland, violist, enjoys an international career as a concert and recording artist and pedagogue.  Recent performance highlights have included recitals with Catherine Rodland, organist, at Crawford Hall in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, at the 38^th International Viola Congress in Cincinnati, Ohio, and at the Luna Nova Music Festival in Memphis,Tennessee; with pianist Tatevik Mokatsian at the Musikfestpiele Saar in Germany, and with pianist Marcantonio Barone live on WXXI Radio’s “Backstage Pass”.  Recent chamber music festival appearances have included performances at the Portland Chamber Music Festival, the Craftsbury Chamber Players, and the Skaneateles Festival.  Her solo recordings on the Crystal and Neuma labels have been critically acclaimed.  An active proponent of contemporary music, Ms.Rodland has commissioned, premiered, and recorded new works by Kenji Bunch, Dan Coleman, Christopher Theofanidis, and Augusta Read Thomas, and introduced them to audiences across the globe.

A dedicated and much sought-after teacher, she was appointed in 2008 to a tenured professorship at the Eastman School of Music.  Prior positions have included professorships at New England Conservatory, where she was recognized with the “Louis and Adrienne Krasner Award for Excellence in Teaching” in 2005, at Berlin’s “Hanns Eisler” Hochschule, at Arizona State University, and as guest faculty at the Juilliard School.  In the summers, she is an artist-faculty member at the Bowdoin International Music Festival and the Karen Tuttle Co-ordination Workshop and has served on the faculties of the Heifetz International Music Institute and the Chautauqua Institute.

Ms. Rodland is the founder and artistic director of the highly successful benefit concert series “If Music Be the Food…” , whose mission is to increase awareness and support for the hungry in Rochester through chamber music performances of the highest caliber. No money exchanges hands in this endeavor.  All of the musicians donate their services and audience members bring food or cash donations for the local food bank as the price of admission. Now in its third season, this concert series has inspired other prominent musical institutions in the US to implement initiatives based on this concept in their own communities.

Ms. Rodland made her solo debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra as a teenager and subsequently won first prizes at the Washington International Competition, the Artists International Auditions, and the Juilliard Concerto Competition, as well as the Universal Editions Prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. She has also been the recipient of Fulbright and Beebe Fund grants and Juilliard’s Lillian Fuchs Prize.  Ms. Rodland holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, where she studied on full scholarship with Karen Tuttle, as well as an Aufbaustudium Diplom, awarded “with distinction”, from the Musikhochschule Freiburg, where she studied with Kim Kashkashian. She had the unique privilege of serving as teaching assistant to both of her mentors.

Ms. Rodland plays on a viola made by Vincenzo Panormo in 1791. Her bow was made in 2010 by Benoit Rolland.  For further information, please visit www.carolrodland.com.