Carolina Piano Trio

The Carolina Piano Trio

Jacqui Carrasco, violin, Elizabeth Anderson, cello, Barbara McKenzie, piano

Celebrating its tenth season, the Carolina Piano Trio was formed in 1998 to create an ensemble-in-residence for the American Music Festival and the Chamber Music Society of Wilmington. Described by the Raleigh News and Observer as having “an impressive unity of vision and spirit” they have performed for festivals and presenters throughout North Carolina, including the Duke University Summer Festival, the UNC Wilmington Summer Arts Festival, the Raleigh Chamber Music Guild, the Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities, and the Pamlico Musical Society. This year’s guest appearances included a residency at Vanderbilt University and concerts at the North Carolina Museum of Art and the Reynolda House of American Art. Their creative programming and unique residencies have received funding from the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts through the North Carolina Arts Council.

“One of the most refreshing and upbeat piano trio programs that I can recall. The outstanding Carolina Piano Trio is every bit the equal of similar ensembles
that are more widely known.”
Jeffrey Rossman, Classical Voice North Carolina

Jacqui Carrasco, violin

Violinist Jacqui Carrasco has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Mexico and Russia, including solo appearances at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and at the Library of Congress and chamber music concerts with the Cassatt String Quartet. Since moving to North Carolina in 1999, Ms. Carrasco has been featured in solo and chamber music performances at Duke University; the UNC campuses in Chapel Hill, Greensboro, and Wilmington; Music at Blowing Rock; the Foothills Chamber Music Festival; Chamber Music at St. Peter’s in Charlotte; and with the Salisbury Symphony.

She joined the Carolina Piano Trio in 2005, and in 2006 became a member of the Carolina Symphony Chamber Players. From 1992-2002, Ms. Carrasco was the violinist of the acclaimed contemporary music ensemble Cygnus and also appeared regularly with New York-based new music groups such as the S.E.M. Ensemble, Anthony Braxton's Tri-Centric Ensemble, Newband and Musicians Accord. Ms. Carrasco has toured extensively with the Mark Morris Dance Group and been a frequent guest at the June in Buffalo Festival at SUNY Buffalo. She has recorded contemporary chamber music for the Nonesuch, Koch, Mode, CRI and Braxton House record label.

As a noted performer of Argentine tango music, Ms. Carrasco has appeared with cellist Yo-Yo Ma in concert and on television, as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and with the New York Buenos Aires Connection at Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing. She has also been active as a jazz violinist, and her versatile skills have been featured in commercial, film and theater music, as well as on her CD Since We Met with the Jazz Strings Project.

Ms. Carrasco received her B.A., magna cum laude, from UCLA, and her M.M. and D.M.A. from SUNY at Stony Brook, where she studied with Joyce Robbins. Having previously taught at Princeton University, she is now an Associate Professor of Music and Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation Fellow at Wake Forest University.

Elizabeth Anderson, Cello

Cellist Elizabeth Anderson has won the highest praise from critics. Her recordings for RCA Red Seal, Telarc and Nonesuch have been highly acclaimed including her release of premier recordings of Luigi Silva's extraordinary transcriptions. Ms. Anderson is also deeply committed to new music. Many renowned composers have dedicated works to her including Samuel Adler, Michael Rose and Kenneth Frazelle.

As a founding member of the celebrated Meliora Quartet, she made numerous appearances on the world's most prestigious chamber music series, including those at New York's Lincoln Center, the Corcoran Gallery and Library of Congress in Washington D.C. and at Jordan Hall in Boston. The Quartet was Grand Prize Winner of The Naumburg Chamber Music Award, The Fischoff Competition, The Coleman Competition and The Cleveland Quartet Competition.

An active concerto soloist, Ms. Anderson has performed with the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra, the Aspen Orchestra and the Israel Chamber Orchestra. As recitalist she has toured throughout the United States and Europe. She has been a frequent guest at music festivals around the world such as the Spoleto Festival in Italy and Melbourne, Australia, the Moon Beach Festival in Okinawa, Japan, the Inkoo Festival in Finland and in the United States at Aspen, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Music Festival of Arkansas, Rocky Ridge Music Center, the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina and the Portland, Maine Chamber Music Festival.

In addition to her work as a western classical cellist, Elizabeth is a performer of North Indian classical singing and has given numerous performances and workshops that focus on the synthesis of western classical and Indian music through improvisation. Anderson studied with Jacqueline DuPre, Steven Doane, Paul Katz, Yo-Yo Ma, Wallace Rushkin and Leonard Rose. She holds Bachelor of Music degrees from the Juilliard School and California State University at Sacramento and a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music. She was formerly a faculty member at the Eastman School of Music, Florida State University, Middlebury College and the Longy School of Music in Cambridge Massachusetts. From 1990-2001 she was Associate Professor of Cello and Chamber Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a member of the McIver Ensemble.

Ms. Anderson performs as cellist of the Carolina Piano Trio and at Lincoln Center as a member of the New York City Opera. “Latifa Noor” is her newest CD of improvisations on Indian Raga. This season, Elizabeth will be performing in Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and at the Manadnock Music Festival in New Hampshire. She recently was named Music Director of the Magdalene Ensemble, and will perform with that group in Wilmington, Winston Salem, Greensboro and Boston in the chamber oratorio, Behold.

Barbara McKenzie, Piano

Pianist Barbara McKenzie is an artist who displays “a sensitivity and intensity that one rarely finds, even from the most venerated artists” (Westfalische Rundschau). She studied at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, where she was the pupil of Leon Fleisher and Walter Hautzig, receiving Bachelor and Master of Music degrees.

A native of North Carolina, Ms McKenzie resided and performed in Europe for a decade. Her career has taken her into the concert halls and music festivals of Great Britain, Western and Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, the Middle East, and Africa, in part as musical ambassador for the US State Department.

Recipient of many international awards and prizes as soloist and chamber player, Ms McKenzie was selected to be an Artist in Residence by the North Carolina Arts Council. In this capacity, she founded the American Music Festival in 1990. She founded Chamber Music Wilmington in 1995, and serves both organizations as Artistic Director and Artist in Residence. Her devotion to chamber music performance has led to frequent concerts with leading string quartets, soloists and chamber ensembles from around the world. She is a founding member of the Carolina Piano Trio, Ensemble in Residence for Chamber Music Wilmington and the American Music Festival.

Ms McKenzie has been named a North Carolina Woman of Achievement for her outstanding contributions to the state’s artistic life.