Long Bio:

A woman playing a violin with her eyes closed during a musical performance, with a microphone nearby and purple lighting in the background for Rachael Yamagata's Starlit Alchemy tour

Caroline Ryan is a classically trained violinist whose musicality expands to fit into the scope of performing, recording, and teaching a variety of genres. From City Winery to the local farmers markets to Carnegie Hall, Caroline has cherished the opportunities to share all kinds of music with all kinds of audiences. Beyond her performance experience, Caroline has a deeply rooted passion for helping individuals of all life stages learn to play or rekindle relationships with playing the violin. 

Caroline grew up in the mid-Hudson Valley region and started her journey on the violin through private lessons which structurally followed Suzuki method books. She additionally received intensive orchestral training as a student of the nationally acclaimed Stringendo Hudson Valley Youth Orchestra School. Despite having a classically centred violin study as a child, Caroline had the privilege of being surrounded by a hugely diverse musical palette at home. Attending live shows around the burgeoning cultural scene around the Hudson Valley with her mom (a renowned local radio host) and jamming on old classic rock and blues tunes on violin and cello with her dad (an electric bass hobbyist) were of significant initial influence in fostering an expansive outlook on her capacity as a musician.

Currently, Caroline is an active performer and records music within the realms of bluegrass, folk, improvisational, and indie genres. Caroline was first exposed to ear based learning during summer camp as a kid, where she was fortunate enough to learn tunes from renowned local fiddlers such as Bruce Molsky and Jay Ungar. She has performed folk and bluegrass music independently and as part of other small group projects, including as a brief collaborator with the bluegrass/folk project CowboyHeart in Ithaca, NY.

As an alternative genre violinist, Caroline is currently on tour as singer-songwriter Rachael Yamagata’s violinist and has experience playing on gigs with many artists, including the likes of Americana legends such as Larry Campbell, Cindy Cashdollar, and Amy Helm. Some of her latest track releases include work with up-and-coming indie music include projects with Brooklyn-based band Fawn Ridge, and as Hudson Valley/Brooklyn-based band member of Tiny Spores.

Caroline earned a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Ithaca College under the tutelage of Professor Susan Waterbury. Extracurricular coachings and masterclass experiences include performances for renowned classical string players such as Kim Chee-Yun, Bayla Keyes, Stefan Jackiw, Marcus Thompson, and others. Aside from a variety of solo/joint recitals and orchestral work, it was at Ithaca where Caroline fully realized her love for chamber music performance and collaboration. She pursued further chamber music studies at the DaPonte String Quartet Institute in Washington, Maine and the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival based in Burlington, Vermont. Professionally as an orchestral violinist, Caroline has served as a section violinist for the Woodstock Symphony Orchestra, The Binghamton Philharmonic, The Greater Newburgh Symphony, The Northern Dutchess Symphony, and Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes. Community theater pit credits include Oklahoma, Once Upon a Mattress, Mary Poppins, James and the Giant Peach, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. She is a member of the COPE Collective, a new music composer-performer collective based in New York City.

Beyond her background in performance, Caroline is a prolific violin teacher. She currently works with violinists (all levels) and violists (beginner to intermediate) in private lessons and group class settings. She is currently a violin teacher for The Mount Academy in Esopus, NY, has a private violin studio based in Rhinebeck, NY, is accepting students in the NYC area, and teaches lessons virtually.

Woman playing violin with headphones in a cozy, dimly lit indoor setting at CAKO Studios in Pennsylvania
Four musicians performing on stage for Rachael Yamagata's Starlit Alchemy tour at the Masonic Lodge in Los Angeles with orange backlighting, including a pianist, a cellist, a violinist, and a guitarist, audience in foreground.
Four musicians performing on stage, including a woman playing a lap steel guitar, a man with an acoustic guitar, and a woman playing a violin, with a drum set in the background.