Carol Brobst has enjoyed a long career both as a modern and baroque 

violinist and violist. She spent 13 years as a violinist in the Richmond 

Symphony Orchestra (Virginia, USA) and as a chamber musician in that 

town. In 1999, she moved back to her hometown of Washington D.C. to 

join its vibrant historical performance community, and has since 

performed with various East Coast baroque ensembles, including Opera 

Lafayette, Washington Bach Consort, Bach Sinfonia, Modern Musick, 

and the Orchestra of the 17th Century and with many choral ensembles 

including the Handel Choir of Baltimore. Carol has also performed with 

Americantiga, an early music ensemble specializing in Brazilian colonial 

period music. She appears on the premiere early music recording of 

Jose’ Mauricio Nunes Garcia’s 1816 Requiem. Other recordings she can 

be found on include Sacchini’s Oedipe a Colone with Opera Lafayette 

and Handel’s Alexander’s Feast with Bach Sinfonia. She participated in 

baroque performance practice masterclasses with Simon Standage, Jaap 

ter Linden, and Elizabeth Wallfisch. She currently performs on modern 

violin with the National Gallery Orchestra.

As a member of the Brobst family of violinmakers, Carol learned a 

myriad of skills in string instrument repair from her father and 

grandfather. She was a fulltime employee of the Brobst Violin Shop for 

many years and also studied violinmaking with Karl Roy of the 

Mittenwald School of Violin Making.

Her teaching experience goes back 25 years and she has been teaching 

continuously since then. In 1994, Carol moved to Richmond, Virginia 

and began operating a full time studio called the Village Academy of 

Music. To round out the musical environment for families of students, 

she invited a variety of instrumental and vocal teachers to share the 

teaching space. The studio presented solo and chamber recitals 

throughout the year and became the home of the Richmond Summer 

Music Exploration Institute, a two week long intensive study program 

for aspiring music students. Each day Carol led the students through 

daily classes in music history, theory, conducting and chamber music. 

Evenings were filled with fascinating seminars on jazz improvisation, 

early music demonstrations, violin-building and the classical music 

industry presented by invited experts. The Institute was so popular that

 many of the students extended their music theory and chamber music 

studies into the school year. Most of the participants in the program are 

now in professional music careers. During her time in Richmond, she co-

conducted the Richmond Symphony Youth Concert Orchestra. In 2001, 

Carol took a public school position as an elementary string teacher. She 

gave many youngsters their first exposure to the joys and trials of 

playing a stringed instrument and also co-directed the school system's 

youth orchestra program. She currently enjoys teaching in her home 

studio of 30 students and teaching beginning violin classes in the DC 

Youth Orchestra Program.

Carol’s musical interests do not stop with the violin. She also trained in 

classical harp performance and is currently studying voice. She sings in

 the Washington, DC early music ensemble, Collegium Cantorum. An 

avid fan of music of world cultures, she has also been involved in a 

variety of ensembles such as a Bulgarian vocal ensemble, Finnish folk 

choir, Georgian vocal ensemble and a Brazilian percussion band. Her 

other hobbies include beadweaving and fiber arts and she exhibits her 

creations at the Torpedo Factory in Old Town, Alexandria.