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BIOGRAPHY
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.