Carrie, the Denver Pops Concertmaster, illustrious violin career started 43 years ago and has been filled with performances across the country including a tour where she played with a group that opened for Denver’s own, The Fray.
A demonstration in elementary school sparked her love for the instrument. Carrie describes her first day of class when they learned how to hold the violin and pluck the open strings using two different rhythm patterns. “I felt like I had been let in on a great mystery and it was only going to get better and better.”
Over the years Carrie has found inspiration from her teachers including Norman Greenhouse, who she studied with for nine years during her teens and early twenties, as well as Margaret Shakespeare and Bill Morse who were her primary music mentors in college. “They would talk about playing the instrument in a very technical way, but I was always blown away by their ability to communicate emotional ideas about the music that seemed to magically change the way I played.”
Since she was 18 years old Carrie has played in orchestras around the Denver metro area including Littleton, Lakewood, Longmont, Lone Tree and Cheyenne Symphonies to name a few. She also played in original rock bands that would perform in clubs around Denver including a tour that went around the country with Nathaniel Rateliff. In 2008, she received a Best of Denver Westword award for “Best Moonlighter” for her appearances with a large number of bands.
When ask why she enjoys playing with the Denver Pops Carrie shares, “I joined the Denver Pops because it allows me to play a wide variety of fun music that is not offered anywhere else. We get opportunities to play for some really amazing touring productions like the Roy Orbison Hologram and just recently Cirque Musica in Colorado Springs.”
Carrie – thank you for being a part of the Denver Pops journey and our mission to serve the community through the performance of familiar music for the last 40 years.
This season the Denver Pops want to celebrate 40 years with you! Enter to win a VIP Experience at one of the Denver Pops concerts for our 40th Anniversary. VIP Experience includes two concert tickets (4 p.m. at Central Presbyterian on February 29 or April 18) and a 4-course tasting menu for two at Sarto’s Social Italian Eatery’s Cicchetti Counter.