Caitlyn C is a violinist, composer, and string teacher with a keen eye for passion, intuition, creativity, and a thrilling love for all kinds of music. Under the guidance of Dr. Christiana Fortune-Reader, Dr. Alex Peh, and Dr. Phyllis Chen, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Classical Performance on Violin in May 2021 at the State University of New York at New Paltz. She was awarded several scholarships during her undergraduate degree there.
In her time as a student, Ms. Caitlyn C was a distinguished performer and avid musician. She and several other students studied Burmese classical music under Kyaw-Kyaw Naing, a beloved performer and composer from Myanmar, where everything was taught by ear and without transcription. She credits her musical intuition for her time under his direction. She also studied the contemporary music of Pauline Oliveros under Phyllis Chen which helped to expand her musical horizons. She also took masterclasses with other inspiring musicians such as Mike Block, Johnny Gandelsman, and Tobias Steymans of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. In Fall 2019, she was the 1st place runner-up of the Virtuoso in Progress competition hosted by the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Orchestra with SUNY New Paltz’s College Youth Symphony. Her debut as a soloist in May 2020 came as a moving performance of Ralph Vaughan-Williams’ The Lark Ascending with full orchestral accompaniment. She sat concertmaster and designated soloist with the College Youth Symphony through all four years of her Bachelor’s degree. Her senior recital repertoire consisted of J.S. Bach, Somei Satoh, Anna Clyne, and a self-composed string quartet based on the Arabic folktale of 1,001 Nights.
Her devotion as a student led her to many exciting projects. Some of her favorites include Music on the Mountain, a collaboration with Mohonk Mountain House in Hudson Valley, New York; travel to Thessaloniki, Greece for a music program hosted by Anatolia College, where she sang in a modified version of Die Fledermaus and received direction under retired violinist and teacher Christos Galileas; and leading diversity initiatives to better represent under-sought or overlooked composers like Florence Price, Amy Beach, William Grant Still, Arturo Márquez, Fanny Mendelssohn, and others.
Caitlyn is now residing in San Antonio, Texas with hopes to expand her career in teaching and self-directed creative projects in her free time. She is the mother of a one year old named Orion Adonis and hopes her skills with teaching will translate to fostering creativity within her son. Her teaching comes with an emphasis on mindfulness and bodily awareness, a present love for music, and an active joy for learning and playing!