About
Carolyn Craig, of Knoxville, Tennessee, is Assistant Director of Music at Wells Cathedral (Somerset, UK), following organ scholarships at Westminster Abbey (2023-2024) and Westminster Cathedral (2022-2023), and Truro Cathedral (2018-2019). She recently won the Limpus/Shinn/Durant Prize and the Dr F J Read Prize for her performance in FRCO examinations. Carolyn received a Master of Musical Arts (2022) and a Master of Music (2021) in Organ Performance from Yale University's Institute of Sacred Music, as a student of Jon Laukvik and Martin Jean, and a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance with minors in Conducting and German from Indiana University (2018), as a student of Chris Young. As a Wells Scholar at Indiana University, she spent a summer in Graz, Austria and a semester in Vienna, where she studied organ with Ulrich Walther and Johannes Ebenbauer, respectively.
Alongside Carolyn's commitment to the liturgical life of the Cathedral, she enjoys concertizing as her schedule allows. She has been heard on the radio program Pipedreams and in venues across the US, such as Grace Cathedral, San Francisco and Methuen Memorial Music Hall, MA. In the UK, she has given solo recitals in Westminster Abbey and in Westminster, Truro, Winchester, Wells, and St. Paul's Cathedrals, among other venues. In 2021, she performed in Zaryadye Hall in Moscow and in Kaliningrad Cathedral, and cancelled a 2022 Russian concert tour. In 2021, she became the youngest organist featured in Lund, Västerås and Kalmar Cathedrals' "World-leading organists from all corners of the earth" virtual series, alongside professors at top international institutions. She has been featured at national conventions of the American Guild of Organists as a performer and speaker, the latter as co-founder of amplifyfemalecomposers.org and as a contributor to the inclusive church music planning resource found at greathostcomposers.org. Carolyn is a member of The Diapason's "20 under 30" class of 2019.
Recent competition success includes the Special Prize for the Interpretation of Mikael Tariverdiev's Works and the 2nd Prize in the Tariverdiev International Organ Competition, held in Kaliningrad, Russia in 2021. In 2020, Carolyn won the Audience Prize in the Arthur Poister Organ Competition; no judges' prizes were given due to Covid-related competition modifications. Also in 2020, Carolyn won the Mary Baker Prize in Organ Accompanying for her work with Yale's Schola Cantorum under David Hill. Prior to focusing on the organ, Carolyn was primarily a pianist, and performed in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall as a winner of the American Protégé International Music Talent Competition, among other honors.
In the US, Carolyn is blessed to have served as Director of Music at the Episcopal Church at Yale, and as organ scholar at Trinity Church, Bloomington, with Marilyn Keiser; at Trinity on the Green, New Haven, with Walden Moore; and at Christ Church, New Haven, with Thomas Murray.
Carolyn has held many leadership positions in the American Guild of Organists, most recently serving on the National Committee on the New Organist (CONO) and as student liaison in her New Haven and Bloomington chapters. She is a member of the Anglican Association of Musicians, of the Society of Women Organists, and of the Royal College of Organists.
Outside of playing the organ, Carolyn enjoys conducting, singing, and collaborating as a harpsichordist and pianist, particularly with singers. She studied conducting with David Hill, Maggie Brooks, Betsy Burleigh, and Dominick DiOrio, and has sung in Yale's Schola Cantorum and in Indiana University's contemporary vocal ensemble, NOTUS. When not making music, she enjoys learning languages and traveling.
Alongside Carolyn's commitment to the liturgical life of the Cathedral, she enjoys concertizing as her schedule allows. She has been heard on the radio program Pipedreams and in venues across the US, such as Grace Cathedral, San Francisco and Methuen Memorial Music Hall, MA. In the UK, she has given solo recitals in Westminster Abbey and in Westminster, Truro, Winchester, Wells, and St. Paul's Cathedrals, among other venues. In 2021, she performed in Zaryadye Hall in Moscow and in Kaliningrad Cathedral, and cancelled a 2022 Russian concert tour. In 2021, she became the youngest organist featured in Lund, Västerås and Kalmar Cathedrals' "World-leading organists from all corners of the earth" virtual series, alongside professors at top international institutions. She has been featured at national conventions of the American Guild of Organists as a performer and speaker, the latter as co-founder of amplifyfemalecomposers.org and as a contributor to the inclusive church music planning resource found at greathostcomposers.org. Carolyn is a member of The Diapason's "20 under 30" class of 2019.
Recent competition success includes the Special Prize for the Interpretation of Mikael Tariverdiev's Works and the 2nd Prize in the Tariverdiev International Organ Competition, held in Kaliningrad, Russia in 2021. In 2020, Carolyn won the Audience Prize in the Arthur Poister Organ Competition; no judges' prizes were given due to Covid-related competition modifications. Also in 2020, Carolyn won the Mary Baker Prize in Organ Accompanying for her work with Yale's Schola Cantorum under David Hill. Prior to focusing on the organ, Carolyn was primarily a pianist, and performed in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall as a winner of the American Protégé International Music Talent Competition, among other honors.
In the US, Carolyn is blessed to have served as Director of Music at the Episcopal Church at Yale, and as organ scholar at Trinity Church, Bloomington, with Marilyn Keiser; at Trinity on the Green, New Haven, with Walden Moore; and at Christ Church, New Haven, with Thomas Murray.
Carolyn has held many leadership positions in the American Guild of Organists, most recently serving on the National Committee on the New Organist (CONO) and as student liaison in her New Haven and Bloomington chapters. She is a member of the Anglican Association of Musicians, of the Society of Women Organists, and of the Royal College of Organists.
Outside of playing the organ, Carolyn enjoys conducting, singing, and collaborating as a harpsichordist and pianist, particularly with singers. She studied conducting with David Hill, Maggie Brooks, Betsy Burleigh, and Dominick DiOrio, and has sung in Yale's Schola Cantorum and in Indiana University's contemporary vocal ensemble, NOTUS. When not making music, she enjoys learning languages and traveling.