Since making her concerto debut at the age of sixteen Carol Cook has appeared as both a soloist and chamber musician in concert halls worldwide. Born in Inverness, Scotland, into a musical family, Carol has performed as soloist with the Chicago Philharmonic, Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra in Boston, Edinburgh Symphony, Guildhall Symphony, Cambridge Sinfonia, and Edinburgh Players and she also performed the Brahms Double Concerto alongside her brother Calum with the Edinburgh Symphony and the Grampian Orchestra.
Carol was appointed principal violist with the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra in 2013, having been a member of the orchestra since 2003. She has also appeared as guest principal violist with numerous international orchestras, including the highly acclaimed Australian Chamber Orchestra with whom she has toured extensively throughout Australia, New Zealand, and the US. She performs regularly with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and has also appeared with the New York Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra.
Carol is currently a member of the Rembrandt Chamber Players in Chicago with whom she performs a wide variety of works for small ensemble ranging from baroque to contemporary commissions. Carol has also appeared as a chamber musician at summer festivals in Banff, Verbier, Montreal, La Jolla, Chambermusic Northwest, Mimir Festival and Cactus Pear Festival in San Antonio. Carol was featured on the “Rising Star” series for two years running at the Caramoor International Festival in New York, and she performed with musicians such as Donald Weilerstein, Arnold Steinhardt and Claude Frank as a member of the Caramoor Virtuosi. Carol is a former member of the Appalachia Waltz Trio with the Grammy Award-winning violinist Mark O’Connor. The trio toured extensively throughout the US. and released its debut album, Crossing Bridges, to rave reviews in November ’04.
Cook holds degrees from The Juilliard School, Oberlin Conservatory and Guildhall School and studied with David Takeno, Roland Vamos, Hsin-Yun Huang. She studied at the Verbier Academy in Switzerland for three summers with Yuri Bashmet, Paul Neubauer, and Roberto Diaz, and has also studied privately with Li-Kuo Chang.
When she is not playing her viola, Carol spends as much time as possible working on her golf game and also loves to go on adventures on her road bike.