(Photo credit Antonia Rose Photography)
Portland-based composer-soprano-lyricist Carolyn Quick (she/her) “is establishing herself as one of the most important voices in our community (Makrokosmos Project 7: Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman - Program Notes).” As a singer and composer, Carolyn loves exploring the unique timbral and textural possibilities of the human voice. She also advocates for historically excluded composers and their music and co-founded new music collective Persisting Sound and music distribution collective Raindrop New Music to uplift those voices.
With performances across North America and Croatia, Carolyn’s commissions include Fear No Music, composing a work for their HEARINGS concert in response to the 2018 Kavanaugh Hearings, Eugene Opera’s Songs for Quarantine, Vancouver Opera’s New Works project, and was a winner of Voices of Concinnity’s Choral Composer Amplify Project. She has had works programmed for Vancouver Pro Musica’s Sonic Boom Festival, Art Song Lab, and has participated as both composer and performer, premiering hers and other works, for Uzmah-Upbeat’s International Summer School in Croatia, and the Oregon Bach Festival Composer’s Symposium Vocal Fellows Program in Eugene, Oregon.
As a singer, Carolyn has performed with Eugene Opera, playing the role of Miles in their production of The Turn of the Screw. Opera News writes: “Hard-to-cast Miles was sung [by] soprano Carolyn Quick, whose pure timbre was such that anyone blindfolded would have taken her for a precocious boy treble.” Carolyn is an avid chorister and has sung with Resonance Ensemble, In Medio, Portland Symphonic Choir, and the Oregon Bach Festival Vocal Fellows Program. She also toured with the award-winning University of Oregon Chamber Choir for choral competitions in Ireland, and Germany, and the Portland Phoenix Chamber Choir, travelling to the UK to compete in the Llangollen International Musical Eistedfodd.
As a soloist, she has performed Vivaldi’s Gloria with the South Puget Sound Community College Choirs, and the Student Orchestras of Greater Olympia’s for their presentation of Handel’s Messiah. She was also a part of Queer Opera, two years in a row, singing roles in opera scenes from Albert Herring, Le nozze di figaro, Manon, Der Rosenkavalier, and more! Carolyn has premiered over a dozen contemporary works across North America and Europe (with pieces by composers such as Andrea Reinkemeyer and Cary Boyce). This Summer, Carolyn was a featured soloist with the Royal Voices of Charlotte, performing works by Undine Smith-Moore and Henry Purcell in Oregon and British Columbia for the groups' pre-tour concerts.
Most recently, Carolyn performed with the Royal Voices of Charlotte during the International Choral Kathaumixw in British Columbia this Summer, singing her own work Catch at Hope as a part of their winning competition set! Catch at Hope was commissioned by the Portland Phoenix Chamber Choir and originally premiered alongside the Pacific Northwest premiere of Margaret Bond’s Credo. The work was also performed by Lewis and Clark College's Cappella Nova in December and will be featured on an upcoming album release in 2024 by Centaur Records. Carolyn also sang with Resonance Ensemble and the Oregon Symphony during the world premiere of Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem.
Carolyn is also a Lyricist and multi-instrumentalist - playing piano and percussion, often accompanying herself for performances of both classical and popular music. In her free time, she has always had a love for poetry and has been writing for well over a decade. As she began to pursue a career in music, poetry served a vital role in the raw expression of her life experiences, free of stress and constraint. She has since set several of her poems to music which has been performed by ensembles such as Fear No Music, Eugene Opera, Persisting Sound, and, most recently, was featured in composer Drew Swatosh's zine of solo unaccompanied works, the Dead Fires Anthology as well as their work "The Rocking Chair" premiered at Cascadia Composer's In Good Hands concert. Carolyn participated in several poetry workshops offered by Trauma Head author Elee Kraljii Gardiner during Art Song Lab. She is currently a member of the East County Poetry Group, with whom she has several of her works published in their recent publication Poetry: Lent 2019 - Epiphany 2020.
With performances across North America and Croatia, Carolyn’s commissions include Fear No Music, composing a work for their HEARINGS concert in response to the 2018 Kavanaugh Hearings, Eugene Opera’s Songs for Quarantine, Vancouver Opera’s New Works project, and was a winner of Voices of Concinnity’s Choral Composer Amplify Project. She has had works programmed for Vancouver Pro Musica’s Sonic Boom Festival, Art Song Lab, and has participated as both composer and performer, premiering hers and other works, for Uzmah-Upbeat’s International Summer School in Croatia, and the Oregon Bach Festival Composer’s Symposium Vocal Fellows Program in Eugene, Oregon.
As a singer, Carolyn has performed with Eugene Opera, playing the role of Miles in their production of The Turn of the Screw. Opera News writes: “Hard-to-cast Miles was sung [by] soprano Carolyn Quick, whose pure timbre was such that anyone blindfolded would have taken her for a precocious boy treble.” Carolyn is an avid chorister and has sung with Resonance Ensemble, In Medio, Portland Symphonic Choir, and the Oregon Bach Festival Vocal Fellows Program. She also toured with the award-winning University of Oregon Chamber Choir for choral competitions in Ireland, and Germany, and the Portland Phoenix Chamber Choir, travelling to the UK to compete in the Llangollen International Musical Eistedfodd.
As a soloist, she has performed Vivaldi’s Gloria with the South Puget Sound Community College Choirs, and the Student Orchestras of Greater Olympia’s for their presentation of Handel’s Messiah. She was also a part of Queer Opera, two years in a row, singing roles in opera scenes from Albert Herring, Le nozze di figaro, Manon, Der Rosenkavalier, and more! Carolyn has premiered over a dozen contemporary works across North America and Europe (with pieces by composers such as Andrea Reinkemeyer and Cary Boyce). This Summer, Carolyn was a featured soloist with the Royal Voices of Charlotte, performing works by Undine Smith-Moore and Henry Purcell in Oregon and British Columbia for the groups' pre-tour concerts.
Most recently, Carolyn performed with the Royal Voices of Charlotte during the International Choral Kathaumixw in British Columbia this Summer, singing her own work Catch at Hope as a part of their winning competition set! Catch at Hope was commissioned by the Portland Phoenix Chamber Choir and originally premiered alongside the Pacific Northwest premiere of Margaret Bond’s Credo. The work was also performed by Lewis and Clark College's Cappella Nova in December and will be featured on an upcoming album release in 2024 by Centaur Records. Carolyn also sang with Resonance Ensemble and the Oregon Symphony during the world premiere of Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem.
Carolyn is also a Lyricist and multi-instrumentalist - playing piano and percussion, often accompanying herself for performances of both classical and popular music. In her free time, she has always had a love for poetry and has been writing for well over a decade. As she began to pursue a career in music, poetry served a vital role in the raw expression of her life experiences, free of stress and constraint. She has since set several of her poems to music which has been performed by ensembles such as Fear No Music, Eugene Opera, Persisting Sound, and, most recently, was featured in composer Drew Swatosh's zine of solo unaccompanied works, the Dead Fires Anthology as well as their work "The Rocking Chair" premiered at Cascadia Composer's In Good Hands concert. Carolyn participated in several poetry workshops offered by Trauma Head author Elee Kraljii Gardiner during Art Song Lab. She is currently a member of the East County Poetry Group, with whom she has several of her works published in their recent publication Poetry: Lent 2019 - Epiphany 2020.
Carolyn is currently a member of Portland-based chamber choir In Medio, Resonance Ensemble, Portland Phoenix Chamber Choir, & Tabor Wind Ensemble.