Violist Caroline Coade joined the DSO in September 1996. Before coming to Detroit, Coade was a substitute for the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. She also held positions with the Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra, the Philly Pops Orchestra, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Santa Fe Opera and the Tchaikovsky Chamber Orchestra.
A San Diego native, Coade began taking Suzuki violin lessons at age six, but switched to viola when she was 14. She spent her senior year of high school at the famed Interlochen Arts Academy in northern Michigan, graduating with honors in 1984. Coade went on to receive a Bachelor of Music in viola performance at Oberlin Conservatory, an artist diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, and a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School. Her principal teachers include Karen Tuttle, Eugene Becker, Jeffrey Irvine, and Joyce Robbins.
In addition, Coade is passionate about education. She has been an adjunct faculty member of Wayne State University since 1998, teaching private viola lessons and orchestra repertoire. In 2005, she became an adjunct faculty member at the University of Michigan. She coaches the viola section of the Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra, has participated in the DSO summer residency at Interlochen, and has taught young musicians at the DSO Summer Institute at Meadow Brook. Previously, she was on the faculty of Temple University in Philadelphia from 1994-96, where she taught viola and chamber music in the school’s Music Preparatory Division. Coade also performs frequently for community outreach programs as a member of two DSO string ensembles.
Coade is a founding member of the Woodland Trio (Jeffery Zook, flute, Kerstin Allvin, harp), a group founded in 1998 that has performed throughout the world. In addition, she spent two summers at the Marlboro Music Festival, and served as Artist-in-Residence at Pennsylvania’s Laurel Festival of the Arts in 1993. She was a guest artist for the Detroit Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in July 2001.