About Heather Carlasare
Heather J. Carlasare, a native of New York City, was born into a very musical family. Both of her parents are
professional musicians and she was brought up in the classical tradition at an early age, starting violin lessons at
the age of seven. She attended LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts in Lincoln Center, graduating in
1999, and decided to make the switch to viola when entering college. Heather completed her baccalaureate
degree in viola performance at the Manhattan School of Music in May 2003, studying under Karen Ritscher and
Karen Dreyfus. In 2003, she was offered a full scholarship to continue her studies at Indiana University’s Jacobs
School of Music. While at IU, she studied with Alan De Veritch, Atar Arad, and Yuval Gotlibovich and earned
both a Masters degree and Performer Diploma in viola performance. Heather has toured with orchestras in both
Venezuela and South Korea, and studied under renowned conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Kurt Masur, Gunther
Schuller, Michael Stern, and Leonard Slatkin.
In addition to performance, Heather has always had a deep love for teaching music. She completed her minor
in String Pedagogy with famed pedagogue Mimi Zweig and received her Suzuki Books 1-3 training with
Edward Kreitman. After marrying pianist Mario Carlasare, Heather relocated from New York and has been a
resident of Illinois for the last 11 years. She has performed through the Chicago area with numerous orchestras
and ensembles including the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra,
Southwest Symphony, Trans Siberian Orchestra, and helped found Chicago Camerata, a chamber ensemble
featuring members of the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra. She is currently on faculty at Saint Xavier University
and at The Music Connection in Orland Park, as well as maintains her own private studio.
Heather currently resides in Frankfort with her husband and three young children.