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A vibrant conductor, visionary leader, effective communicator, and engaging educator, Carolyn Watson has it all going for her. 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of Watson’s move to the United States. During this time, she has amassed an impressive resume of experiences with professional orchestras, opera and ballet companies, and in prestigious institutions of higher education throughout the country.
Watson is particularly well-known in the United States and her native Australia. She also spent the formative years of her career in Europe where among other things, she assisted Sir Charles Mackerras and worked with a variety of professional orchestras and opera companies and attended more rehearsals of top tier European ensembles ‘than you can imagine’, observing traditions, and learning from the best in the business.
Born and raised in the Australian town of Wollongong, just south of Sydney, Watson is an alumna of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She is also a graduate of the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen where she studied under David Zinman. Watson recalls applying to the Aspen program ‘almost on a whim’, with this summer at Aspen the catalyst for her move into professional conducting. Up until that time she led an active and varied musical existence as a violinist, performing as a concerto and solo recitalist, chamber musician and orchestral player and concertmaster in Sydney.
Watson holds a PhD in Performance (Orchestral Conducting) from the Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney. She jokingly recalls pursuing a masters in conducting at the Conservatorium to satisfy her ‘hobby’ of conducting and as they say, the rest is history. During her time at the University of Sydney, she studied under James Lockhart and Imre Palló, with the latter a formative influence. The subject of her doctoral dissertation is Gesture as Communication: The Art of Carlos Kleiber.
The one-time professional violinist’s long list of accomplishments makes for impressive reading. Highlights include her current roles as Music Director of Indiana’s La Porte County Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra alongside invitations to respected orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States including Amarillo Opera, Austin Symphony, Cape Symphony, Des Moines Metro Opera, Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Kansas City Ballet.
Among Watson’s broader professional activities, and something which sets her aside from many of her peers, is her work as a mentor to aspiring conductors. In recent years she has been involved with a variety of organizations including Girls Who Conduct and The Women’s Artistic Leadership Initiative. Watson speaks of a ‘lightbulb’ moment when she realized she was one of few women conductors in her collective cohort, and of her desire to help the next generation navigate the challenges of the profession, and to share with them “what I wish I had known” when starting out.
Career Highlights
In 2021 Watson was recognized by the Australian Government as one of just four finalists in the Arts category of the Advance Awards, international awards recognizing Australian expatriates making a significant impact on a global scale. Coincidentally Watson was one of two female conductors nominated that year, with the other being Simone Young.
In 2017, Watson was one of half a dozen conductors selected from approximately 150 applicants for the renowned Dallas Opera Hart Institute for Women Conductors. The institute is an intensive professional development program for those already working in the field, with the aim of enhancing their skills and broadening their experience. Of Watson’s two appearances with the Dallas Opera, TheaterJones described her conducting as “electrifying” and “impressive”.
In 2012 Watson was among the winners of the Emmerich Kálmán International Operetta Conducting Competition in Budapest where she received Third Prize, the Herend Porcelain Manufacturer’s Prize and the Special Prize of the Kodály Philharmonic. In 2015 she returned to Hungary to conduct the Kodály Philharmonic in Debrecen in a wildly successful Carnival-themed concert.
A couple of years earlier in 2010 Watson conducted musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in Interaktion program, a unique program for aspiring professional conductors. Watson also later served as musical assistant at the Staatsoper Berlin during Infektion!, a celebration of the works of composer and music theorist John Cage.
In 2008 Watson conducted the orchestra for World Youth Day on the occasion of the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI in Sydney. On this occasion she performed for a live audience of some 100,000 people and a worldwide televised audience of approximately five million viewers.
Critical Acclaim
In 2021, Carolyn Watson conducted Des Moines Metro Opera’s production of Fellow Travelers, of which Opera Today enthusiastically exclaimed, “The colorful, compact instrumentation achieves an astonishing variety of effects, especially as conducted by the poised and gifted Carolyn Watson. With efficiently clear baton work and an obvious deep commitment to the emotional resonance of the piece, maestro Watson made a very persuasive case for the opera’s many strengths. Her interpretation effortlessly balanced poignant intimacy with dramatic sweep.”
Of this same performance Schmopera noted, “Carolyn Watson led the orchestra in a deft and nuanced performance of Gregory Spears’ score”, while Opera News observed, ‘Carolyn Watson conducted with great sensitivity.”
Operawire was similarly enthusiastic about Watson’s leadership at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City of When There Are Nine in January 2020, noting it was “conducted with crisp energy by Carolyn Watson. The angles were fresh, the detail sharply observed…” This world premiere production was the subject of an award-winning documentary, Higher Octaves: Leading Women in the Arts in which Watson is featured.
Recruited from the ‘other side of the world’
Among the significant stepping stones in her career was Watson’s appointment as Conductor and Music Director of the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra. The winner of an internationally competitive search, this tenure marked the beginning of Watson’s career in the United States and was the position which brought her from the antipodes to our shores. This appointment came about following a second round interview “ in the middle of the night Sydney-time” before she flew to Michigan in June during Interlochen’s Summer Arts Camp for a final, on-campus interview. By about February of that first year Watson realized why her on-campus interview was held during the summer at ‘winterlochen’ as she wryly referred to the campus’ harsh Northern Michigan winters.
Watson’s work with the Academy Orchestra was nothing short of transformative. It included selection for the 2016 New York Philharmonic Biennial, a national broadcast on From the Top featuring a world premiere commission, collaborations with renowned soloists Alexandre Tharaud and Mark O’Connor, and winning the American Prize in Orchestral Performance. She continues to maintain close ties to Interlochen, where she is a highly regarded conductor and faculty member at Interlochen Arts Camp.
Since moving to the US, Watson has also held a variety of positions in schools of music throughout the country and she currently serves as Director of Orchestras at the University of Illinois, the first woman to lead this nationally-recognized program.
Sought-After Music Director
Carolyn Watson is the tenth music director of the La Porte County Symphony Orchestra in Northwestern Indiana. The La Porte County Symphony Orchestra is a long-standing cornerstone of the vibrant arts and music landscape in the Hoosier State, having recently celebrated its fiftieth anniversary season under Watson. Also in this landmark year the LCSO launched an endowment campaign which exceeded all expectations, raising almost 1.7 million dollars.
Under Watson’s artistic leadership the La Porte County Symphony is thriving, enjoying strong subscriber and audience support. In response to community demand, the LCSO has also seen an increase in the number of performances on offer each year to now include four subscription concerts for a total of eight performances annually. Bringing in internationally-renowned guest artists and composers, LCSO is developing an enviable reputation for presenting a diverse and innovative range of repertoire and concert experiences enjoyed by capacity audiences in La Porte and Michigan City.
Watson credits her success in La Porte, as well as her thriving freelance career to a variety of factors. “I love to collaborate” she admits, and “I love working with people. I think I also enjoy being the center of attention,” she chortles. One can easily imagine Watson connecting with ease with a range of people – her genuine sense of honesty and openness, a quick wit and a uniquely Australian sense of humor come across immediately. That said, Watson is quick to acknowledge that Americans don’t always understand her sense of humor. Still she says with a cheeky smile, that won’t deter her from continuing to try…
Tenacity and Determination
While it is perhaps difficult to believe when one considers Watson’s current rich and varied musical existence, she confirms that it has not always been so. Watson’s career success has been hard-won, the result of years of study and dedication and like many artists, many a stumbling block and plenty of failures along the way. She laughingly describes a mentor telling her to keep a file of all her rejection letters such that when she succeeded, she would be able to open the file, look back, and smile. Watson explains she didn’t see the mentor’s suggestion through and discarded the collection in a fit of frustration. “I wish now, though, I’d kept them all. Aside from the fact the file would be much larger at this point, I really do think I would enjoy looking back on the journey, and the direction the universe appears to have chosen for me.”
Watson has won every scholarship, award and fellowship available to young and emerging Australian conductors. She explains that perhaps paradoxically, this was as a result of a great deal of uncertainty regarding the conducting profession, and as a result of not really knowing how to go about building a career. “I remember having decided to be a conductor, but not really knowing where to start. I goggled the names of Australian conductors I knew and many of them seemed to have won a lot of awards. So I thought ‘ok then, I guess if I am going to become a conductor, I need to win some awards!”
Watson has received support from the American Australian Association’s Dame Joan Sutherland Fund, a Sheila Pryor Study Grant from the Australian Opera Auditions Committee and from Opera Foundation Australia in the form of the Berlin New Music Opera Award and the Bayreuth Opera Award. She received the Nelly Apt Award for study in Israel which saw her in residence at the Israeli National Opera in 2010, and in 2013 she won the Brian Stacey Award for Emerging Australian Conductors. She was the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship in 2012 which saw her in residence at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, among other associated activities. In 2013 she also received a Creative Fellowship from the State Library of Victoria.
Widespread Demand
Carolyn Watson continues to be in demand internationally as a conductor of opera, ballet, and orchestral music. In Spring 2024 she will make two trips to Australia – the first in March will see her debut with Townsville’s Barrier Reef Orchestra, while in May she will lead Melbourne’s Monash Academy Orchestra. Watson’s first appearance with the Monash ensemble saw her lead the world premiere of Thomas Meadowcroft’s Evening Continuo and the Australian premiere of Louise Farrenc’s Symphony No. 1, and resulted in her immediate re-engagement.
Also in the 23-24 season Watson will debut with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra and enjoy a return to the Cape Symphony in Massachusetts. Watson first led the Cape Symphony in April 2023 in an all-Australian program featuring didgeridoo virtuoso William Barton after which she was promptly re-invited to lead a total of five performances this season. Watson also returns to the Kansas City Ballet in December for six performances of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.
When not conducting Watson can usually be found at home in her garden in Kansas City with Poppy, her beloved seven year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. She also has a passion for travel, having visited seventy countries with future plans including Antarctica, Central Asia, Iceland and Patagonia. Watson is an award-winning travel photographer, and dreams of a second career as a travel writer-photographer, a plan in which she hopes to continue to develop her appreciation of fine food and wine.
