Zachary Isaac Carrettin

Composer / Musician In Residence

Zachary Carrettin is a violinist, violist, conductor, composer and dedicated educator. In the realm of early music he has performed with such ensembles as Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Apollo’s Fire, Magnificat, La Monica, Ars Lyrica, and the Houston Grand Opera in their period instrument performances of Monteverdi’s Orfeo. He has been featured numerous times as soloist with the American Bach Soloists and Camerata Pacifica, has served as guest concertmaster with New York’s Bach Vespers Group, and has recorded with El Mundo, Camerata Capuzzi and Chanticleer.

In 2009 he joined Musica Angelica and Long Beach Opera as concertmaster of their production of Vivaldi’s recently discovered opera, Montezuma. He is the former concertmaster of Houston’s OrchestraX, with whom he gave the Texas premiere performances of works for violin solo and orchestra by John Corigliano and Astor Piazzolla (arr. John Adams). He is a former first violinist of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Norway. Mr. Carrettin’s compositions have been performed at the Kennedy Center, the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, and the Museum of Art at Rovereto-Trentino, Italy.

In collaboration with aerial dance company Project Bandaloop and IBM, the Bachiana Chamber Orchestra commissioned him to write new works, which were premiered by the ensemble in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2007. He has toured four continents as solo violinist with Project Bandaloop and an additional one hundred cities as violinist with Yanni. Additionally, Mr. Carrettin has been featured on numerous television programs, including CBS Sunday Morning and 60 Minutes; his Tango Nuevo recording was played on Late Night With David Letterman, accompanying Bandaloop's dance performance.

He has performed for two US presidents and for the Sultan and Royal Family of Oman. Carrettin has conducted orchestras in Germany, Moldavia, Romania, the Czech Republic and the United States, including the world premiere performance of the Granlund-Lolea Interludes and the first known performance of Antonio Capuzzi’s l'Impostore punito ballet music. He holds a certificate of orchestral conducting studies from the National University of Music, Bucharest, and a Master of Music degree from Rice University Shepherd School of Music, where he was teaching assistant to violinist Kenneth Goldsmith.

Mr. Carrettin is currently Music Director of the Illini Orchestra at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is also Music Director at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ, Champaign. Zachary Carrettin has held teaching posts in violin, viola, and chamber music at Rice University Shepherd School of Music Preparatory Program, the Crowden School of Music, Berkeley, and the Community Music Center, Portland. While research assistant to Professor Kenneth Goldsmith, he collaborated in the rediscovery of seventy-seven manuscripts and related documents by Venetian composer, Antonio Capuzzi (1755-1818), located in northern Italian archives. The first audio CD recording of these findings has been released on Cinnabar Records, performed by Camerata Capuzzi. Mr. Carrettin has been a guest lecturer at several universities and is currently working on a book and accompanying DVD aimed at instructing school orchestra directors in the art of baroque period string instrument techniques.

Visit his website: www.zacharycarrettin.com