Caroline McCaskey

AltStrings: Caroline McCaskey by Jordan Hayes
Photography credit: Jordan Hayes

A native daughter of the genre-bending West Coast music scene, Caroline McCaskey is equally at home in the traditional, improvising and classical music worlds. With each engaging performance, Caroline draws from her degrees in music composition and performance, as well as from her long history performing with Alasdair Fraser and the San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers (which she joined at age 12). In 2019, she won the U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Competition. Also a critically acclaimed musical saw virtuosa, at age 20 she was the youngest winner of the International Musical Saw competition in 2007, and returned to the competition in 2018 to win a second time. After her debut as saw soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, Caroline was proclaimed “a revelation” by the critic for the San Francisco Performing Arts Examiner. Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas declared her the prima donna assoluta of the instrument – in writing, with a Sharpie, on her saw. She also performs throughout the U.S. with the Contra, Scottish and English dance band StringFire! 

In high demand as a teacher of both traditional and classical music, Caroline can be found teaching and performing at camps throughout the U.S. and Canada. She has taught piano, fiddle, violin, viola, cello, musical saw and theremin. She is certified by the Suzuki Association of the Americas to teach Violin books 1-10, and maintains an engaged and enthusiastic virtual private lesson studio. Also a curriculum author, Caroline released the second edition of her well-regarded AltStrings Fiddle Method for Violin, Viola, Cello and Bass Books 1 and 2 in early 2020.

Check out her other projects:
CarolineMcCaskey.com
SawPlayer.com