After hearing Scheherazade in an elementary school general music class, Holly Mulcahy fell in love with the violin and knew it would be her future. Since then, she has won a variety of tenured positions in symphonic orchestras from Richmond to Phoenix and has performed on a variety of domestic and international tours including the Washington National Opera Japan tour under the leadership of Placido Domingo and the 2012 Carnegie Hall appearance with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra.

She began developing her leadership skills at the renowned Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University with Baltimore Symphony concertmaster Herbert Greenberg. Since then, she has applied her expertise in performances as concertmaster with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and Richmond Symphony Orchestra as well as a one year concertmaster appointment during the 2010-2011 season with Orchestra Iowa.

As an in-demand performer, Holly maintains a very busy schedule with the Grammy award winning Nashville Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, and Music of the Baroque. Her 2012-2013 schedule also includes multiple engagements as concertmaster for Emmy Award winner George Daugherty’s Bugs Bunny at the Symphony program.

She spends her summers at the celebrated Grand Teton Music Festival where in addition to performing in the violin section and assistant principal second, Holly volunteers as an active chamber musician.

In the summer of 2011, she performed Pulitzer Prize winning composer Jennifer Higdon’s Piano Trio under Ms. Higdon’s direct supervision. Following the performance, Higdon said “Working with Holly Mulcahy was fantastic. She’s a superb musician and a great colleague. I always think my Piano Trio is a great test for violinists, because it has such wildly varying moods: long and lyrical lines, delicately played, and then racing and driving rhythms, moving at top speeds with intensity. Holly nailed it all splendidly. I would work with her again any chance I could. She was wonderful.”

An expert in all things etiquette, Holly makes her home in Oak Park, IL, Chicago’s Frank Lloyd Wright neighborhood, where she maintains a reputation for planning and hosting exquisite gourmet parties. In addition to an active performing career, she is the author of Neo Classical; a monthly column on the future of classical music. She enjoys gardening, organic cooking, and spoiling her cats. A lover of all things outdoors, she aspires to start her own organic farm.

Holly performs on a 1917 Giovanni Cavani violin, previously owned by the late renowned soloist Eugene Fodor, and a bespoke bow made by award winning master bow maker, Douglas Raguse.

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