Carole Bestvater
Group Violin & Fiddle
Musicianship
STEP Fiddlers & Reading Orchestra
Private Violin & Viola
Carole Bestvater, violinist, strives to share her joy of music with those around her. She is equally at home in a diversity of genres, maintaining a full schedule as a performer and educator. Carole relocated to St. John’s to pursue a Master’s Degree in Violin Performance with Dr. Nancy Dahn at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and loved it here so much that she decided to stay.
As an educator, Carole is on faculty of the Suzuki Talent Education Program, and has been trained in Books 1-6 with SAA teacher trainers from across North America. As a performing musician, you are likely to catch Carole in a diverse range of performance settings. She is Assistant Principal Second of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, and performs chamber music with the Strong Harbour Strings Collective. You can also find her playing and singing in various folk and folk-rock groups; she is equally comfortable playing a variety of styles including Bluegrass, Irish, Newfoundland, Scandinavian, Old Time and Appalachian folk music.
Passionate about equity, Carole founded the Strong Harbour Strings Program, an after school music program based in the belief that communities can be strengthened through the learning and sharing of music. This program was designed to bring music education to families with few resources, so that their children can also experience the benefits of learning music.