The Composer
Internationally recognized Composer Carol Worthey began her music career on the first day of life: Family friend Leonard Bernstein was in her house, made hamburgers in the shape of stars and declared, "This little girl's gonna be a star!"
Not to make Lenny wrong, Carol began composing at age three and a half. When Carol was ten she wrote an Etude that was premiered in Carnegie Hall by pianist Vivian Rivkin . At thirteen Carol began her first composition lessons with Grant Beglarian (himself a student of Aaron Copland at Tanglewood) at Merrywood School of Music where John Harbison was Music Director. She studied with Darius Milhaud at Aspen Music Festival , and with Vincent Persichetti (of Juilliard) at the Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts (Dartmouth) where she was also mentored by Walter Piston and Elliott Carter . (At the time she was known as Carol Lee Symonds.)
Carol Worthey won First Prize in Composition while at Columbia University (studying under Otto Luening , Vladimir Ussachevsky and Henry Cowell ) and was the winner in 1990 of the Inner City Cultural Center's Composer Competition for Fanfare for Joy & Wedding March . Carol studied with Dick Grove and was the second woman graduate of the extremely demanding Contemporary Composing and Arranging Program at the Grove School of Music where she honed her skills in orchestration. After Grove School, she also studied under Academy Award winner Eddy Lawrence Manson .
She has since had eight world premieres at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, as well as works performed in England, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Canada, the United States, Croatia, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, China and Malaysia. A children's musical she wrote played for five years with the Los Angeles Children's Theatre and was featured on Entertainment Tonight.
A visual artist as well as composer, Carol painted and composed music in 2001 for Angel of Music , an interactive statue which was displayed at the Los Angeles Music Center and was part of a citywide exhibit.
In 1992 Carol was nominated for a Legacy Award by the Hollywood Entertainment Museum. A student of Bernstein protege Brad Keimach , Carol made her debut as conductor in Paris at a 2001 concert held in honor of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In 2002 Carol was commissioned by renowned Cellist Joyce Geeting (protege of cello great Janos Starker) to compose Elegy for Cello & Orchestra, a one-movement concerto World-premiered at St. Martin-in-The-Fields , London in Spring of 2003 to rousing acclaim. Elegy is a musical enactment of the events of 9/11 and is a heartfelt tribute to those lost and those left behind. It is designed to heal.
Carol is proud to say she has been happily married to Ray Korns for thirty-six years, has one lovely daughter Megan Worthey and lives in Granada Hills California where she teaches composition and piano locally and internationally (via remote session).