Just like music is more than dots and lines on a page, a musician is more than just their resume. This is my story, thank you for reading it.

I was born and raised out in the west Texas town of El Paso. My journey as a musician officially began at age 6 when I started playing the piano. I took lessons for six years, doing well enough, and was (kindly) released from my teacher's studio. You see, I had begun studying the flute and had a habit of incessantly talking about the flute; my interest in the piano simply could not compete. Thankfully my foundation had been quite solid and I was able to flourish in sixth grade band due to the knowledge my dear piano teacher had imparted. I began private flute lessons before the beginning of band, and was grateful for the head start. I was tremendously fortunate to be accepted into the studio of Barbara Lambrecht, a highly acclaimed band director and flutist. She held me to a high standard and taught me to see my own potential and work towards it. After two years in middle school band, I attended summer camp at Interlochen Center for the Arts for the next three summers. There I met a wide array of musicians and artists and was completely sold on music as a career I would passionately pursue.  

 My dearest ambition was to be a concert flutist. I loved having solos in band but far more I loved performing in solo contests and recitals. Adults were always telling me I had to major in “music education” because no one makes a living with performance, but I refused. My high school boyfriend insisted in the only path to success was through winning an orchestral audition. He did at least a degree in flute performance was the right degree for that, so I took him at his word. Helpfuly, in the spring of my freshman year of high school I was blessed to be a part of the school symphony for a few precious months of the year (the rest of the time it was just string orchestra). Playing in an orchestral setting felt like something I could commit to, if I couldn't be a soloist. At least in orchestra there is only one flute player per part, unlike the 8+ flutes sharing one part in band. After my sophomore year, our orchestra performed at Carnegie Hall and I served as the piccolo player. After one more year at my home high school, I applied and was accepted once again to Interlochen Center for the Arts, but this time to the Academy, where I would attend my senior year and complete my high school experience. 

After my year on the small but magical campus of Interlochen in beautiful Michigan, I returned to Texas (albeit a very different part of the state) to attend the University of North Texas under the tutelage of Dr. Mary Karen Clardy, pursuing and earning a Bachelors of Music in flute performance, with a little high-five to my sixth grade self. I credit Dr. Clardy with who I am as a flutist today. She took my raw (but well nurtured by previous teachers) talent and passion and molded it into a flexible, versatile set of abilities that continues to carry me through the solo, chamber, and orchestral stage. I began teaching seriously during my sophomore year, and quickly learned that I was dissatisfied with the existing teaching methods and set out to create my own. By my second year of teaching I had completed both a beginning and an intermediate book which I used with all of my students. I insisted on giving both a junior and a senior recital at UNT and learned what my younger self already knew: full length solo recitals were my favorite thing to do. I loved all the aspects of preparation: choosing the programing, reaching out to other musicians to join me, and practicing knowing that the work I was doing would be shared with an audience. What a thrill.

 After a grueling series of seven graduate school auditions, I was humbled but exuberant to be attending The Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland for my masters degree in flute performance under the delightful and profound Laurie Sokoloff. Her wise and confident outlook on music, life, and teaching freed me to develop my own ideas of where I wanted to go and who I wanted to become as a musician. I was enthralled by my surroundings in terms of the storied, historic school itself as well as my colleagues. Seminar style classes focused on specific pieces or composers kept me excited and growing in my love for performing as well as discussing and appreciating music and musical culture. As I was finishing up coursework I did a major re-working of my teaching methods and used them with my full day of students at a near by music store which offered private lessons.

I moved to Charlottesville, Virginia after graduating with plans to settle down while finding my way outside of the world of academia. Despite this plans, 2010-2016 turned out to be years of great struggle. My attempt to “settle down” resulted not in a comfortable, supportive life but instead firmly situated between a rock and a hard place. Suffice it to say that I was not supported in or logistically able to expand my horizons the way I had planned or prepared for. Regardless, I faithfully took on the task of seeking out and taking orchestral auditions. While preparing for the third audition, I realized that all joy had completely drained from my practicing. In fact, the very thought was a heavy, miserable burden. The notion of taking the audition was almost as horrible as spending all those hours working on all of those excerpts, and often for jobs that would barely pay and weren’t in a location where I was likely to actually move. Fortunately, a dear friend of mine, Parker Stanley (an accomplished pop guitarist and bassist) believed in my music and together we formed a duo, playing covers and Christmas songs. We gave a few concerts together and it got me through a dark and limiting time in my life.

During the time I still had about a dozen students (all in one day) in Maryland as well as a growing studio in Charlottesville. I commuted back and forth once or twice a week from 2010 until 2018, when I finally taught exclusively in Charlottesville. My studio grew steadily and in 2012 I decided to branch out and start teaching beginning piano students. I wanted to maintain my waning knowledge from lessons plus the two years of required piano work in undergraduate as well as extend my student base. I have found such joy in seeing a new set of students grow and learn on an instrument I appreciate so deeply, though I do not perform on it. I have also found that teaching piano has strengthened my flute teaching, and certainly the reverse is true as well. 

In 2013, after taking just one more orchestral audition, I gained the cherished honor of principal flute with the newly formed Hunt Valley Symphony Orchestra. It was such a relief to be officially and consistently performing classical music again. Along with being featured on the chamber music series, I was given the great privilege of performing Mozart's Flute Concerto in G Major with the orchestra in November of 2015 - an absolute highlight of my life. I stepped down from the orchestra after three seasons knowing that I needed consistent performance opportunities, just not knowing how to do so.

In the fall of 2016 I considered leaving Charlottesville. Faced with this long expected news, one of my closest friends (Juliana Marin, soprano) insisted we give a concert together both in Baltimore and in Charlottesville. We took on the old ritual from school: programming, preparing, and promoting. Juliana and I gave two exhilarating performances of this program with Julie Bernstein. That concert (entitled "As the Spring Sleeps…") along with Julie's event "A Night of Hope and Reconciliation" where I performed classical music alongside a wide array of other artists, reignited the same passion I’d felt when knowing that after my junior recital, I would have a senior recital…and then a masters recital! I was anxious to keep the momentum going and gratefully, Julie agreed in the spring of 2017 to another concert, "Dolce e Tristse," which would benefit the Adult Learning Center of Charlottesville, a wonderful place where adults can learn English as well as study for the GED, etc. I had begun volunteering there in 2017 and giving a concert in their honor was a true privilege for me. I then gave a concert called SONOSYNTHESIS in November of 2017 benefitting IMPACT C’ville which SOLD OUT!! It was the absolute time of my life. So much so that I abandoned all thoughts of leaving the area and purchased a house one week before the second SONOSYNTHESIS concert, “Story of My Life” in April 2018. Since then, the SONOSYNTHESIS Benefit Concert Series has been giving 2-3 concerts a year raising money for those organizations doing the work of justice and peace. Stay up to date via the events page!

Along with performing with most orchestras within a few hours drive of Charlottesville (Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra, Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra, Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, Opera on the James, The Virginia Consort), as well as other solo and chamber concert series (SVBF Thursday Noon Concerts, Music on Park Street, Charlottesville Salon Series, Westminster-Canterbury of the Blue Ridge Concert Series, University Village Concert Series), having a constant rotation of concerts for which I am fully responsible, from the planning, programming, preparation, promotion, and performance, I have found a rich and varied place on the stage and I know I am making my eleven-year-old self proud.

 But the stage alone is not enough - I also need time in the studio, with my students. The joy of performing is magnified by the ability to nurture curiosity and talent in students and see them learn about music, and about themselves through music. I am so grateful for my students, our studio classes where we learn together, and our recitals where we celebrate the process and the result.

Proving that staying in Charlottesville was the right choice, in 2021 I married the love of my life, my true partner, Brian. We love living in Charlottesville and exploring and adventuring together near and far. We have a beautiful balance of shared and diverse interests which is just part of what makes me thankful for our relationship. His encouragement, enthusiasm, and support both practical and emotional in my musical pursuits keep my passion for music kindled even when the hours are long or the next concert is unclear. I did take his last name but continue to perform as Cari Shipp. (At least in part because redirecting this website feels annoying. But mostly because eww, the patriarchy.)

 This section of the website would normally be reserved for a formal resume. However a musician is no more the sum of his or her resume than a piece of music is simply dots and lines on a page. Thank you for taking into account the journey and the person. If you want a list of everything I’ve ever done, you can view that here.