The Musicians
Ellen Caruso Olson (Viola)
Member of the JSO: Since 1985
Hometown: Long Island, N.Y.
Education: Hofstra University
Performance experience: Ellen’s first professional full time job was with the Puerto Rico Symphony, where she stayed for one year until she came to Jacksonville in 1985. Because of her love of chamber music, she and her husband, oboist Eric Olson, founded the San Marco Chamber Music Society in 2008. It presents free concerts at St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in the San Marco area. Music lovers can find out more about the San Marco Chamber Music Society’s offerings at www.sanmarcochambermusic.org. SMCMS is also on Facebook!
Why the viola? “When I was in the third grade, I did well on the flutophone (similar to the recorder) and was allowed to choose an instrument to study in the fourth grade. I chose the viola because I guess I was a bit of a non-conformist! I was very lucky that public schools in those days had string programs, otherwise there was no way I would have become a violist.”
Discovering the violin/viola disparity: “I started on a three quarter size violin with viola strings and learned viola in a class with violinists. After about two years, our teacher gave us separate violin and viola parts to play. What a shock that I didn’t get to play the tune anymore! I remember coming home from school in tears that day. I’m still not over it.”
Hobbies: In her spare time, Ellen repairs, restores, and customizes vintage Barbie dolls from the 1960s and 70s. She reroots their hair, sews outfits for them, and sells them on Ebay. Happy owners of her dolls live in Japan, Sweden, Germany, Italy, France, and of course, the United States. Also Ellen has become extremely interested in antique French dolls, especially Brus, but unfortunately does not have the thousands of dollars necessary to acquire them. She instead is beginning a small collection of French reproduction dolls.
Family: Ellen and Eric have a daughter named Gina, who is a voracious reader and future Creative Writing major at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts.
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