Holly Mulcahy

After hearing Scheherazade at an early age, Holly Mulcahy fell in love with the violin and knew it would be her future. She currently serves as concertmaster of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra. She spends her summers at the celebrated Grand Teton Music Festival. Believing in music as a healing and coping source, Holly founded Arts Capacity, a charitable 501(c)3 which focuses on bringing live chamber music, art, artists, and composers to prisons. Arts Capacity addresses many emotional and character-building issues people face as they prepare for release into society. 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.

The Superpower We All Have (but don’t use)

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Feeling needed, valued, seen, and appreciated are all things we humans like. When people acknowledge what others do or bring to a company or organization, it can be extremely powerful. It can make the person work harder, stay with the company longer, and feel more connected to the organization. Although the orchestra world actively thanks and acknowledges patrons and sponsors regularly (for the most part), is there enough acknowledgement within the organization itself? Over the past couple decades as a professional musician, I’ve heard several voices expressing a lack of appreciation or … Continue Reading

Improve Through Improv

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When corporations are faced with crisis, challenges, or just want to regroup and refocus, many have found that offering improv (improvisation) workshops is a great way to unify the company, encourage creativity, and streamline communication company-wide. Nonprofit organizations, especially orchestras, are no different with needs of finding focus, creativity, and unity. And coming out of this pandemic these organizations really ought to be firing on all cylinders. Embracing the improv workshop mindset would be something orchestras should consider! Many of us in the orchestra business know there is a communication challenge, a … Continue Reading

Your Orchestra Says It’s Progressive, Your Auditions Requirements Say Otherwise: 2022 Update

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Several years back I wrote an article about why it was important for orchestras to update their audition repertoire requirements. The repertoire lists that musicians were asked to prepare for auditions was not reflecting the updated missions of the ensembles, nor was it reflective of the music being programmed. Over the last four years, the social justice movement has had a positive influence on the way orchestras approach programming while some are producing DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) statements. As we head towards what we think is the light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel of this pandemic, … Continue Reading

Don’t Ruin The Concert

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“…AND THEN SHE TOTALLY DIVORCED HIS STUPID ASS!” yelled one patron to another. Prior to that comment, the orchestra had grown louder and louder and the energy was robust, full, and palpable! That should have been a glorious moment of serenity after the sudden drop in intense volume. Instead, it turned into the orchestra, and much of the audience, struggling to resist laughter. This happens more than we talk about. The talking, that is. People talk and talk and talk during concerts. I’ve preached often that there are no wrong answers for … Continue Reading

Started after 6 years old? Too late!

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An interesting article that offered a valuable perspective found its way into my Facebook feed last week. The article was about a violinist who started violin in his mid-teens, not at the “normal” age of 3. One person commented on the article that starting later than age 6 was detrimental if one wanted to be competitive. I had to politely disagree and replied that for me, starting at 10 seemed to be okay. A flood of other colleagues shared similar stories. Some starting at 11, 13, and like the author, 16! There … Continue Reading