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.

Risk and a Big Reward

Mon, Mar 30, 2015Mon, Mar 30, 2015 by Holly Mulcahy

You can almost always tell when an orchestra programs music out of fear. The urgency and desperation to sell tickets to most familiar works often dictates a season. The understandable but predictable reasons are: fear of losing patrons, fear of offending newcomers, fear of turning away people, and fear of the unknown. But sometimes the opposite effect happens and people get a “been there, done that” attitude and tickets don’t sell as well. When it came time to pick my first concerto with my relatively new concertmaster position in the Chattanooga Symphony … Continue Reading

What If Program Notes Were Written By Kids?

Sun, Dec 10, 2023Thu, Mar 5, 2015 by Holly Mulcahy

Somewhere between our childhood and our adulthood we gain a sense of adventure with the foods we try. No longer are we held hostage by the “no thank you” bite. Now we actively seek new flavors, new ways to cook exotic ingredients, and new variations on old classics. Can you enhance duck confit with sriracha, or how about an avocado butter cream frosting on that blood orange pound cake?* But the tradeoff for adults seems to be our cultural intake. Many of us lose the desire to experience new art, to explore … Continue Reading

Concerto in Cocktail Form

Wed, Nov 11, 2015Wed, Feb 11, 2015 by Holly Mulcahy

What does a concerto taste like? Several months ago, during a post-concert cocktail gathering with members of my orchestra, audience, board, and staff, I began talking with one of the bartenders and wondered aloud if he thought he could capture the essence of a violin concerto in a cocktail. My goal was to offer the cocktail as a device to explain, entice, and invite people to listen to a newer violin work with an open mind and heart. A cocktail like this is really a drinkable metaphor for how to approach the … Continue Reading

A New Discovery

Sun, Jan 25, 2015 by Holly Mulcahy

[box] One of the cool things about the cultural arts scene in Chattanooga is that both artists and audiences alike actively seek out new works. While there is a definite appreciation for the classics, there is a healthy appetite for something new, something dangerous, and something that pushes the core of the human soul to the edge and brings it back safely. Chatting with my stand partner Josh Holritz, Associate Concertmaster of The Chattanooga Symphony & Opera, I couldn’t help but feel this kind enthusiasm and excitement for a newer piece for … Continue Reading

What To Wear To The Symphony

Mon, May 23, 2022Mon, Dec 29, 2014 by Holly Mulcahy

Nobody wants to feel out of place when they go to a symphony concert, yet so many patrons wonder if what they are wearing will be acceptable. As helpful and welcoming the orchestras try to be by inviting patrons to wear what they want and emphasizing to come in what is comfortable, many people still want to feel like they are fitting in. If you show up to a concert and sincerely don’t care what you wear, that’s just fine! You are doing what many orchestras invite you to do. But if … Continue Reading