Barbara Careaga-Mitchell, Violin

A well-versed, bilingual, highly creative, accomplished professional classical musician, educator, independent writer and artistic photographer. Ms. Barbara Careaga was born in Concepción, Chile. She started her violin studies with Américo Giusti at age 9. As a child, she won the Jóvenes Talentos competition to perform as a soloist with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Concepción in several occasions. In addition, she played as a supplemental violinist with this orchestra during her teen years.

 While in High School, she worked as a musical mentor with the Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil de Curanilahue, a youth orchestra program developed by her former violin teacher to empower children from an extremely marginalized area of Chile. She also toured with this orchestra representing Chile as ambassadors in Germany and Spain in 2000.         

 In the United States, she pursued her Bachelor of Music Performance at the Schowb School of Music, Columbus State University, where she studied with Dr. Patricio Cobos. She received the Presser Scholar and the Music Major awards and graduated Magna Cum Laude. She began her graduate studies with Larry Shapiro at Butler University in Indianapolis and received her Master in Music Performance from the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, where she studied with Prof. Kurt Sassmannshaus.          

 Ms. Careaga's private violin students have made All State Orchestra and All State Honors Orchestra in Georgia and have won local competitions in Macon, GA. She has also worked as a teaching artist with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (GA) in the Orchestra Up Close School and Making Music Matters programs during several years.  As a performer, she has been part of numerous ensembles as a substitute and core musician throughout the south east of the United States, such as, the Alabama Symphony, Greenville Symphony (SC), Charleston Symphony, The Atlanta Opera and Columbus Symphony, among others.         

 In addition, she has performed with the Atlanta Boy Choir in local concerts and international tours. Such as Alaska, St. Petersburg (Russia), Poland, Czech Republic, Los Angeles, Hawaii, British Columbia and Nova Scotia in Canada. In the summer of 2019, she was part of the violin section with the Shanghai Baroque Chamber Orchestra during a Mendelssohn orchestral program performed at the Oriental Art Center in Shanghai, China. She started compiling her first artistic photography book while in China. 

As an artistic photographer, she is continuously updating her  portfolio with her best pictures from outings, trips and tours. Furthermore, she uses her creative photography and art work to pair them with her writing to produce a deeper impact and inside to her creative work. As a writer, she has recently finished a compilation of poems, riddles and narrative called "Side Effects of a Pandemic" A reflection of her personal journey of self discovery, social analysis, and contemplation during the Covid-19 world pandemic.