An award winning cellist, Carol Ou is known for her “fiery, marvelous” and “meltingly melodic outpourings” (Boston Globe) and her “wonderfully pure cello tone and incisive technique.” (The Strad) A founding member of Trio Flamecrest, Carol was a member of Carpe Diem String Quartet and a longtime duo partner of legendary violinist James Buswell. Her solo and chamber music concerts have taken her to prestigious concert venues across the five continents. Collaboration with other renowned artists include Hillary Hahn, Timothy Eddy, Pascal Rogé, András Schiff, Raul Juarena, and Jayme Stone at the Marlboro Music Festival, Summerfest La Jolla, Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Nevada Chamber Music Festival, Cremona International Music Festival and Academy, and other noted music festivals.
At ease with the diverse musical styles of the last five centuries, Carol regularly programs European masterworks with more eclectic works in concert. She has recorded three of the most beloved cello concerti by Haydn, Tchaikovsky, and Elgar and premiered several new compositions written for her. She gave the world premiere performance of Hsiao Tyzen's Cello Concerto in Taipei and collaborated with Hsiao on the premiere of a number of solo and chamber music works throughout the US and Singapore. American composers - Richard Toensing and Daniel Pinkham - have also dedicated works to her. Other unusual works that she has performed include Tan Dun's Ghost Opera for string quartet and pipa, Peter Sculthorpe's string quartet with didjeridu, and Reza Vali’s Ashoob for string quartet and the Persian santoor.
Carol Ou’s discography includes solo and chamber music discs issued by Chi-Mei, Naxos, CRI, MSR, and Albany Records, much of them available on Spotify. Her three solo and concerti recordings are all issued by the Chi-Mei Foundation in Taiwan. Among her many recordings with the Carpe Diem String Quartet are Sergei Taneyev’s String Quartets (Vol. 4 & 5) on Naxos and “The Book of Calligraphy”- solo cello and string quartet works by Reza Vali - issued by Albany Records. Her recording of Walter Piston's Chamber Music won the 2001 Chamber Music America's Best Chamber Music CD award. Her recording of the "Music of Jeff Midkiff" won the 2018 Global Music Award.
A graduate of Yale University, Ms. Ou received her BA magna cum laude from Yale College and her MM and DMA in music performance from the Yale School of Music. Her studies were with Ronald Leonard, Aldo Parisot, and Janos Starker. A devoted and passionate teacher, Carol has mentored inquisitive students of all ages at New England Conservatory and its Preparatory and Adult Education Schools for over 25 years. She has taught cello students at MIT and NYU, and was the director of strings, chamber music and orchestral studies at Gordon College. Between 2006-2013, she was also the director of chamber music at the Heifetz International Music Institute in Wolfeboro, NH and Staunton, VA. Outside of her regular teaching, Ms. Ou also serves on the chamber music faculty at Chamber Music Conference of the East for adult chamber music lovers and travels internationally for cello and chamber music master classes on five continents, most recently in Hong Kong, Turkey, and Italy.