Katie McCarthy is an active performer, teacher, and arts advocate based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. She serves as a cello section member for the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra and the Great Falls Philharmonic. She has the pleasure of regularly substituting with local ensembles, including the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Annapolis Chamber Orchestra. She has performed in venues such as the the Kennedy Center, Millennium Stage, Signature Theater, Texas Public Radio, The Clarice, Maryland Hall, the Roland E. Powell Convention Center, and the Arts Club of Washington.

Ms. McCarthy is passionate about new music and highlighting the music of historically underrepresented composers. Her recent solo recitals featured works by Tania Léon, Nadia Boulanger, Caroline Ahn, Jessie Montgomery, and Maria Newman. Ms. McCarthy's work as an educator is rooted in her passion for community engagement in the arts, learning and acting on the ways musicians can impact, engage, and learn from their surrounding communities. She maintains an active studio of dedicated cello students, ranging from beginners, to advanced high schoolers, to adult learners. She has served as a faculty member for the Arts Ahimsa music festival in Lenox, MA, where she coached amateur adult musicians in a variety of chamber music and performed alongside them in concert.

During her studies, she was selected to play with the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival Mass Cello Ensemble at Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles. She was also selected to perform in masterclasses given by Hai-Ye Ni of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Astrid Schween of the Juilliard Quartet, and the Shanghai Quartet.

Ms. McCarthy holds a M.M. in Cello Performance and B.M. in Cello Performance from UMD. Go Terps!