Cara Garofalo maintains an active career as a violinist, performing regularly with orchestras including the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, and Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic. She has been a featured musician in musical theater productions in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, notably with Quantum Theatre and Kinetic Theatre. Cara is a member of Radiant Strings, a Pittsburgh-based ensemble that provides live music for weddings and events. In 2025, she toured across North America as an orchestra member with The World of Hans Zimmer - A New Dimension, a live concert production curated by Hans Zimmer. Cara has also performed live in concert with international artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Josh Groban, Michael Bublé, and Evanescence. Since 2019, she has been a dedicated member of the Endless Mountain Music Festival in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, where she performs each summer in orchestra and chamber concerts, and contributes to the festival’s educational outreach program. Cara has maintained a private violin studio since 2012 and is trained in the Suzuki Method. Her students have gone on to participate in youth orchestras, attend music festivals, and obtain higher education degrees and careers in music performance and education. She has also taught in school settings and joined the faculty at Seton Hill University in 2022 as Adjunct Professor of Violin. Cara holds a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Duquesne University, where she studied with Christopher Wu of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She later continued advanced private studies with David Kim of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Jeremy Black of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
