Written by Benjamin Tomkins
December 31, 2024
Every musician has to venture outside their comfort zone and step into unknown experiences on their journey to a successful career. Some choices are small, but others are major turning points. Studying with new teachers, traveling to international festivals, and consequential professional decisions all ink indelible chapters in the story they’re writing.
For violinist David Carreon, the calligraphy strokes have been broad and bold. As the last of four born to Filipino immigrants in Sydney, Australia, family and community have always been at the center of his life. They were there as he won auditions, made solo appearances, and completed a degree from Sydney University. They cheered as he won the top prize in the senior division of the 2024 Sydney Eisteddfod Doctors Scholarship—the nation’s largest and most prestigious arts competition.
However, as the transition from student to professional began to crystalize, it came with a bittersweet realization that had been clear for years to his family, teachers, and mentors:
They weren’t preparing him to stay. They were preparing him to leave.
Today, David is finishing his MA at the prestigious New England Conservatory with Borromeo String Quartet violinist Kristopher Tong and is establishing himself as a driving force in the classical music scene. In 2024 alone he won a coveted opportunity to perform with Grammy Award-nominated ensemble A Far Cry and was selected as an inaugural participant in Orvieto Musica’s String Chamber Intensive program in Orvieto, Italy.
We sat down with David to reflect on staying connected to his roots, forging a future in music, and the importance of embracing risk and a larger world.
What inspired you to look internationally for your master’s degree?
Australia is full of incredible artists and teachers, and I’ve been privileged to meet and work with many of them. However, we’re also very far away from Europe and America, and there’s so much going on there. I had several friends who went abroad, and most of the big names in Australia studied overseas and brought that perspective back. They’ve had nothing but good things to say and encouraged me to seek these experiences out.
What was your path to NEC?
Two of my brothers flew out to the States with me, and we visited schools in LA, Texas, New York, and Boston. We planned to cast a wide net, see how the auditions turned out, and reassess. Boston seemed like the best opportunity for music, and my family was obviously involved in helping figure out if it was the right personal choice too. After all, Boston is a completely new place on the other side of the planet, and the life experience outside of music is a very real consideration.
Did you feel prepared to move away?
Everything was new territory for me, and all of it accumulated at once. There were new teachers and musicians of course, but there’s also daily stuff like getting groceries and doing laundry. I won’t lie, the first semester was tricky!
But this is why international travel is so important. Learning to manage it all is a huge part of being successful, and you only learn that when you go out into the world where everything is different.
It takes sacrifice, both financially and emotionally, and you should be prepared for that. Leaving my family was and still is extremely tough, but it made me realize how sacred they are to me.
On the flip side, it’s incredible to feel the support from my friends and family who are witnessing my journey from a distance. I want to give back to them as well and make them proud of the investment they made in me through all the lessons, concerts, and advice.
You’re finishing your degree in 2025—what’s next?
My teachers in Australia always instilled the importance of planning and taking a strategy-oriented approach to a career, and that’s why I don’t have a black-and-white answer! I’m creating opportunities that point in the direction I want to go, but it’s always evolving and I have to be prepared to pivot. My main intention and purpose is to share my music with people who don’t have regular access to it, and doing that on an international scale would be a dream come true. That could mean performing with orchestras, giving recitals in countries I’ve never been to, or participating in competitions.
We’re all stuck in practice rooms for hours every day, and the whole purpose is to share it with as many people as possible, right?
It’s very important to be able to prepare to the utmost of my abilities no matter what the commitment is, and each performance makes my vision of the future just a little bit clearer every day.
I’ve toured Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands with my Sydney-based quartet, but Italy was the big one on the list—and to do it in the style of a resident quartet at OM was incredibly rewarding. Working with my mates from Australia, the group from San Francisco, and the amazing faculty was such a complete experience.
I also lived with the other members of my quartet, and three weeks was the perfect amount of time. The last time we collaborated was 2023, so it was incredible to reignite that energy at OM.
How was this different than other chamber music experiences you’ve had?
At Orvieto Musica, you get all the support you need from the faculty and guest artists, but it’s a much more professionalized experience. There were five concerts total, and our quartet had an entire concert to ourselves at one of the museums. On the others, we played in mixed ensembles with the other quartet and faculty members in addition to our own group. It’s much more like what you’d see on a professional summer series.
It’s an ideal opportunity for a chamber group to develop and mature together because you’re sharing a totally new experience. The four of us lived together, rehearsed together, ate together, explored the city, botched the language, and, of course, drove each other up the wall now and again. Noah (the cellist) and I also met a lovely couple from Connecticut, Peter and Bobbie Bartucca, who came to every concert. It’s such a small world and these connections can happen anywhere if you’re open to them.
And at the end of the day, the coaching, the people, the food, the wine, the gelato—everything goes into what you do on stage.
Despite all the planning, you never know where this is all going to take you. You make your plans, take your chances, and see what happens. That’s where I am in my career right now. I want to get out in the world and see what’s possible.
To learn more about David and his career, check out his bio and follow him on Instagram and Facebook.