Life & Work with Carolyn Waters Broe of Phoenix 85254 (Scottsdale)

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carolyn Waters Broe.

Carolyn, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am a professional conductor, violist, and author. I started learning music at the early age of seven. I was very fortunate that my parents gave me viola lessons at twelve with an Italian concert violinist by the name of Rene Bregozzo in California. He inspired me to work hard and practice four hours a day in high school. Because of his excellent training, I was accepted as a music major at the University of California, Irvine, and received lessons with Jerry Epstein, who was a violist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Living close to Los Angeles and playing the viola opened many doors for me. I performed with many World-famous conductors in my teens and twenties. I was accepted into the Hidden Valley Music School and worked with Dr. Michael Zearott, who won the Dmitri Metropolis Conducting award and had conducted on five continents. He inspired me to become a professional conductor. However, very few women conducted symphonies in those days. So it was difficult for me to find a teacher.

I transferred to Chapman University and studied to become a professional violist. John Koshak, Professor of Conducting at Chapman, had studied conducting at the Mozarteum of Salzburg, Austria. I joined his conducting orchestra for three years and then took his conducting class in my senior year. Several of my classmates became professional conductors. Three of us were women conductors. After graduating from Chapman University, I won my audition to perform as a violist with the Long Beach Symphony in California. I worked with five major conductors there who were auditioning to become their new conductor. So I was able to work with the famous conductor Kenneth Schermerhorn. He was amazing!

I met my husband, Steve Broe, in Newport Beach, California at a disco dance. He was a wonderful dancer and swept me off my feet. I was impressed that he had an MBA, had played viola, and could talk about the composer Gustav Mahler at a disco! He loves everything Japanese like me and started to work on his black belt in the martial art Aikido. I had studied Kung Fu at Chapman and later Tai Chi, which are both Chinese martial artforms. Steve loves many kinds of music, including classical. So he came to all of my concerts with Long Beach Symphony. We got married the next year and settled down in Newport Beach, which was my hometown. He decided to start his second master’s degree in psychology at California State University, Long Beach.

Coincidentally, I was hired to perform as the Principal Violist of the California State University, Long Beach Symphony by their Austrian conductor Hans Lampl. He convinced me to get my Master’s degree in Music. I also studied viola there with the famous studio violist Louis Kievmann and the Romanian concert violist Adriana Chirilov. They taught me many valuable secrets of becoming a great violist and musician. My music history professor Dr. Kristine Forney convinced me to get my Master of Fine Arts in Music History. However, she wanted CSULB to start a doctoral program in music history. So instead of having me write the usual forty-page master’s thesis, she asked me to write a 250-page master’s thesis on J.S. Bach’s Treatment of the Viola. Four years later, I graduated with my Master of Fine Arts in Music History.

While I was working on my master’s degree in music, I started the Opus Four String Quartet. We performed every weekend at the Upstart Crow & Company Bookstore and Coffee House in Mesa, California. Our all-female string quartet became very popular. We had fans who followed us around and got into the LA Times and Orange County newspapers. The Opus Four String Quartet performed 100 concerts per year! We were living a European lifestyle with classical music, espresso coffee, and decadent cakes. I started a music contracting business called Classics Unlimited in Newport Beach.

I was accepted to perform as a violist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute in the summer of 1980. Leonard Bernstein was the main conducting master. He was amazing and larger than life! I got a chance to talk with him backstage at the Hollywood Bowl. There were several other master conductors that I worked with there, including Christopher Hogwood. It was the opportunity of a lifetime! The next summer, I was asked to perform at the conducting master classes of Swedish-American conductor Herbert Blomstedt in Loma Linda, California. He was very strict, insisting that his conducting students give all of their communications through the baton and not by talking to the musicians at all. All of the conducting students were male, but they did not realize that I was soaking up everything that Blomstedt told them.

I was asked to be the viola soloist by the conductor of the Orange County Symphony. I performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola with their orchestra. It is rare for violists to get an opportunity to perform as a soloist, so this was a great honor. After I finished my master’s degree, my husband and I had our son, JeanRene. He was a very healthy and happy child. Later on, I taught him music, and Steve taught him Aikido. Unfortunately, about six months after he was born, I became extremely ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. That was a terrible sickness that left me bedridden most of the time. I could barely play music or even lift my viola. I kept getting sick with one flu virus after another. It was frightening to lose my ability to perform or take care of my baby! I decided to research this debilitating disease. I found a book by Pelligrino and Stoff called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, The Hidden Epidemic. They outlined a protocol on how to put this illness into remission with supplements. I followed it to the letter and was able to go into remission in two years. Some people never recover from CSF. I managed to start performing as a violist again, but I never had as much energy. The illness had negatively affected my metabolism.

Steve decided to take a job as Vice President of the American Child Care Corporation in Phoenix, Arizona in 1991. So we packed up our house and moved to the desert. I said goodbye to the Opus Four String Quartet, goodbye to Classics Unlimited, and goodbye to Newport Beach, California. I did not know any musicians in Phoenix at the time. I had to start completely over. I founded the Four Seasons Orchestra of Arizona in 1991 after writing the non-profit bylaws myself. I also started the Four Seasons String Quartet with professional musicians. The debut concert of the Four Seasons Orchestra was in January 1992 on the first MLK Day in Arizona for an audience of 2,000 people at the MLK Arts and Education Foundation dinner at the Phoenix Civic Center. I hired an excellent conductor and the finest professional musicians in the valley by using my skills as a music contractor. Their eyes were wide open when we started at such a high level. But instead of praise, my new professional chamber orchestra was labeled “political” by the press! I felt that it was important to help people raise funds for at-risk teenage musicians. That is what we were doing. We were hired by this same organisation two more times, and I helped the students get their first opportunity to perform with a professional orchestra.

I started my Doctorate in Viola Solo Performance at Arizona State University in 1991. I had heard about their wonderful Professor of Viola, Doctor William Magers. It was a great honor for me to spend time learning from him. I also took some important classes in musicology and composing at ASU. Dr. Madaline Williamson taught a class on the History of Women Composers that opened my eyes to a whole new world of musical treasures. This was the “undiscovered country” that I was looking for. I was enchanted and amazed by the stories of these historic and living women composers. So, both Dr. Magers and Dr. Williamson recommended that I do my doctoral thesis and one of my doctoral recitals on the music of Arizona composer Louise Lincoln Kerr. She composed over 100 unpublished music compositions, including fifteen symphonic scores, five ballets, a violin concerto, and many string quartets and chamber music pieces. Kerr was also one of the co-founders of the Phoenix Symphony and the Phoenix Chamber Music Society. Louise Kerr was known as the “Grand Lady of Music”.

Meanwhile, a week before the Four Seasons Orchestra was going to perform our Roll Over Amadeus concert in April of 1992 for his 200th anniversary celebrations, the conductor I had hired had to go in for surgery! There was no time to find a new conductor, so I picked up the music scores, picked up my conducting baton, and conducted the concert myself. Afterwards, our principal bassoonist kissed my hand and said, “Carolyn, you must continue conducting!” Fortunately, I had hired a professional videographer, so we have a good recording of that concert. This started my career as a professional conductor. I used that videotape to get a job as the conductor of two orchestras at Glendale Community College and Paradise Valley Community College. I was the conductor at PVCC for ten years. This was the best conducting experience anyone could ask for. It was better than taking a class in conducting, as I got on-the-job training. I have found that it is easy to conduct professional musicians. They can do anything you express with your baton with very little correction needed. However, community college students are there to learn how to perform better. Since I had spent many years on the other side of the podium, I was able to guide them to make beautiful music. I also started practicing some Tai Chi on the podium with my “energy baton”. This was a great way to center myself and give both professional and community musicians a powerful experience performing music.

In the middle of my doctoral studies at ASU, I gave birth to my daughter Jasmine. I had rocked her to sleep in the womb by conducting Strauss waltzes with my two community orchestras. She also heard me playing string quartets on my viola. But unfortunately, shortly after she turned one year old, I became very ill with pain in my back. I went to several doctors, but they could not determine what was wrong. I got sick with a flu virus about a month before my first doctoral viola recital at ASU. A large, hard lump bulged out of my neck. My new family doctor gave me antibiotics and said that if that lump did not go away in one month, he was going to send me to an ENT specialist. I visited my parents in California. My dad knew exactly what that lump meant. He was very afraid, but he did not say anything at the time, fearing the worst. He had Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma at the age of 42 and got treatments at Baylor University Medical Center in Texas, which was state-of-the-art in cancer treatments in the 60’s. I was forty years old. My dad had also nearly been paralysed by NHL cancer in 1976 when it rebounded. The chemotherapy had nearly killed him!

The ENT specialist did a biopsy on the lump in my neck, but it was inconclusive. It had been nine months since my terrible pain had started. In October of 1997, I was referred to Banner Health Cancer Center, where the oncologist did an extremely painful bone marrow biopsy in my back. When he told me I had stage 4 Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in my bones, all of the air went out of my lungs, and I could not speak! I was in a state of shock. He asked me if I wanted to start chemotherapy that same day. It was not long before all of my hair fell out, and I was completely bald. I had to wear wigs to conduct, teach, and perform as a violist. It is awful wearing a wig in the heat of Arizona. Fortunately, my hair grew back in by the summer. Later, after another bone marrow biopsy, the doctor said that they had gotten the cancer out of my bones, but a few cells were left in my blood.

I went through six years of pain and two more chemotherapy treatments. There were times when I had to crawl across the floor because my pain was so great, especially at night. I could not find a comfortable place to sleep. The cancer kept rebounding. I had to take a semester off from my doctoral studies. I estimate that I took 15,000 doses of Ibuprofen during this time, which can be hard on the kidneys. Fortunately, I thought that hydrocodone was wimpey, so I did not get an addiction. At times, I was barely able to hold up my viola. I had to prop my viola up on my purse to perform my doctoral recital in 2,000, which was a lecture recital on the music of Louise Lincoln Kerr. I had developed a calcium spur in my left shoulder from all of the pain. Ultrasound cured that problem. I was still conducting two orchestras. The pain would cycle through my back, arms, and legs such that I had to teach myself how to conduct with my left hand. This is very difficult as we normally conduct holding the baton with the right hand and give cues and expressions with the left hand. Somehow, I got through this time. My chemo nurses said that my music saved me! My son’s Boy Scout troop and their parents came and cleaned up the house. Steve shaved his head in sympathy for me. An entire stadium of men in Colorado prayed for me. Again, I could not take care of my little daughter, so Steve had to feed her, and she spent time at the PVCC child care center while he was at work. I felt at times that if I could not get relief from this pain, I would not be able to go on living. It took everything that I could do to try to stay positive and hope for a cure. I used Actualism star power meditation to clear my body of the pain and negative energy. And I kept on teaching and playing music to distract myself from the pain. This would prove to be very important.

Unfortunately, my cancer rebounded a third time at the end of 2001, just after I finished my doctorate in music performance. In 2002, my new oncologist decided to give me a targeted chemotherapy called Rituxan, which is manufactured by the Genentech Corporation. It gives the patient a monoclonal antibody that they do not produce themselves. I had wanted this new treatment in 1997, but it was too expensive then. I received my first dose of Rituxan at the brand new Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center in Scottsdale. My horrific pain was gone in 48 hours!!! I felt like a new woman! I had been given a second chance at life. I continued my Rituxan treatments for another five months until my blood turned pink from anemia, and they had to stop. My oncologists did CT scans, blood tests, and other exams. We waited, and the NHL cancer was gone. My doctors watched me like a hawk after that. They kept testing me every six months. NHL cancer has a bad habit of rebounding. But the treatments seemed to hold.

After I went into remission, I decided that I never wanted to experience that horrific level of pain ever again! So I started to research why my dad and I had gotten this cancer. He told me that we both had an acid problem. I got a newsletter from the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center. It said there was a lecture by an expert in the lymph system, John Ossipinsky. Unfortunately, I missed it. So I looked him up and got an appointment at his office in Glendale. He told me that the lymph system is the first line of defense in your immune system. But sometimes this system gets “clogged like a dirty fish tank”. He massaged my lymph nodes and glands to get them working better again. I purchased his book “An Undetected Acid-alkaline Imbalance”. It changed my life. I began changing my diet. I put greens into everything that I ate and made healthy meals like stir fry, salads, and omelets. I eliminated red meats, excess sugar, tomato sauces, sodas, citrus fruits, and anything that could become acidic in my diet. I took all of my mother’s recipes and rewrote them so that they were less acidic. I also invented new anti-inflammatory recipes. My CT scans were stable. No sign of the cancer. However, my immunoglobulin A and G levels remained flatline. An immunologist later diagnosed me in 2006 with Common Variable Immune Deficiency and Selective IgA Deficiency. This means that I have a higher risk of autoimmune diseases like cancer. I also got my genes sequenced in 2013. It turns out that the K factors in my blood are mutated. It is possible that my dad’s genes were mutated when he worked as a graduate physics student at the Los Alamos Labs in New Mexico during the five summers after the first A-bomb was developed there (1947 to 1951). I have always said that Los Alamos Labs still glow at night with high levels of radiation. This was all before I was born.

My oncologist pronounced me “cured” after fifteen years of remission from NHL cancer. This is a miracle! Oncologists do not ever do this lightly. Most people who suffer from NHL cancer do not live past 56. I have now been in remission for 23 years! Plus, I am now a senior citizen, and I have perfect blood pressure without drugs, perfect cholesterol without drugs, I am non-diabetic, and my other vitals are good except for my immunoglobulins, which are still nearly flatline. I have continued to live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle and develop and write my book “The Cancer Survivor’s Cookbook”. I plan to publish my book in 2026 to help others stay in remission after they have been cured from cancer. I feel very fortunate to be alive and well.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Some of my struggles include suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in the late 80s, and NHL in the late 90s and early 2000s. Teaching music in Scottsdale Unified School District and at the Great Hearts School in Anthem proved to be difficult due to the principals. Raising two children and working with cancer was extremely difficult. Finding my way to stay in remission took research and innovation. Overcoming the stigma of being a woman conductor in a male-dominated symphonic world took courage. Finishing my doctorate while going through cancer treatments was my biggest challenge. Writing grants and being the Artistic Director and Conductor of a professional non-profit chamber orchestra was often a struggle and a joy. The side effects from chemotherapy treatments included gaining weight from the steroids, and losing all of my hair! I have spent much of my life in doctors’ offices! It was hard facing the reality that I might die young. Fighting to get the right treatments to stay alive can be ongoing. Yet I continue doing research and changing my habits so that I can stay in remission and stay out of pain.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am well known as the Conductor of the Four Seasons Orchestra of Arizona (1991 to 2025). This is the longest performing professional chamber orchestra in Arizona. We toured and performed in Austria in 2009 for the Haydn Festival. We were also nominated in two Grammy Categories in 2000 for “Best small ensemble” and “Best new composition”. We have given many young virtuoso musicians their first chance to perform with a professional chamber orchestra through our seven “Young Artist Competitions and Concerts”. We have performed music by both historic and living female and male composers. We performed a July Fourth Concert at Surprise Stadium for 10,000 people

I am the author of Fifty Famous Composers For Kids Of All Ages, published in 2021 in Scottsdale with Inkwell Books, Inc. It has won four awards. I have also given Fifty Famous Composers lectures and concerts. I published my master’s thesis, “JS Bach’s Treatment of the Viola,” in 1984, and my doctoral thesis, “The String Literature of Louise Lincoln Kerr,” in 2001. I am well known for my journal articles on women composers as well. I have also written many successful grants for educational concerts for children and seniors.

I produced the Four Seasons String Quartet “Wedding Album” CD in 1995 and rereleased it in 2007. I was once a member of the National Recording Association (Grammys).

I have given one Bachelor’s viola recital, two Master’s viola recitals, and three Doctoral recitals on the viola. I have soloed on the viola in both California and Arizona.

My Carolyn Broe YouTube Channel has 90 videos on it. Many of these pieces are rare performances of music.

I have been married to my husband Steve Broe for 45 years (1980 to 2025). We have two amazing children.

I have survived stage 4 cancer and been in remission for 23 years. I have developed my own anti-inflammatory lifestyle. I will be publishing my “Cancer Survivor’s Cookbook” in 2026.

I have been able to practice my art of music and make my living as a professional musician. I have many talented music students that I am very proud of.

What were you like growing up?
I was a very shy little girl. When I went to my 25th high school reunion, my classmates said that I am “The mouse who roared!” I gave my first solo performance in front of the entire elementary school at the age of ten on my viola (there were 500 people in the auditorium). Being a classical musician and violist in the 1960s and 70s during the Rock and Roll Era earned me top nerd ratings, especially in high school. Carrying a stack of books and a viola case around school is a good way to get teased. Most of my friends were other musicians in school. I was particularly strange for taking notes in my history classes. The other students were just trying to catch up on their sleep. I even took my history teacher to the high school senior luncheon. He was trying to catch up on his sleep during the luncheon. I never smoked and hated the taste of alcohol. I still avoid alcohol as it makes me very sick. I love performing and the adrenaline rush that it gives me. This may be due to being a bit hyperactive.

I was even more strange for liking Bartok string quartets. I later learned how to play Bartok’s Viola Concerto as an adult while working on my Master’s degree. I wrote in my diary every day for about twelve years. Oddly, I never look at those diaries now, and don’t know where they went to. I just like writing. I was terrified of speaking in class, but I decided to force myself to join Speech Club in high school and do a competition to challenge myself and get better at speaking. I enjoy talking to audiences now.

I have a very overactive imagination. I would make up all kinds of stories and tell them to my sister or write them down in my diary. Now that is called ADD or attention deficit. But I was just low on thyroid hormones. Once they gave me thyroid medication, I was much better at paying attention in classes. I have always liked to help other people out, so performing music is my way of giving back to to World.

Pricing:

• Fifty Famous Composers for Kids is 34.00 for a hard cover book and 7.95 for the kindle version
• The Four Seasons String Quartet “Wedding Album” tracks are priced at 1 t0 50 cents per download depending on the platform
• Classicsunlimitedmusic.com has my books, music, and music downloads for sale at great prices
• I charge 30 dollars for a half hour music lesson
• I charge 60 dollars for a full hour music lesson on violin, viola, cello or piano.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://classicsunlimitedmusic.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083057574436
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPXm2SiGPMjS4XTe8rPM8Bw

Image Credits
Carolyn Waters Broe Conductor – Image as Conductor (in black with baton) – Artist Direct 2003 Carolyn Waters Broe – Violiist and Conductor – Image as Violist (in black with viola and baton) – Artist Direct 2003 Four Seasons Orchestra – Haydnsaal at Esterhazy Palace, Austria 2009 – Carolyn Broe Conductor Four Seasons Orchestra – Konzerthaus, Vienna, Austria 2009 – Carolyn Broe Conductor Fifty Famous Composers For Kids Of All Ages – Carolyn Waters Broe – 2021 Inkwell Books, Inc Four Seasons String Quartet “Wedding Album” CD – 2005 Classics Unlimited Music, LLC Carolyn Waters Broe – Violist in Blue 1986 Carolyn Waters Broe – Violist in Red 1986 Carolyn Waters Broe – Violist with picture of Louise Kerr 1986/touched up in 2012 Carolyn and Steve Broe – Konzerthaus, Vienna, Austria 2009