Carlsen Cello Foundation

Seattle, Washington

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Ray Carlsen, Founder

Ray Carlsen was born in Denver Colorado. He holds a BA from Yale University and earned his MD from Yale University School of Medicine. He did his internship in Surgical Service at Columbia Presbyterian in New York City and his residency at Stanford Medical Center’s Department of Dermatology. He received numerous fellowships, including a National Science Foundation predoctoral fellowship at Yale; a USPHS predoctoral fellowship at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, a Gianinni Fellowship to study at the Royal Hospital in Copenhagen, and an NIH special postdoctoral fellowship to study electron microscopy in the labs at the University of Washington’s Department of Biological Structure.  He has held positions in Seattle as a research associate and later as Chief Physician in Dermatology at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital, and as Assistant Professor of Medicine (Dermatology) and as a Consultant in Dermatopathology at UW School of Medicine. For almost 30 years, he has been in private practice of dermatology and Dermatopathology, finally forming Dermatopathology Northwest in 1999 where he is laboratory director.

For more about how Ray Carlsen started the Carlsen Cello Foundation, see History.

"This cello has opened up so many new technical possibilities which have lead to new musical possibilities, and then to new career possibilities. I cannot thank you enough! The price of an instrument that is musically sufficient, let alone playable, is such a hurdle. It has been discouraging to see so many fellow musicians get to a point where they give up on this craft, or feel that they have no other choice. Because of the generosity of groups like CCF, people like me feel like they can really keep going... like they really do have a place in the musical world."

- Paul Virgilio

Photo by Michael Cole
Miriam Shames, Director


Scott Carlsen


Jim Scurlock


Haeyoon Shin and Ray Carlsen

"I was 14 years old when I got the cello from Dr. Carlsen. It had been two years since I started cello and I had just changed teachers. I was in ninth grade and was working with a $1,200 Korean cello bought from Hammond Ashley. After I got the cello from Dr. Carlsen I started working harder with more responsibility and with more joy because of the better sounds that I was getting from the cello. Since then I have gotten another cello from Dr. Carlsen, a better one which I am working with now. It has helped me to compete in higher levels and to reach the level that I am at now, in the graduate program at Indiana University. The biggest change since I got the cello is my attitude towards the instrument, working harder and getting more satisfaction since the instrument responds much better to my efforts."

- Haeyoon Shin


Naomi Tran plays in Seattle Youth Symphony

"Outstanding young performers would greatly benefit from such an opportunity. They would progress much faster on a better instrument."

- David Tonkonogui, cellist and teacher, Seattle Symphony


Phuc Phan

"Thank you so much for letting me borrow the cello. I hope that generations of young aspiring cellists get to enjoy it as I did. I thank you, Dr. Carlsen, for letting so many of these young cellists progress in their studies without limitation from monetary barriers."

- D. G. Kim

Sterling Elliott, 2nd Place Winner, 16th Annual National Sphinx Competition (2/13)

"Sterling is enjoying the new cello and sounding better than ever! With the help of the Carlsen Cello Foundation, Sterling Elliott won 2nd Place at the 16th Annual Sphinx Competition today! Thank you for the cello Carlsen Foundation."
(February 15, 2013; Detroit, MI)

- Dannielle Weems-Elliott,
mother of Sterling


Janaesha Iwaasa selecting a CCF cello

"I cannot tell you how much your cello has changed my life. There is nothing quite like having a real instrument--it has opened up new worlds of technique I never dreamed possible. Without the foundation cello, I would likely not have had the technique to be accepted (and given scholarships!) into these incredible music schools. Thank you so much for everything you have given me!"

- Janaesha Iwaasa, attending Rice University as of Fall 2013


Tanner Rodriguez and Ray Carlsen

Recent Posts

  • Lynn Harrell, January 30, 1944 – April 27, 2020
  • GiveBIG 2020 – help us say “Cello to the Future!”

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Latest Posts

  • Lynn Harrell, January 30, 1944 – April 27, 2020
  • GiveBIG 2020 – help us say “Cello to the Future!”

Carlsen Cello Foundation

2212 Queen Anne Avenue #301
Seattle, WA 98109
Telephone: (206) 579-6233

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