Praised for her “excellent musicianship” (Talkin’ Broadway) and “stunning and emotionally evocative” playing (Cherry and Spoon), Dr. Carson Rose Schneider is a versatile pianist who works as a duo partner, coach, music director, and rehearsal pianist with opera companies, chamber groups, and choirs.  The Star Tribune recognized her recent work on Skylark Opera Theatre’s 2022 production of Eugene Onegin, saying that “pianist and music director Carson Rose Schneider brings out the beauty skillfully as the production's lone instrumentalist. Even the dance interludes — which feature the opera's most familiar music — capably capture the music's ebullient spirit…”

Based in Minneapolis, MN, she is at home playing with singers and instrumentalists and in demand by companies and recitalists around the Midwest. The list of companies she has recently been seen gigging with includes Skylark Opera Theatre, Lyric Opera of the North, Out of the Box Opera, An Opera Theatre (AOT), Journey North Opera, St Croix Valley Opera, Really Spicy Opera, Schubert Club, and Twin Cities Opera Guild. Most recently, she was the Music Director and pianist for Skylark Opera Theatre’s May production of Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers and the December 2021 production of Amahl and the Night Visitors. She is also the Coordinator and Music Director for Syklark Opera Theatre’s concert series called Skylark for Seniors, which travels to elderly residences throughout the Twin Cities metro. Earlier in 2021, she served as Music Director and Pianist for Out of the Box Opera’s series of immersive opera programs at Canopy by Hilton in downtown Minneapolis. Upcoming this summer 2023, she will be on the coaching faculty at the second Summer Vocal Institute at St Croix Valley Opera and will be gigging around the Twin Cities Metro. Coming up in Fall 2023, her projects include a position as Music Director with Lyric Opera of the North.

She has also appeared as a frequent recitalist and her concerts this season ranged from a performance of Brahms’ Liebesliederwalzer to premieres of new art song cycles by prominent Minnesota composers. Passionate about chamber music and especially American art song, she is featured on a new album called “Harsh Things to Beauty” with works by local composer Linda Kachelmaier. Along with mezzo-soprano Kara Morgan, she curated a project called Ladies, Lyrics, & Lagers co-sponsored by OOPS MN, a Twin Cities nonprofit. The project involved a recording release of Edie Hill’s Giver of Stars and performances of art song by Minnesota women composers at local breweries, in an effort to bring art song “out of the concert hall and into the beer hall.” She premiered two art song cycles this season of Minnesota composers with mezzo-soprano Georgia Jacobson on a Schubert Club Courtroom concert, and is set to record one of these premieres later this summer.

During the pandemic, she started a video recording studio, collaborated with various companies on a diverse array of programs (including a children's virtual show in collaboration with Lyric Opera of the North and a benefit recital that raised over $1000 for Alzheimer’s research with baritone Robert Riordan), and a variety of other recording projects. She was also a staff pianist at the University of Minnesota from 2021-2022.

In addition to an active performing life, she continues to run her home video recording and coaching business called Carson Rose Studios and is the pianist and choir accompanist at Union Congregational Church in Elk River, MN. In 2017, she received her DMA in collaborative piano and coaching from the University of Minnesota under the tutelage of Timothy Lovelace. When she isn’t at a piano, she enjoys adventures with her husband Mike, cooking, trips to the North Shore, and cuddles with their cat Merlin.