Carrie Dennis entered the Curtis Institute of Music at the age of 16 as a violin student of Victor Danchenko and took viola lessons with Joseph de Pasquale, occasionally playing viola in chamber music ensembles. She received her B.A. in violin performance in 1999. She returned to Curtis in 2000 to study viola with Michael Tree, followed by summer sessions with Roberto Diaz. Halfway into her second year she earned a position in the Philadelphia Orchestra as Associate Principal Viola. She was invited by Simon Rattle to audition for the Berlin Philharmonic, and served as Solo Viola for the Berlin Philharmonic for the past two years. She joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Principal Viola in 2008. In addition to her orchestra career, Dennis is an avid chamber musician and has toured with Musicians from Marlboro. She has also participated in the Verbier Festival and been a Tanglewood Fellow, and she has appeared at the Grand Tetons Music Festival and the Barga Chamber Music Festival in Italy. She played with the Musiche Quartet in Berlin, and she still performs with the ambient electronic music group Micro Nonet. Dennis has given master classes at Northwestern and Juilliard. She enjoys ceramics, yoga, cooking, biking, hiking, skiing, and visual arts.