Casey McGrath is a violinist, educator, author, and editor whose career has spanned classical performance, higher education, chamber music, and popular music. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in violin performance and literature from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a Master of Music in violin performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Music in violin performance from Butler University.

Over more than two decades as a professional musician, Casey has performed as a concertmaster, concerto soloist, chamber musician, orchestral violinist, studio musician, and tango violinist. She spent more than a decade teaching music at the collegiate level, where her work with young musicians developed into a broader interest in how training, pedagogy, and performance culture shape musicians’ development. She is the author of Music Performance Anxiety Strategies: A Musician’s Guide to Managing Stage Fright, and her writing and research focus on music performance anxiety, musicians’ training and well-being, and neurodivergence advocacy in music education and performance.

Outside the classroom, Casey co-founded Fiddlerock!, a genre-spanning performance project built around her original violin arrangements of popular music. Since 2018, she has performed hundreds of shows throughout the Midwest and beyond, bringing the technique and expressive range of her classical training to repertoire spanning rock, pop, metal, jazz, country, and classical music.

Casey serves as Director of the Chamber Music Institute at Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestras, where she works with students and coaches to build a program centered on musical independence, collaboration, meaningful ensemble playing, and creating opportunities for young musicians to share their music throughout the community.

She is also a B-licensed skydiver.