Carol Child Rosenblith '66

Inducted Fall 2024

Carol Child Rosenblith graduated from Fryeburg Academy in 1966. Entering as a junior, Carol was a high honor student and a national merit finalist. While at Fryeburg, she was involved in chorus, the musical, the dramatic club, one-act plays, the French club, and the Mercury staff. After graduation, she earned her B.A. from Bennington College with a major in music and a Master’s in Music from the New England Conservatory in vocal performance. Throughout her career as a lyric soprano, she performed with chamber ensembles and orchestras throughout the East and Mid-west of the US, with additional concert performances in London and at the Pro-Corda Festival, Leiston/Aldeburgh, UK, and broadcasts on MPBN and CBC (Montreal). She was a founding member of the Musical Arts Consortium, serving as managing director from 1984 to 1994. From 1979 to 1996, Carol performed regularly with the Yellow Barn Festival of Putney, VT, and “Music from the Yellow Barn,” touring the ensemble and performing and premiering works by notable American composers. 

In 1997, Carol and her husband, Eric Rosenblith (a legendary violinist and instructor), founded the International Musical Arts Institute, which was in summer residence at Fryeburg Academy for 17 years. Carol served as administrative director and performed in various chamber works and concerts. The artistic director, Eric, passed away in December 2010, and IMAI presented its final concert at FA in July 2015. 

The International Musical Arts Institute of Fryeburg was a month-long summer classical music festival.  It was a gathering of classically trained musicians ranging from young professionals and career-bound advanced-level conservatory students to established artists with international reputations. IMAI attracted over two hundred musicians over the years, representing some thirty nations on five continents, providing a setting where young, aspiring professional musicians and seasoned artists collaborated, shared ideas, and learned from each other. IMAI presented a summer series of 16 classical chamber music performances in Fryeburg and many other concerts at various locations in Northern New Hampshire.

Carol’s talents extend beyond music. In her late 40s, she took up ice skating. This interest became a passion that led her to begin training under a Boston-based ice dance coach and obtain bronze-level status in ice dance coaching. She taught Basic Skills/Learn-to Skate for over 15 years at the Ham Arena in Conway, NH, and at various rinks in the Boston area; in addition, she was the head of her own tot/parent and adult programs at the Ed Burns Arena for the Arlington Massachusetts Recreation Department. In 2008, she began to work with special needs children in the Adaptive Skating Program in Boston, and she continued with that program for the next ten years.  She became a certified USFS Learn-to-Skate instructor/coach, and in 2009, she attained a registered PSA (Professional Skaters Association) rating in group instruction.

I am honored to induct Carol Child Rosenblith into Fryeburg Academy’s Hall of Excellence.

Unfortunately, Carol couldn’t make it today. I spoke with her a few weeks back when she was in Madison, NH, and she is currently driving cross-country back to her home in Banks, Oregon. She asked me to share this with all of you …