About Us

Carol Pharo, founder/director of the Academy of the Performing Arts, also directs Musica Antiqua of Central Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Renaissance Dance Band, and Muse of the North Baroque. Carol studied piano with Earl Wild and Lamar Crowson, harpsichord with John Gibbons, and is also an active performer on violin, recorder, harp, and viola da gamba. Ms. Pharo has a B.A. in Music History from Penn State, an M.M. in Early Music Performance from New England Conservatory, diplomas in singing and early dance from The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and an Advanced Certificate in Fortepiano from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. She sang for contemporary chamber operas in England and performed with The Boston Renaissance Dance Band and The Concert Arts Orchestra in Boston. She danced with The Companie of Dansers in London, with Les Fetes Galantes in Boston, and danced/choreographed for The Boston Camerata, The Boston Early Music Festival, and Het Baroktheater Amsterdam.