Born in Kuala Lumpur, Carolyn was offered a full graduate assistantship from Miami University, Ohio to pursue a Masters in Piano Performance and successfully graduated in 2011. She also holds the LRSM and FTCL performance diplomas with distinction, as well as a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Newcastle, Australia. In 2015, she became the first Malaysian to be awarded the FRSM in piano performance with a distinction.
Having won awards and prizes locally and internationally, she has performed both as a soloist and a collaborative pianist in music festivals, recitals and competitions in the USA, Austria, Taiwan, Korea, Macau, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. As a soloist, she appeared in the KL Piano Gala for five consecutive years since 2013 and performed the Saint-Saens 4th Piano Concerto with the Penang Philharmonic in the same year. In 2014, she premiered works of two Malaysian composers at the KL Piano Gala Concert and appeared in a duet concert in Kuala Lumpur. She was also featured as a concerto soloist in 2017 with the Selangor Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO) and the Penang Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) performing Beethoven’s 2nd Piano Concerto and Grieg’s Piano Concerto respectively. In July 2018, she was invited to perform chamber works at the JB Classical Music Festival. In the same year she organised and performed in “An Enchanted Evening”, a piano duo charity concert with her husband, Malaysian pianist Loo Bang Hean in Kuala Lumpur. In 2019 she made her debut solo performance at the Musikverein, Vienna and Carnegie Hall, New York in September and November respectively.
Carolyn has given masterclasses locally and abroad. She is an adjunct lecturer at the Institute of Music, UCSI University and has a private piano studio in Cyberjaya, where she enjoys working with students of a wide range of ages and levels. Over the years, her students have won numerous prizes in piano competitions held locally as well as overseas.
Apart from teaching, she is also a well sought-after adjudicator. She has been invited to be part of the panel of jurors for the UCSI International Competition 2014 & 2016, the Malaysian Youth Music Festival 2016 as well as the 15th Hong Kong (Asia Pacific) Piano Competition 2016. She also adjudicated at the KK Music Festival as well as the Borneo Performing Arts Festival in 2017. Subsequently in 2018, she was also part of the jury panels for the Borneo Performing Arts Festival in Kota Kinabalu as well as the Euroasia Piano Competitions held in various states around Malaysia. In 2019, she was invited again to adjudicate various piano competitions held in this region, including the Hong Kong International Youth Performance Arts Festival (HKYPAF) held in Kuala Lumpur. In that same year she presented at the ABRSM Music Teachers Conference in Kuala Lumpur. From the onset of the pandemic in 2020 she continued teaching and adjudicating online, including the Malaysian Piano Competition and UCSI Piano Competition & Festival 2020 as well as Euroasia Piano Competition and the finals of HKYPAF in 2021 and 2022.
Apart from music, Carolyn enjoys travelling, baking and cooking.