Dee is an award winning Singer/Songwriter and Harpist, honed at the prestigious Eastman School of Music in her hometown of Rochester, NY,  and countless honored stages- from Passim to Lilith Fair to the Newport Folk Festival to Wolftrap. She has shared stages with Paula Cole, Sinead O’Connor, Jonatha Brooke, Marc Cohn, David Wilcox, Art Garfunkel and Dar Williams.
 
Dee’s work has appeared in the following feature films:
 
“Beautiful” starring Minnie Driver         
Director: Sally Field
 
“The Goodbye Girl” starring Patricia Heaton, Jeff Daniels
Director: Richard Benjamin                
 
“Prizewinner of Defiance Ohio” starring Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson
Director: Jane Anderson                            
 
“First Born” starring Elizabeth Shue                   
Director: Issac Webb
 
Dee’s Recordings on Exit Nine Records & Blue Thumb/Universal Records
 

Can You Hear A Lullaby (Winner of the Parent’s Gold Choice Award, 2001)
Produced by David Wolfert, Julie Dansky, and Dee Carstensen
 
Beloved One
Produced by Bob Marlette and Mike Mainieri (Carly Simon)
 
Regarding the Soul
Produced by Neil Dorfsman (Sting, Dire Straits)
 
The Map
Produced by Ben Wisch (Marc Cohn, Jonatha Brooke, Patty Larkin)

Home Away from Home
Produced by Mike Mainieri, Dee Carstensen
 
Patch of Blue
Produced by Mike Mainieri, Stephen Barber (David Byrne, Gilberto Gil), and Dee Carstensen 
                                                                                                                                   
Critical Acclaim:
 
“Her harp strings reverberate delicately across intimate narrratives about both physical and intellectural jouneys. Carstensen, who also plays piano on “The Map”, holds her impeccable soprano at  bay and then suddenly sends it soaring!”– TIME OUT MAGAZINE
 
“Her polished compositions and delivery put her in league with Joni Mitchell, Shawn Colvin, and Ricki Lee Jones…yet are immediately recognizable as hers alone.” – BAY AREA EXPRESS
 
“The surprise hit Friday night was New York City’s Dee Carstensen, a singer/songwriter who plays piano and harp.  Carstensen’s exquisite voice and incisive lyrics brought tears to my eyes.  And when she played the harp, I felt like my heartstrings were being plucked.”
– Lorne Mallin, THE VANCOUVER PROVINCE
 
“Dee’s music thrills me, makes me wistful, moves me in unfathomable, rich ways.  Her voice and her lyrics are riveting, undeniable.  I want to be in Dee’s band!”
– JONATHA BROOKE
 
“This is one hell of a recording with musical and vocal performances that are superb, with lyrics that mean something and lay perfectly within the track. I hear traces of Nora Jones, Jonatha Brooke, Shawn Colvin, and Andreas Vollenweider (harp), which ain’t shabby company to be in. But, to me, Dee takes it  up a notch.” – HIPPOPRESS