Ardan Carlisle, a first-year student studying mathematics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, of an undiagnosed medical condition. He was 18.
Carlisle is remembered as a brilliant polymath, warm friend and gifted pianist. William Lenihan, a teaching professor of music and director of jazz performance in Arts & Sciences, said he immediately recognized Carlisle as a rare talent moments into his audition for the WashU Jazz Combo.
“We have talented students, many of whom come from good high school music programs and make a good audition. But this was different,” Lenihan said. “He played technically well but also played with — how to say this — he played with meaning. Ardan played like he really understood the music and that he felt it. He had a personal sound that you don’t often hear in someone so young.”
Carlisle was often featured in Jazz Combo performances across campus and in the community, most recently playing at the Saint Louis Art Museum. Lenihan said Carlisle was a great collaborator.
“It’s highly unusual for me to call a first-semester freshman and ask them to perform so many important gigs.” Lenihan said. “One of the reasons why he was so good was because he was extremely sensitive and responded to the other musicians as if they were in a big conversation.”
Suitemate Adi Solomon said Carlisle, who used both he/him and they/them pronouns, were as kind and humble as they were talented and smart.
“Ardan was just crazy gifted in so many ways, whether it was math or music or global politics,” Solomon said. “They were deeply curious about everything and had this determination to learn.”
Carlisle taught himself Japanese, chess and, as a child, algebra and physics. Once Carlisle mentioned to Solomon an interest in learning Russian, which their mother spoke fluently.
“The next thing I know, Ardan is reading a full book in Russian,” Solomon said.
Carlisle was raised in San Antonio and, later, Bowling Green, Ohio, where he took courses at Bowling Green State University while attending high school. At WashU, Carlisle joined the Math Club and loved playing video games and having impromptu dance parties with his suitemates.
“We would just throw on some music — it could be anything from rap to indie — and we’d rock out for five minutes and then just get to work on whatever we had to do,” Solomon recalled. “Ardan just had this incredibly great energy that we all loved so much. And that’s what really made them special — just how sweet they were.”
All of those qualities — the generous spirit, the mathematical acumen, the love of play — appeared in Carlisle’s music.
“He understood the connections,” Lenihan said. “When you think about music, it’s not just poetic. It’s mathematical. It’s cultural. It’s personal. It’s an all-encompassing activity. Ardan was tying all of that together.”
Carlisle is survived by his parents, Mike and Lada Carlisle, and his brother, Evan. A funeral service took place Jan. 10 at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Houston.