Katherine is a versatile musician as both a classical violinist and Celtic fiddler.  She has performed at venues from outdoor music festivals to international concert halls, and has won numerous Scottish fiddling awards and competitions along the way.  Katherine grew up in a small New England town immersed in classical music, as well as the culture of community square dances. She fell in love with Irish music in her early 20's after attending Oberlin College/Conservatory.  Over the years she has learned from master fiddlers in the Irish, Scottish, and Cape Breton traditions--including Eileen Ivers, Martin Hayes, Alisdair Fraser, Bonnie Rideout and Jerry Holland--but her approach to performing and arranging Celtic music draws on a diverse musical background that includes studies in baroque violin, medieval and renaissance instruments,  and improvisation.

 

Katherine currently performs with David Scheim (harp/piano), Geoffrey Saur (pipes/whistle), Julie Kinn (vocals, bodhran) and Josh Kinn (bouzouki, octave mandolin). She was a member of the Celtic/earlymusic ensemble The Boar’s Head Consort, which won first place in the Baltimore Chamber Music  Awards competition and performed extensively throughout the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area.  She also played fiddle with the Baltimore Irish band Keltia and the Cambridge, Massachusetts Revels production. After moving to North Carolina, Katherine studied Irish dance at the Rince na H’Eireann School of Irish Dance, and danced at community events in the Triad area.  She also performed in The Laurel Strings duo with guitarist Joseph Pecoraro  for 25 years.

 

Katherine is a member of the Winston-Salem Symphony, and formerly played with the Washington Chamber Orchestra, Wintergreen Festival Orchestra, Carolina Chamber Symphony, and the Symphonies of Harrisburg, Annapolis, Roanoke, and Charlotte. As an orchestral and freelance musician, she has shared the stage with many notable pop and folk performers-- including Eric Clapton, The Indigo Girls, Bruce Hornsby, Yanni, The Manhattan Transfer, Eileen Ivers, Boys2Men, Chris Thiele, Ben Folds, Bela Fleck, Mark O'Connor, Branford Marsalis, Ricky Scaggs--and classical greats Yo Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Rene Fleming, Joshua Bell, Midori, and Luciano Pavarotti.

 

Katherine is passionate about teaching, and in addition to her private  studio she is an adjunct professor of music at UNC School of the Arts and Wake Forest University, and  Director of Blue Ridge Suzuki Camp in Orkney Springs, Virginia.