She is a violist born in Chicago, Illinois, who began studying music when she was just three years old. She later studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, gaining her Bachelors degree in 2000. She has received viola tutelage from various noted teachers such as Joseph de Pasquale and Michael Tree.
In the 1990s she took part in several competitions and won the Irving M. Klein competition and the 1995 Primrose International Viola Competition, the 1996 American String Teachers Association Competition, the second prize in the 46th International Music Competition of the ARD and the Grand Prize at the 1994 Seventeen Magazine/General Motors National Concerto Competition. She has also performed at various music festivals that include the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the Marlboro Music Festival.
Performing with several orchestras and ensembles as a member and/or soloist during her career to date, she has been heard with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Brandenburg Ensemble, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Metamorphosen Ensemble and the Philadelphia Orchestra. She joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2006 where she currently holds the position of Assistant Principal Viola as well as Principal Viola with the Boston Pops Orchestra.
She has given performances of Johannes Brahms’ Sonata for Viola and Piano No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 120, Alan Schulman’s Theme and Variations and was the soloist in the premiere performance of Concerto for Viola and Orchestra which was composed for her by John Williams.
Recordings she has appeared on include her own American Viola Works, Keisuke Wakao plays Mozart, Bach, Britten, Prokofiev with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and America, My FavoriteThings: A Richard Rodgers Celebration and Chris Botti: Live in Boston with the Boston Pops Orchestra.
In the field of musical education she has been a coach for chamber ensembles at the New England Conservatory and has been on the faculties of Boston University and the Boston Conservatory.
She is married to Tim Genis who is Principal Timpanist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Sources:
- http://www.bso.org/bso/mods/bios_detail.jsp?id=2100149
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathy_Basrak
- http://www.theplaceforwords.com/basrak_genis.htm
- http://www.classicalconnect.com/Cathy_Basrak/364
- http://mahawa.jw-music.net/classical/info.htm
- http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2009/05/22/williams_salutes_a_virtuosic_violist/
- http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/artist/Cathy+Basrak/a/albums.htm
- http://www.classicstoday.com/digest/pdigest.asp?perfidx=23561
- http://www.allmusic.com/artist/cathy-basrak-q102720/credits/all