French, Catherine

Violinist from Victoria, British Columbia, who started playing when she was four years of age and studied with Dr. Lise Elson, Miriam Fried, Felix Galimir, and Joel Smirnoff.

In March 1985, she and pianist Janice Waite performed “Duo for Violin and Piano” by Oskar Morawetz at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver. They interpreted his “Sonata No. 1 for Piano and Violin” at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on 5^th May 1989.

Before the year was out, she had placed second in the CBC National Radio Competition for Young Performers and first in the CBC Young Artists Competition.

She attended Indiana University, the Juilliard School, and Mannes College of Music.

In 1992, she debuted at Carnegie Hall with David Gilbert and the Senior Concert Orchestra of New York.

She participated in the Marlboro Music Festival in 1993.

In September 1994, she became a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Other groups with whom she has worked include the Boston Arts Ensemble, the Boston Pops, the Calgary Philharmonic, the Calyx Piano Trio, Collage New Music, the Edmonton Symphony, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, the Milton String Quartet, Symphony Nova Scotia, the Toronto Symphony, and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

She appeared on Mason Daring’s soundtrack of The Great War and the Shaping of the 20^thCentury in 1996. Other recordings on which she appears include: A Birthday Hansel by Annette Betanski and Susan Miron; America, American Visions, The Celtic Album, My Favorite Thingsand A Splash of Pops by the Boston Pops; Collage New Music Performs Donald Sur, and, Sing Me a Story by Bob McGrath.

In 1998 and 1999, she participated in the Portland Chamber Music Festival in South Portland, Maine.

Collage New Music presented the world premiere of Lior Navok’s “Elegy to the Future” on 24^thFebruary 2001. On 3^rd April 2005, they did the same for Michael Gandolfi’s “As Above” at Harvard University. They also gave the first performance of David McMullin’s “Ricochet” in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 22^nd March 2010.

In 2008 and 2009, the Calyx Piano Trio served as the trio-in-residence at the Carolina Chamber Music Festival in North Carolina.

Catherine was a member of the makeshift orchestra that took part in the “Concert for the Cure” under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle at the New England Conservatory on 5^th December 2010. The program comprised Johannes Brahms’ “Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 73”, the adagiettofrom Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony No. 5” and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Piano Concerto in G major, K. 453”, with Marc-Andre Hamelin at the keys.

In June 2011, the Calyx Piano Trio gave a series of concerts that included Bright Sheng’s “Bright Music” and “Four Movements for Piano Trio” at the Missouri Chamber Music Festival in St. Louis.

Here’s Ricky Skaggs performing “Pig In a Pen” with the Boston Pops Orchestra…

Sources:

French, Catherine

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