B i o g r a p h y
From Reading, Pennsylvania, Kathleen became interested in playing the violin at age 5 after she heard an NPR story about the instruments of the orchestra. Her mother purchased a cheap student instrument at a local music shop and Kathleen started private lessons soon after.
Kathleen was a homeschooled student throughout highschool. After switching to viola from violin her sophomore year, Kathleen started competing in festival orchestras, making it to PMEA's All-State Orchestra her senior year. That same year she was accepted to the Ithaca College School of Music where she graduated four years later with a BM in Viola Performance.
At IC, she studied with Debra Moree. During the summer months, she studied with and participated in masterclasses of Karen Ritscher, Wing Ho, Ning Mu, Lawrence Dutton, and Jodi Levitz.
An avid chamber musician, Kathleen has attended the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, the PA Academy of Music’s Summer Festival,
Soundfest with the Colorado String Quartet, and the Zephyr International Chamber Music Festival in Courmayeur, Italy. In these festivals she has played some of the most important string quartet literature of the western classical tradition.
Kathleen also regularly plays in orchestras. During her time at IC she was a member of the Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, all the while performing in student formed groups for composition and conducting recitals. She has also played in some of the regions professional orchestras including the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, and the Chesapeake Orchestra.
She has been the Principal Violist for the Northern Tier Symphony Orchestra since 2014 and of the Berks Sinfonietta since its inception the same year.
Additional musical experiences include her studies in early music/baroque viola, contemporary music performances, and opera/musical pit work.
Kathleen enjoys sharing these experiences with her peers and students and has been doing so for over 15 years as a string teacher. Currently she is a studio violin and viola teacher at the Kimberton Waldorf School in Phoenixville, PA and runs a private studio from her home in Wernersville, PA. She has previously taught for the Reading Musical Foundation's parochial school program where she ran the string programs for two Reading area Catholic schools. She is also a member of several music ensembles in the area and can be seen performing at the Genesius Theater, with the Reading Pops Orchestra, for Berks Opera Company, and as a soloist at Immanuel UCC in Shillington and other area churches.
In the summer of 2014, Kathleen, along with three other musical peers, started the Berks Sinfonietta. This chamber ensemble is committed to supporting local musicians, from students to teachers, by providing an opportunity to play challenging classical repertoire at a high level of musicianship. Please visit their website at www.berkssinfonietta.org for more information.