Katherine Unrau - violinist: Profile

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	Profile

	The All-Terrain Violinist

Kate's diverse musical experiences bring a depth and character to whatever she is performing, and infuse her teaching with life. She is equally at home in the concert hall, studio, on alternative stages, and in the theatre.

If it's in the air, it's in the music, and Kate brings everything she has to a performance. To hear her play is to share in her world: love, loss, an abiding sense of hope and optimism, and an atmosphere of fun and energy. In performance and in life, Kate explores the spectrum, from contemporary to classic, edgy to elegant, raw to refined.


	Classical Classically trained, Kate began playing the violin at the age of 5, and enjoyed a variety of arts experiences from a young age, thanks to parental interest and support. With a wide range of successes at the young artist level, a career in performance was inevitable. After completing a Masters in Music in Violin Performance at the University of Toronto, Kate won the Principal Second Violin chair with the Kingston Symphony, a position she currently holds. As an orchestral musician, Kate has been in demand across Southern Ontario and beyond, having performed with several orchestras from Windsor to Ottawa. Versatile as a solo and chamber musician, she has performed far and wide in this capacity as well. Highlights include participation in the Scotia Festival of Chamber Music, a solo performance with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (after having won their young artist's concerto competition), and recently as a concerto soloist with the Kingston Symphony in a performance of Bach's Double Violin Concerto (along with Gisele Dalbec). Also an occasional violist, Kate has been found to take up residence in that section as well.

	Theatre Kate has a special love for the magic of theatre. She has appeared both on stage as musician-characters, and in musical theatre orchestras. She loves to travel for these opportunities, and has spent many happy seasons acquainting herself with theatre pieces of all kinds. Highlights include Anne of Green Gables, Charlottetown Festival, Charlottetown, PEI; the role of Helena - a violinist in Fathers and Sons, Live Bait Theatre, Sackville, NB; West Side Story, Chess, Evita, and Cabaret for Theatre Aquarius, Hamilton. Nuncrackers: the Christmas musical, and Menopositive, and Oil Rush (world premiere) for Victoria Playhouse, Petrolia; Hello Again (Canadian Premiere, Tarragon Theatre, Toronto); and several other independent productions. Most recently she played the role of Tess in the 2008 Toronto Fringe Festival hit musical The Christian Republican Fundraiser in Dayton Tennessee. For the future, Kate is working to cultivate more multi-discipline opportunities to appear on stage, utilizing her background in dance and singing as well as violin. Also handy with a guitar, she hopes one day to explore her country soul in the classical-meets-country musical Cowgirls.

	Alternative With an ear for many styles, and the ability to improvise, Kate has also found herself in an abundance of non-traditional performance settings. Adding backing vocals and auxiliary percussion to her plugged-in fiddle solos, she has been regularly featured as a member of Jenica Rayne and the Raynemakers, a folk-pop band, as well as other independent folk acts. She is also highly regarded as a session player, recording in a variety of styles from Palm Court Orchestra, to contemporary composition, with jazz ensembles, and even heavy rock and funk. She once appeared in concert as the "gypsy violin soloist" with rock group The Tea Party, and has worked with such artists as Mary J Blige, Jay-Z, Paul Anka, Emilie-Claire Barlow, John Barrowman, and others.