Catherine Thompson is a Canadian composer, musician, visual and material artist. Recent activities include working with Beth and Peter Powning in New Brunswick, ongoing research for her Skuld Project, the writing of a series of new songs for upcoming concerts, a number of exciting musical collaborations and work with dance theatre.
Born in Montreal and raised in and around Toronto, Catherine has been a visual artist since childhood and for many years this was her primary form of creative expression. In sr. elementary school her interests evolved to include music and working with textiles taking her well into the present applying those early influences to her work today. She works extensively with computers nowadays, finding a fascination with the combination of traditional concepts and techniques within the seemingly limitless possibilities of the digital world.
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Catherine has had a long involvement in traditional Irish music both as an instrumentalist and vocalist. She has taken part in Irish language and singing (séan-nos) workshops at Oideas Gael in Co. Donegal in the northwest of Ireland as well as workshops and studies in Canada.
This interest in Irish music over the years has led her to many different places musically, often quite radically different from the roots of that tradition. Over the last twelve years she has been involved in composition and performance with a number of contemporary dance creators and this has become a major focus in her musical life. To date she has created twenty four pieces for dance theatre to critical acclaim.
In the dance world, Catherine has worked with Kate Alton, P. Megan Andrews, Peggy Baker, Louise Bédard, Serge Bennathan, Sylvie Bouchard, Susanna Hood, Sasha Ivanochko, Karen Kaeja, Rachel Kennedy, Susan Lee, Elena Mamais, Naoko Murakoshi, Julia Sasso, Roger Sinha, Heidi Strauss, Darryl Tracy and Eryn Dace Trudell.
As well as making music for dance she has performed in a variety of modes. During the autumn of 2005 she toured solo across Canada in support of her most recent CD of songs. She has also performed throughout Canada in a number of diverse modes. While studying Irish, Catherine had some wonderful performance opportunities in Donegal, Ireland as well as of course, witnessing and learning from some incredible music and musicians. She has recorded and composed music for Vision TV, Debaghimajig Theatre and Native Earth Productions.
The
skuld project is Catherine's current long term person project. It is extensive in scope and deals with many aspects of our human place on tthe wild world. Please go to the skuld project for more information. |
