Katharine O'Connell was born in Santa Barbara, California in 1971.
While in high school, she studied with Edward Applebaum at the University
of California, Santa Barbara. In 1993 she received a Bachelor of Music
Composition from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University where
she studied with Paul Cooper and Samuel Jones. In December of 1996 she
completed a Master's of Music Composition at the University of Kentucky,
where she worked with Joseph Baber. She returned to the University of Kentucky
in 1999, where she received a fellowship to complete a DMA in composition.
She is currently teaching theory and composition at Cleveland State University
in Cleveland, Ohio.
Premieres last year included the performance of her ballet, Red Machines, at New York University, two concerts of works for guitar and voice in London, England and a sextet for winds and piano by the Prism Chamber Music Society in Chicago. Her most recent activities include participation by invitation at the Ennis Opera workshop in Ireland, where her opera excerpt from Waiting for Godot was performed. Other recent activities include a performance at the London Congress of the International Alliance for Women in Music, the premiere of a commissioned chamber work at Christ Church Cathedral in Houston and the premiere of a song cycle at the California Institute for the Arts. This year she was commissioned to compose an orchestral work by the Sandusky Festival of New Music in Ohio, where she was composer in residence in May, 2000. Her latest work is a choral piece commissioned by the New Haven Oratorio Choir.
Her most recent honor was the selection of her orchestral work, Turner
Seascapes, to be read and recorded in June, 2001, by the Women's Philharmonic
in San Francisco, as part of their national search for new composers. Other
honors include first prize in the 1998 Zoltan Kodaly Institute Composer's
Competition, a Citation of Merit (1998) and an Honorable Mention (1999)
from the National Association of Composers, USA, and two ASCAP Special
Awards. Past performances include a premiere at the American Festival for
the Arts in Houston, and a Chicago performance by the Derriere Guard Festival
Orchestra as part of a national search for new music. Previous awards include
the Haggins Fellowship to the University of Kentucky, the MTAC Composition
Award for the State of California, and First Prize in the College of Creative
Studies Competition for Young Composers. Her works have been featured on
KUSC radio, Los Angeles, and were the subject of a lecture recital at the
University of Southern California
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