Stephen Katz

Stephen Katz is a cellist, guitarist, and award winning composer. He premiered his cello compositions at Carnegie Recital Hall and performs frequently with the Paul Winter Consort.

Stephen has been a pioneer in the art of counterpoint strumming techniques for the cello and has developed a repertoire of highly rhythmic solo compositions which incorporate melody and accompaniment into a single, idiomatic cello part. His works for cello ensemble also employ his unique pizzicato approach. As a performer who uses live looping electronics to generate full ensemble textures from a single instrument, he has also distinguished himself as a creator of seamlessly integrated solo pieces that unfold loop-by-loop in concert.

He has worked extensively with dancers and choreographers, and is composer and music director of Wire Monkey Dance, has collaborated and performed with members of Pilobolus Dance Company, and has been a Visiting Artist at Amherst College. As a co-founder of the cello/movement/theater company Seen & Heard with the late dancer and monologist BJ Goodwin, he literally danced with the cello while accompanying the dramas they played out on stage.

His score for the documentary film The Rich Have Their Own Photographers won the Jury Prize Gold Medal for Best Use of Music in a Documentary at the 2007 Park City Film Music Festival. He also scored Two Miles Squared, a documentary about Hudson, NY.

Stephen's solo recording First Person Singular features his songwriting, singing and guitar playing in addition to the cello, and was hailed by Connecticut Songsmith as "an incredible debut album by a new and important artist". His recent releases (Looking Up and Earthdance) feature his looped compositions and improvisations. (Available @ iTunes)

A native of San Francisco, Stephen received a Master of Music degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and lives in Haydenville, Massachusetts with his wife Beth and son Olin.