About Katrina

Katrina is a violinist, singer, and teacher striving to bring joy to people of all ages through music, and as some like to say about her, a 'little bit of Katrina magic fairy dust'!

After graduating from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the Conservatory and a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology, Katrina pursued her passion of music, singing professionally with new music, early music, and sacred based professional choral groups like Volti, The Benedict 16, and at Temple Emanu-El in the San Francisco Bay Area. At the same time, she found a career in the administrative side of the arts, working for SF-based contemporary opera company, Opera Parallèle, and for composer, teacher, and pianist Joe Bloom.

Moving between family in Germany and California, Katrina next discovered a joy for working one-on-one with older adults, primarily with dementia, which she did with the Hummingbird Project at Sage Eldercare Solutions in the San Francisco Bay Area. Katrina loved being able to connect and engage with clients one-on-one, using various activities to support all aspects of their quality of life. Using her music was a highlight in this work. Whether it meant seeing someone’s eyes light up when they recognize a song, improvising and creating song lyrics together, or just feeling the shared emotion after performing a piece, her clients never ceased to amaze her with their ability to find joy!

Throughout all of this, Katrina has enjoyed teaching both voice and violin in person and online, bringing in aspects from all of her different types of work and broad musical experience. You might also find Katrina collaborating with her mother, sister (professional flutist and harpist, respectively), and colleagues for various chamber music concerts and shows in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and recently in Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Bali! 

Katrina's love for travel hasn't stopped and she has been 'nomading' the world for more than 2 years, working remotely teaching music, conducting in person and remote workshops, remote recording, and collaborating and performing with musicians she meets all over! Follow her on instagram for updates!

Fun fact 1: Katrina has played violin for over 25 years and continued her studies throughout her time in music school. These days, outside of teaching and other performing, you are most likely to find her playing traditional Irish music in sessions all around the world!

Fun fact 2: She conducted an ethnomusicological research project called ‘Reels, Apps, and YouTube: Changing Practices in Traditional Irish Session Music’ in Ireland in 2013.

Fun fact 3: If she’s not playing or singing, you might find her practicing Qi Gong, hiking, meditating, or kayaking.

Influential teachers:

Karen Leigh Post, voice, Lawrence University

Samantha George, violin, Lawrence University

Joe Bloom, pianist/coach/ composer/ teacher, Mill Valley

Patricia Farrell, mother, flute, SF Opera orchestra for 30 years