Cathryn Cowell’s repertoire ranges from Bach to Irish fiddling. She will study violin at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in the fall.
Cathryn Cowell has been studying violin since the age of three. At the age of eleven, she made her orchestral debut at the DePaul Concert Hall, after winning the DePaul Community Concerto Festival. Cathryn is a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra performing biannually at the Chicago Symphony Center and community concerts. She has participated in the Chamber Orchestra as the Eclectic Quartet. As a member of the Magical Strings of Youth, Cathryn toured this summer as a soloist and ensemble player in Weimar, Handelhaus in Halle, Thomaskirche and Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Bach Memorial Site in Anhalt-Kothoen, and the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche and the Berliner Dome in Berlin.
In 2013 Cathryn was chosen to participate in the District 1 Illinois Music Educators (“IMEA”) as Principal, second violin. Since 2011, she has participated as violinist in the ILMEA All-State Orchestra and in 2014, she participated in the Illinois All-State Honors Orchestra. As a guest performer, Cathryn has presented at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, the Hotel Riu Guanacaste in Costa Rica, the Junior Achievements Chicago Business Hall of Fame, the American Association of University Women, and many local venues, including telethons, weddings, and fundraisers.
Illustrating the diversity of her repertoire, Cathryn is also an accomplished Irish fiddler. Cathryn has studied music in Ireland as part of the Scoil Eigse. She has performed at national and international Irish music conventions including Parsippany, New Jersey, Washington DC, Chicago, and she has been a featured performer at major festivals and events including the University of Chicago, the Fleadh Cheoil na hEirreann in Derry, Northern Ireland, and the Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann in Cavan, Ireland, the Chicago Celtic Fest, and the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago. She is the youngest soloist on the album, The Girls of Murphy Roche.
Cathryn is a high school senior at Riverside Brookfield High School in Illinois, where she is the Concert Mistress of the Honors Orchestra and Section Leader of the Chamber Orchestra. As a private violin instructor, both classical and fiddle, Cathryn specializes in teaching students with learning differences. Aside from performing music, Cathryn has been a member of the junior varsity and varsity cheerleading team at Riverside Brookfield High School and the National Society of High School Scholars.
Cathryn studies Irish music with Kell Chole and violin with Aurelien Pederzoli.