Katherine Young

The curious timbres, expressive noises, and kinetic structures of my electroacoustic music explore the dramatic physicality of sound, shifting interpersonal dynamics, and associations with the familiar and the strange. The LAPhil, Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW, Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Third Coast Percussion, Ensemble Dal Niente, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik, Spektral Quartet, Weston Olencki, Fonema Consort, and others have commissioned Katherine Young’s music. She has also worked closely with Wet Ink, Ensemble Nikel, WasteLAnd and RAGE Thormbones, Distractfold Ensemble’s Linda Jankowska, Callithumpian Ensemble, Lucy Dehgrae, and Yarn/Wire. Katherine’s 8-channel outdoor sound installation, Resonance and the Inhibition of, was exhibited as part of the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art’s Chicago Sound Show in fall 2019.

As a bassoonist and improviser, Katherine amplifies her instrument and employs a flexible electronics setup. She performs often as a soloist, and her debut solo album garnered praise in The Wire (‘Bassoon colossus’) and Downbeat (‘seriously bold leaps for the bassoon’). Since collaboration is central to Katherine’s practice, she also regularly performs in ad hoc improvised groups and with projects such as Beautifulish (duo with Sam Scranton) and Architeuthis Walks on Land (duo with Amy Cimini). She has documented her work on numerous recordings, including her quartet Pretty Monsters’ self-titled debut, a duo recording with Anthony Braxton, and the multi-movement work Diligence Is to Magic as Progress Is to Flight (Parlour Tapes+), created with violinist Austin Wulliman.

As a scholar, Katherine researches the incorporation of idiosyncratic electronics and improvisation in contemporary notated music and has written about Anthony Braxton’s operatic work, in particular.

Katherine taught composition, electronic music, and improvisation at School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Berklee College of Music, before joining  the faculty of Emory University in 2020.

She has deep ties to Chicago’s creative music communities, having lived and made music  there for many significant years. She is now based in Atlanta.

Biography

The curious timbres, expressive noises, and kinetic structures of my electroacoustic music explore the dramatic physicality of sound, shifting interpersonal dynamics, and associations with the familiar and the strange. The LAPhil, Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW, Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Third Coast Percussion, Ensemble Dal Niente, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik, Spektral Quartet, Weston Olencki, Fonema Consort, and others have commissioned Katherine Young’s music. She has also worked closely with Wet Ink, Ensemble Nikel, WasteLAnd and RAGE Thormbones, Distractfold Ensemble’s Linda Jankowska, Callithumpian Ensemble, Lucy Dehgrae, and Yarn/Wire. Katherine’s 8-channel outdoor sound installation, Resonance and the Inhibition of, was exhibited as part of the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art’s Chicago Sound Show in fall 2019.

As a bassoonist and improviser, Katherine amplifies her instrument and employs a flexible electronics setup. She performs often as a soloist, and her debut solo album garnered praise in The Wire (‘Bassoon colossus’) and Downbeat (‘seriously bold leaps for the bassoon’). Since collaboration is central to Katherine’s practice, she also regularly performs in ad hoc improvised groups and with projects such as Beautifulish (duo with Sam Scranton) and Architeuthis Walks on Land (duo with Amy Cimini). She has documented her work on numerous recordings, including her quartet Pretty Monsters’ self-titled debut, a duo recording with Anthony Braxton, and the multi-movement work Diligence Is to Magic as Progress Is to Flight (Parlour Tapes+), created with violinist Austin Wulliman.

As a scholar, Katherine researches the incorporation of idiosyncratic electronics and improvisation in contemporary notated music and has written about Anthony Braxton’s operatic work, in particular.

Katherine taught composition, electronic music, and improvisation at School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Berklee College of Music, before joining  the faculty of Emory University in 2020.

She has deep ties to Chicago’s creative music communities, having lived and made music  there for many significant years. She is now based in Atlanta.

Compilations with this composer

Compilations
Phantom Images

Phantom Images

Huddersfield Contemporary Records

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External Links

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