Catherine has been involved in music her entire life. Her first public performance of an original tune, “Ballet Dancers”, was at a grade-school assembly, and she’s been involved in performances (both on stage and backstage) ever since. While her 20 years of formal classical training included violin, viola, piano and reeds, her creative desires spurred her to also explore jazz, world music, folk, pop/musicals and rock music. Being the daughter of a professional string player/teacher in the Chicago area afforded her numerous opportunities for study and master classes with many prominent professional players. This also led to a substantial “education” in various aspects of the business of music as well. While living in the Chicago area, she performed regularly with the Du Page and West Suburban Symphonies, as well as many other ensembles, and toured Europe with two of them. She also performed original music regularly at a variety of coffeehouses and clubs. Catherine’s love of both the violin and viola prompted her to purchase first an electric 5-string and then an acoustic 5-string violin which combine the violin and viola ranges.

In 1980 she met international recording artist James Kennedy who is a guitarist and composer. In 1986, after recording with Enja Records of Germany, Catherine and James founded Heart Consort Music-BMI, a company dedicated to “Promoting the wealth of talent in the Midwest” through recordings and performances. To date HCM has released 16 albums and has a “back” catalog of over 400 pieces of recorded music. All of the releases have received national/international radio airplay, distribution, promotion and media attention. The artists of Heart Consort Music tour regularly within the United States and also frequently in Europe including stops at the Montreaux and North Sea Jazz festivals among others. Heart Consort Music holds memberships in various industry organizations including NARAS, NARM, and many others.