Catherine Porter

Catherine is a cellist based in both Berkshire and Central London. She graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2019 with a BA (Hons) in Music, and from the Royal Academy of Music in 2022 with an MA in performance. Catherine started cello lessons at the age of three. Her first teacher was Penny Heath, who taught her until she achieved her grade 8 with distinction in 2012. After this Catherine joined the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music and got her grade 8 in music theory. Catherine was awarded a music scholarship to Farnborough Sixth Form College, and went on to study Music at Cambridge University, where she held an Instrumental Award Scheme scholarship and began having cello lessons with Felix Schmidt at the Royal Academy of Music through the CAMRAM scheme, a joint scheme between Cambridge and Academy. Catherine chose to study music at university because, whilst she loved playing cello, she wanted to learn more about the world and music’s place in it today. She took courses such as Ethnomusicology and Decolonising the Ear and developed an interest in music from around the world and the ways it can have an impact on and reflect society. Catherine recently finished her studies at Academy. It was here that her interest in music has expanded to encompass a wider variety of styles and genres. She worked with composition students at Academy to perform their music, including Kirsten Strom’s Pour Esperance for unaccompanied cello. She also became more interested in music from around the world and performed Contramarea, by the Costa Rican band Malpais, with her band Goodenough Unplugged. She works with this group on pop and rock music too, including pieces such as Nothing Else Matters by Metallica and Heal The World by Michael Jackson. Catherine also learned a selection of pieces from Wood Works with her string quartet. These are arrangements of Danish folk tunes created by the Danish String Quartet. Inspired by a talk given by the pianist and composer Sarah Nicolls, in which she spoke about her work 12 Years, Catherine organised an environmentally themed concert which encompassed her interest in a wide variety of musical styles and genres, including pieces from Wood Works, Trees by Kirsten Strom, and pop songs including Mother Nature’s Son by the Beatles. Catherine was selected for a public cello masterclass with Steven Doane at an annual conference of the European String Teachers Association, and has also had a masterclass with him at the Royal Academy of Music. She has also had masterclasses with other internationally acclaimed cellists including Louise Hopkins, Philippe Muller, Julian Lloyd Webber and Natalie Clein. Catherine is a retired member of the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain and Surrey County Youth Orchestra. She has also been a member of the Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra and the Cambridge University Orchestra. More recently, she has played in concerts with the Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Academy of Music Opera Orchestra. She also regularly plays with the London Music Theatre Orchestra.