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Cellist

Katja Cross

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About Katja

Cellist based in Cardiff, available for hire as duet, piano trio or string quartet. Teaches instrumental lessons with flexible hours.
Cellist
Cardiff
Public liability insurance of £10 million

Katja Cross is a freelance cellist, chamber musician and teacher based in Bath. She achieved her Dip ABRSM Performance Diploma at the age of 17 and was awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with Nikki Thomas. During her first year at the conservatoire, Katja was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Sir John Barbirolli Memorial Foundation Grant which enabled her to purchase a 1750s Old English James Preston cello. She has also received grants from the EMI Music Sound Foundation and the Finzi Trust. In 2016 Katja was awarded her DipABRSM Teaching Diploma and this summer graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. An accomplished performer, Katja has a wide variety of experience in solo, chamber and orchestral performance. She has participated in masterclasses with internationally renowned cellists including Bruno Schrecker, Paul Watkins and Alexandra MacKenzie, and in 2014 attended the Cello Classics Course in Tuscany with Raphael Wallfisch and Sebastian Comberti. Her most recent performances include a solo recital at Cardiff Museum, Kingswood School Bath and her final recital at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Her upcoming recital with Tim Soar at the Level 1 Studio, St. David’s Hall Cardiff, will be a performance of Handel’s Oboe Sonata Op. 1 No. 5 in F major in January 2018. Katja is an active chamber musician who regularly plays for functions and events with both her string quartet and piano trio. She is fortunate to have been mentored by some of the world’s leading chamber musicians, having been taught by Bruno Schrecker, previously of the Allegri String Quartet; participated in masterclasses with Eugene Drucker of the Emerson Quartet and has received coaching from Jonathan Manson of the London Haydn Quartet; Martin Saving of the Elias String Quartet; and the Gould Piano Trio. Inspired by the Gould Piano Trio, she has performed in several of their chamber music festivals including “Inner Voices, Outer Worlds”, “Beethoven in Revolution”, and “Twilight of the Tsars”. In 2012, she performed at Somerset House, London, for the EMI Music Sound Foundation Red Carpet event for EMI’s artists and producers, playing music arranged by Ben Foster and Giles Martin. More recently, Katja’s piano trio played at the London Welsh Centre, and St David’s Hall, Cardiff, promoting the “Russia17” festival, performing Russian works including Rachmaninoff’s Trio Elegiaque No 1. The trio has recently performed Dvorak’s Piano Trio No 4, Dumky, at Beulah United Reformed Church, Cardiff. Her string quartet is looking forward to performing for Capital FM, Heart, Smooth, and XS Manchester radio stations’ annual Christmas function at Cardiff Museum in December 2017. Katja is an experienced recording musician, and, in 2009, recorded at Abbey Road studios for BBC Children In Need’s Bandaged Together and at Sir Terry Wogan’s TOG Chorus at Longleat. On 23 November 2016 Katja was broadcast on the One Show for Icon Film’s Jingle Jingle Little Star feature. She regularly records for contemporary composers, and performed for the ESTA Young Composers Competition in 2015. From the age of 7, Katja has been regularly involved in orchestral performance, playing at school, county and national levels. She has explored a very wide variety of orchestral repertoire and last summer was principal cellist of the Royal Welsh Symphony Orchestra. Katja is regularly invited to play with the St. Woolos Players, based in Newport and also plays for the Cardiff City Symphony Orchestra. Another passion for Katja is playing in the pit for musical theatre. She has performed Oliver, Les Miserables, and West Side Story, as well as enjoying playing for operas, opera galas and oratorios, including Carmina Burana, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Karl Jenkin’s The Armed Man. For the past three years Katja has taught a range of ages and abilities from beginners to advanced. She has given several workshops with primary school children, most recently at Kingswood Prep School, Bath; introducing very young children to orchestral instruments; leading masterclasses with gifted musicians; taking school assembly’s; and hosting concerts for the children. For the last 5 years Katja has worked at Cardiff Violins as a sales assistant and cello specialist under luthier Christopher King. She helps beginners and professionals choose the right instrument for them, demonstrating the unique qualities of the instruments. Katja keeps up to date with the latest string instrument technology and assists Chris with the tonal balancing and sound enhancements of the instruments. Her work at Cardiff Violins has given her a deeper understanding of string instruments, in particular the cello, and how best to get the greatest sound from ones’ instrument.

Musicianship
Genres:
Classical, Pop, Christmas, Contemporary Christian, Traditional church music, Baroque, Classical crossover, Contemporary classical, Early music, Film / TV music, Medieval music, Musical theatre, Opera, Renaissance, Fanfare, Covers
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Instruments:
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Event types:
Theatre / Show, Wedding, Wedding proposal, Funeral / Memorial service, Church service, Hotel / Restaurant event, Bar / Club / Venue event, Private event, Corporate event, Charity event, Concert, Recording session, Cruise, Burns night, Birthday party, Christmas party, New Year's Eve
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Other skills:
Arranger, Fluent sight-reader, Instrumental teaching
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