Biography•Kate Hamilton

Kate Hamilton has been described as a violist with “a rich viola sound, characterized by perfect taste and expressive freedom.” (Peoria Times, Illinois, USA). Recently, she has been a soloist with the Kansas City Civic Orchestra, Cartago Symphony (Costa Rica), Vale Veneto Festival Orchestra (Brazil) and the Lugano Chamber Orchestra (Buenos Aires). Additionally, recent solo recitals have been heard on Minnesota Public Radio and KBAQ (Phoenix, Arizona). She has appeared in recitals in New Zealand, England, Brazil, Costa Rica, Argentina, Venezuela, Austria, and throughout the United States. Her 2011 recording of  Tedesco’s Sarabande for Viola and Cello for Soundset Records received high praises from Fanfare Magazine. Her commitment to record new and lesser known literature for viola can be heard on Pacific Records and Vienna Modern Masters.

A committed teacher, she has been Artist-in-Residence and violist of the Esterhazy String Quartet at the University of Missouri and Associate Professor of Viola at Illinois State University. From 2006-2008, she was guest lecturer at the University of Otago in New Zealand and Co-President of the String Teachers Association of New Zealand. Master class presentations have included the National Conservatory (Argentina),University of Georgia, University of Arizona, University of Kentucky, Bowling Green State University, New Zealand School of Music, Canterbury School of Music (UK), Carlos Gomes Conservatory (Brazil) and the University of Costa Rica. Her students have been accepted into viola programs at the Oberlin Conservatory, Juilliard School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Curtis Institute, New England Conservatory and the Marlboro Music Festival.

Active in charitable work, Ms. Hamilton has been a guest teacher at the Lugano String Project in Buenos Aires, Argentina. From 2001-2006, she was the recipient of a $40,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to fund a string program that offered low-cost lessons to young children in rural areas of central Illinois. As a result of this highly successful program, she was awarded the 2002 Faculty Research Award from Illinois State University.

Kate began playing the viola at eight years of age in the public schools of Buffalo, New York. She is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory and the Peabody Conservatory, and  was a full scholarship student of the Aspen School of Music. Her teachers have included Karen Tuttle and Jeffrey Irvine. Currently, she is associate professor of viola at Concordia College in Minnesota (USA).

Listen to Kate Hamilton:

Hindemith Solo Sonata for Viola, op. 25 #1