- Kate Westbrook (musician)
Kate Westbrook is an artist following the professions of painter and musician. Her musical work centres around her career as a vocalist, predominantly with her husband, British composer and bandleader
Mike Westbrook 's bands. She also works extensively as librettist and doubles as instrumentalist (tenor horn and piccolo).Biography
Kate Westbrook was born in
Guildford ,Surrey ,England and grew up in theU.S.A. andCanada before going to Dartington Hall School (which later becameDartington College of Arts ) in Devon. From there she went toBath Academy of Art at Corsham and then toReading University . Later she lived and worked on the East and West coasts of America. After travelling inMexico she returned to England and took up a part-time teaching post atLeeds College of Art . Kate Westbrook's musical career began in 1974 when she joined the Mike Westbrook Brass Band and gave up teaching to concentrate on the dual career of painter and musician. She has worked in theatre, radio, and TV. She and her husband now live inDevon, England .Music
As an instrumentalist she plays
tenor horn andpiccolo , however her work centres around vocals both as singer andlibrettist . Kate Westbrook's wide vocal range embraces jazz, music theatre (she sang the role of Anna in Bertolt Brecht'sThe Seven Deadly Sins with theLondon Symphony Orchestra ), contemporary music (pieces byFrederic Rzewski ,Philip Clark ), opera (Gioacchino Rossini ) and music hall. She has performed all overEurope and as far afield as the far East and North America.Her work as lyricist has encompassed everything from cabaret songs toopera . In collaboration with her husband, Mike Westbrook, she has generated a whole series of jazz/cabarets and music-theatre pieces. She adapts and sings texts in several languages (English, German, French, Italian on a regular basis - several others when the occasion arises). Other than her own lyrics and music, her repertoire includes works byWilliam Blake ,Bertolt Brecht /Kurt Weill ,Cole Porter ,Friedrich Hollaender ,Federico García Lorca ,Paul Éluard ,Edward Lear , Wilhelm Busch, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, The Beatles and many others.Other musical collaborations include among othersPhil Minton ,Lindsay Cooper ,Henry Cow (The Orckestra).Painting
Kate Westbrook studied fine art at Dartington Hall School (which later became
Dartington College of Arts ) inDevon ,Bath Academy of Art at Corsham andReading University .The first one-man show of her paintings was held at theSanta Barbara Museum of Art in California, in 1963. Kate Westbrook continues to exhibit her work in solo and group shows in Britain and abroad. Her work is in public and private collections.Many recent musical Westbrook projects, such as Art Wolf and Turner In Uri, have been inspired by the visual arts.elected discography
Kate Westbrook
*The Nijinska Chamber (2006)
*Goodbye Peter Lorre (1991, 2005)
*Cuff Clout (2004)with Mike Westbrook
*Waxeywork Show (2007)
*Art Wolf (2005)
* _fr. Chanson Irresponsable (2003)
*Westbrook Rossini (1986)
*Love For Sale (1985)
*The Cortège (1983)elected Filmography
*Hotel Amigo (TV, music-theatre piece)
*Good Friday 1663(TV opera)
*Turner in Uri (documentary and concert)External links
* [http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/katewestbrook Kate Westbrook,singer/songwriter] Kate Westbrook's official site
* [http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/gallery Kate Westbrook,Painter]
* [http://www.westbrookjazz.de Discography]ources
* [http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk www.westbrookjazz.co.uk]
* [http://www.westbrookjazz.de www.westbrookjazz.de]
* [http://www.musicweb-international.com/encyclopaedia/w/W55.HTM Musicweb International]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.