Catherine Lamb facts for kids

Catherine Lamb (born in 1982 in Olympia, Washington) is an American composer and violist. A composer writes music, and a violist plays the viola, which is like a slightly larger violin. She won the Ernst von Siemens Composer Prize in 2020, which is a very important award for composers.

What Catherine Lamb Does

Catherine Lamb creates music that explores how sounds interact. She looks at how different tones combine and how they make us feel. She also thinks about how music can create a sense of space.

Her music often uses a special way of tuning notes called just intonation. This helps her create unique and rich sounds. She believes that music doesn't need to be loud to be powerful. Instead, she thinks that sounds played in a relaxed way can be more expressive. She wants her music to have room to "blossom."

Her Journey and Collaborations

Catherine Lamb has worked on many exciting projects. She composed the music for the film Anhe Ghore Da Daan. She has also teamed up with other famous musicians and composers like Eliane Radigue and Marc Sabat.

Many orchestras and music groups have asked her to write music for them. These include the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the London Contemporary Orchestra. She has also received awards and grants from important organizations like the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.

Catherine studied music at CalArts and Bard College. She also learned from teachers like James Tenney and Mani Kaul.

Notable Works

Catherine Lamb has composed many interesting pieces. Some of her well-known works include divisio spiralis (2019) and the Prisma Interius series, which she started in 2015.

The BBC asked her to create a piece called Portions Transparent/Opaque. This music was performed at the famous BBC Proms in 2023.

Discography

A discography is a list of recordings an artist has released. Catherine Lamb's music has been featured on several albums. Many of these were released by the British experimental music label Another Timbre.

Some of her albums include:

• three bodies (moving)
• Viola Torros, with Johnny Chang
• point/wave
• Atmospheres Transparent/Opaque, featuring Ensemble Dedalus
• Muto Infinitas
• String Quartets, with the JACK Quartet
• parallaxis forma featuring Explore Ensemble, Exaudi Vocal Ensemble, and Lotte Betts-Dean
• Prisma Interius VIII
• Curva Triangulus featuring Ensemble Proton