Biography
Composer and bassoonist Katherine Young writes acoustic and electro-acoustic music that uses expressive colors and curious timbres to explore suspended time, genre fiction, the communication of ensemble energies, and suggestive non-linear narratives. Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times described Katherine’s Inside UFO 53-32, as performed by the Flux Quartet, as a “raw, wailing, coloristic piece” with an “organic sweep.” In 2010 Katherine composed music for choreographer Daria Fain’s piece TARGET: Furnace, which premiered at Dance New Amsterdam, and she received the Emerging Artists Commission from Issue Project Room, premiering a new work for mixed ensemble and TimeTable percussion trio.
Katherine’s debut bassoon record, Further Secret Origins, was released in 2009 by Porter Records, garnishing praise in The Wire (“Bassoon colossus”) and Downbeat (“seriously bold leaps for the bassoon”). Her project Pretty Monsters animates that music in an interactive ensemble setting, adding violin, electric guitar, and drums. Katherine has toured and recorded with Anthony Braxton and is a member of his Falling River Quartet. She is a founding member of chamber collective Till by Turning and also performs regularly in the improvising duo Architeuthis Walks on Land (Carrier Records). Other projects past and present include: chamber-pop quartet the Fancy; British rockers the Nightingales; Jason Ajemian’s Who Cares How Long You Sink; the trio Civil War; Jacob Wick’s A Mown Lawn; Chicago-based pop band Roommate; and in collaborations with musicians such as Tim Daisy, Peter Evans, Guillermo Gregorio, Mary Halvorson, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jeff Parker, Jessica Pavone, and Mike Pride.
Working with Anthony Braxton, Ron Kuivila, and Alvin Lucier, she completed her Master’s in composition at Wesleyan University and now lives in Brooklyn.
Katherine’s debut bassoon record, Further Secret Origins, was released in 2009 by Porter Records, garnishing praise in The Wire (“Bassoon colossus”) and Downbeat (“seriously bold leaps for the bassoon”). Her project Pretty Monsters animates that music in an interactive ensemble setting, adding violin, electric guitar, and drums. Katherine has toured and recorded with Anthony Braxton and is a member of his Falling River Quartet. She is a founding member of chamber collective Till by Turning and also performs regularly in the improvising duo Architeuthis Walks on Land (Carrier Records). Other projects past and present include: chamber-pop quartet the Fancy; British rockers the Nightingales; Jason Ajemian’s Who Cares How Long You Sink; the trio Civil War; Jacob Wick’s A Mown Lawn; Chicago-based pop band Roommate; and in collaborations with musicians such as Tim Daisy, Peter Evans, Guillermo Gregorio, Mary Halvorson, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jeff Parker, Jessica Pavone, and Mike Pride.
Working with Anthony Braxton, Ron Kuivila, and Alvin Lucier, she completed her Master’s in composition at Wesleyan University and now lives in Brooklyn.
