Flutist Catherine Ramirez - recognized for her “sensitive and artistic” (Flute Talk Magazine) performances as “a communicator through music” (American Record Guide) - has captivated listeners from her desert roots along the U.S. Southern border to audiences around the world. Winner of three international competition prizes in Italy, First Prize and a New York Debut from the New York Flute Club Young Artist Competition, a Sallie Shepherd Perkins Prize for Best Achievement from Rice University, a McKnight Fellowship for Musicians - in recognition of artistic excellence and a distinctive musical voice - and, most recently, a Sphinx MPower Artist Grant, Catherine aims in performance to harness the power of music to invite hope, connection, healing, and inspiration.
As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed at such renowned venues as the Teatro del Giglio (Italy), Beijing Concert Hall (China), Preston Bradley Hall (Chicago), Zilkha Hall (Houston), Zipper Hall (Los Angeles), Temple Square (Salt Lake City), The Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theatre (Washington, D.C.), and Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall (NYC), while also sharing her music in such varied locations as public schools, mental health clinics, rural libraries, and urban artist lofts. Equally at home with symphony, ballet, chamber and opera orchestras, Catherine has performed with such groups as the Sunriver Music Festival, Vermont Mozart Festival, Juarez Symphony (Mexico), El Paso Symphony, El Paso Opera, Houston Ballet, Mill City Summer Opera, Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. The strength of her adaptability, honed through diverse musical ventures, extends to musical theatre and popular music, including recent performances at the Guthrie Theatre (Into The Woods), the Orpheum Theatre (Wicked and Phantom of the Opera Broadway Tours), the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand (with Weird Al Yankovic), and the Xcel Energy Center (with The Who on their Moving On Tour). As a new member of both the Minnesota Sinfonia and the Chione Quintet, she continues to expand her musical reach.
A dedicated educator and member of the flute community, Dr. Catherine Ramirez holds a Special Appointment as Artist-in-Residence at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, where she has taught flute and chamber music since 2010. She has served as president of the Upper Midwest Flute Association, as a member of the Cultural Outreach Committee of the National Flute Association (NFA), and is currently chair of the Pedagogy Committee for the NFA. She has been an adjudicator and coach for the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, has taught youth to graduate flute students in masterclasses in the United States, Italy, Colombia, and China, and has mentored young adults through the NFA Young Artist Mentorship Program and the Posse Program.
Motivated to give back to communities in which she has lived, Catherine taught middle school band in El Paso, organized a concert series of accessible Latin and South American chamber music for Houston’s ‘at-risk’ youth, performed for nuns in Bogotà (Colombia), and played a tailored program for cancer patients and therapists at mental health clinics in Minnesota. She has offered her perspective on the Diversity and Inclusion Panel of the NFA, the ‘Greater Than’ Faculty Mental Health Panel (St. Olaf College), and the Houston Hispanic Forum (Hispanic Career and Education Day at the George Brown Convention Center). She has released two recordings: Transformation (independent) and Shelter From The Storm (Albany Records), and is working on her third CD due out in 2024. Her performances have been broadcast on WFMT, KUHF and MPR radio, and her research on optimal musical communication has been featured on the cover of The Flutist Quarterly and in The Flute View online magazine.
Born in Phoenix, Arizona, to Colombian and Mexican-American parents, Catherine grew up in the U.S.-Mexico border city of El Paso, Texas. She began playing the flute in the sixth grade public school band, and started private flute lessons at age 18. She earned performance degrees from Occidental College (BA), the Boccherini Music Institute in Italy (Honors Diploma), Queens College (MA), Yale University School of Music (MM), and Rice University (DMA). Her major teachers include Melissa Colgin-Abeln, Gary Woodward, Marzio Conti, Tara Helen O'Connor, Ransom Wilson and Leone Buyse.
Catherine plays on a Lillian Burkart Elite Flute with a Mancke or Salvatore Faulisi Headjoint, a Trevor James alto flute, and a Burkart XXV Piccolo.
A lover of travel, languages, and science fiction, she currently resides in Minnesota with her husband and their dog.
For more information, please visit www.catherineramirez.com.