photo by Ashley Mitchell

Throughout her career, Catherine has established herself as a versatile, dynamic and reliable performer and teacher.  During more than eighteen years at the harp, she has performed with orchestras around the country and abroad, recorded for soundtracks and folk singers, premiered new works for harp and chamber ensemble, and played for wedding ceremonies from the 9th hole of a Florida golf course to a remote beach on the Oregon Coast. 

Catherine Barrett has held Principal Harp positions with the Sarasota Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic, Singapore and Yucatan Symphonies, and was Assistant Principal Harp with the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra in Brazil.  She currently serves as a substitute harpist for the Seattle, Tacoma and Oregon Symphonies as well as the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Catherine played in the Broadway bound production of “A Christmas Story: the Musical!” at the 5th Avenue Theatre, and will perform in their production of “Oklahoma!” this season.  Most recently, Catherine was the harp soloist for the Island Shangri-La hotel in Hong Kong, where she also taught many private students through Hong Kong Harp Services.  She is also a harp instructor at the Rocky Mountain Springs Harp Program, a summer institute in Colorado. 

Ms. Barrett received degrees in harp performance from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and Rice University, where she was a student of Alice Chalifoux, Yolanda Kondonassis and Paula Page. Catherine also attended the Interlochen Arts Academy, where she studied with Joan Raeburn-Holland. Prior to this, she was a student of Ann Hobson-Pilot and Marjorie Hartzell.