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Musical Director: Dr Catherine Parsonage Catherine studied Music at the University of York, where she conducted ensembles including the University Big Band and student Concert Band and Orchestra. She also performed in many groups as a clarinettist, saxophonist and recorder player. Upon graduating in 1997 she was awarded the John Paynter Prize in recognition of her contribution to the Music Department. Catherine then worked as music teacher in secondary schools in Newcastle and London and obtained the Postgraduate Certificate in Education. During this time, she also worked and performed with the National Youth Music Theatre and was a founder member of Payback, one of London’s leading function bands. Catherine is Head of the Centre for Jazz Studies UK at Leeds College of Music, where she teaches in the areas of critical musicology, popular music and jazz on undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Catherine has a Ph.D. from City University, London, and her book "The Evolution of Jazz in Britain 1880-1935" was published by Ashgate in 2005. Her work has also been published in recognised journals, (articles in British Postgraduate Musicology Online and Popular Music can be accessed online) and has been presented at national and international conferences. She has been awarded a prestigious Edison Fellowship at the British Library in 2006-7 to study recordings of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Catherine is the member of the editorial boards of journals The Source: Challenging Jazz Criticism (LCM), Jazz Perspectives (Routledge) and Studies in Musical Theatre (Interim Publications). She is a member of the Executive Committees of the Jazz Research Network and Jazz Education Advisory Panel, both run by Jazz Services, and the British Association of Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles. Catherine is active as an conductor and instrumentalist in both classical and popular styles . She is currently Musical Director of Dr Jazz and the Cheshire Cats Big Band and the North Cheshire Concert Band, and principal guest conductor of the West Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra. Catherine has participated in conducting masterclasses with George Hurst, Neil Thomson, Peter Seymour, Elgar Howarth and Guy Woolfenden and reached the final of the NAYO British Reserve Insurance Conducting Competition. Other recent conducting work includes assistant musical director for productions of Dido and Aeneas performed in the Lowry, Manchester, and the opera Bandanna (Daron Hagen/Paul Muldoon) at the Parr Hall, Warrington. |
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