Kate Westbrook (musician)
Encyclopedia
Kate Westbrook is an artist following the professions of painter and musician. Her musical work centres around her career as a vocalist, predominantly with her husband, British composer and bandleader Mike Westbrook
's bands. She also works extensively as librettist and doubles as instrumentalist (tenor horn and piccolo).
, Surrey
, England
and grew up in the U.S.A. and Canada
before going to Dartington Hall School (which later became Dartington College of Arts
) in Devon. From there she went to Bath Academy of Art at Corsham and then to Reading University. Later she lived and worked on the East and West coasts of America. After travelling in Mexico
she returned to England and took up a part-time teaching post at Leeds College of Art.
Kate Westbrook's musical career began in 1974 when she joined the Mike Westbrook Brass Band and gave up teaching to concentrate on the dual career of painter and musician. She has worked in theatre, radio, and TV. She and her husband now live in Devon, England.
, however her work centres around vocals both as singer and librettist.
Kate Westbrook's wide vocal range embraces jazz, music theatre (she sang the role of Anna in Bertolt Brecht's The Seven Deadly Sins with the London Symphony Orchestra
), contemporary music (pieces by Frederic Rzewski
, Philip Clark
), opera (Gioacchino Rossini
) and music hall. She has performed all over Europe
and as far afield as the far East and North America.
Her work as lyricist has encompassed everything from cabaret songs to opera
. In collaboration with her husband, Mike Westbrook, she has generated a whole series of jazz/cabarets and music-theatre pieces. She adapts and sings texts in several languages (English, German, French, Italian on a regular basis - several others when the occasion arises). Other than her own lyrics and music, her repertoire includes works by William Blake
, Bertolt Brecht
/Kurt Weill
, Cole Porter
, Friedrich Hollaender
, Federico García Lorca
, Paul Éluard
, Edward Lear
, Wilhelm Busch, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, The Beatles and many others.
Other musical collaborations include among others Phil Minton
, Lindsay Cooper
and The Orckestra
(Henry Cow
, the Mike Westbrook Brass Band
and Frankie Armstrong
).
) in Devon
, Bath Academy of Art at Corsham and Reading University.
The first one-man show of her paintings was held at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art
in California, in 1963. Kate Westbrook continues to exhibit her work in solo and group shows in Britain and abroad. Her work is in public and private collections.
Many recent musical Westbrook projects, such as Art Wolf and Turner In Uri, have been inspired by the visual arts.
Mike Westbrook
Michael John David 'Mike' Westbrook is an English jazz pianist, composer, and writer of orchestrated jazz pieces.-Early work:Mike Westbrook grew up in Torquay...
's bands. She also works extensively as librettist and doubles as instrumentalist (tenor horn and piccolo).
Biography
Kate Westbrook was born in GuildfordGuildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and grew up in the U.S.A. and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
before going to Dartington Hall School (which later became Dartington College of Arts
Dartington College of Arts
Dartington College of Arts was a specialist arts institution near Totnes, Devon, South West England, it specialized in post-dramatic theatre, music, choreography, Performance Writing and visual performance, focusing on a performative and multi-disciplinary approach to the arts. In addition to this,...
) in Devon. From there she went to Bath Academy of Art at Corsham and then to Reading University. Later she lived and worked on the East and West coasts of America. After travelling in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
she returned to England and took up a part-time teaching post at Leeds College of Art.
Kate Westbrook's musical career began in 1974 when she joined the Mike Westbrook Brass Band and gave up teaching to concentrate on the dual career of painter and musician. She has worked in theatre, radio, and TV. She and her husband now live in Devon, England.
Music
As an instrumentalist she plays tenor horn and piccoloPiccolo
The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
, however her work centres around vocals both as singer and librettist.
Kate Westbrook's wide vocal range embraces jazz, music theatre (she sang the role of Anna in Bertolt Brecht's The Seven Deadly Sins with the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
), contemporary music (pieces by Frederic Rzewski
Frederic Rzewski
Frederic Anthony Rzewski is an American composer and virtuoso pianist.- Biography :Rzewski began playing piano at age 5. He attended Phillips Academy, Harvard and Princeton, where his teachers included Randall Thompson, Roger Sessions, Walter Piston and Milton Babbitt...
, Philip Clark
Philip Clark
Philip Corriston Clark was an American rugby union player who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics.He was a member of the American rugby union team, which won the gold medal.-External links:*...
), opera (Gioacchino Rossini
Gioacchino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces...
) and music hall. She has performed all over Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and as far afield as the far East and North America.
Her work as lyricist has encompassed everything from cabaret songs to opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
. In collaboration with her husband, Mike Westbrook, she has generated a whole series of jazz/cabarets and music-theatre pieces. She adapts and sings texts in several languages (English, German, French, Italian on a regular basis - several others when the occasion arises). Other than her own lyrics and music, her repertoire includes works by William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
, Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
/Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
, Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
, Friedrich Hollaender
Friedrich Hollaender
Friedrich Hollaender was a German film composer.He was born in London, where his father, operetta composer Victor Hollaender, worked at the Barnum & Bailey Circus...
, Federico García Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
, Paul Éluard
Paul Éluard
Paul Éluard, born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel , was a French poet who was one of the founders of the surrealist movement.-Biography:...
, Edward Lear
Edward Lear
Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, author, and poet, renowned today primarily for his literary nonsense, in poetry and prose, and especially his limericks, a form that he popularised.-Biography:...
, Wilhelm Busch, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, The Beatles and many others.
Other musical collaborations include among others Phil Minton
Phil Minton
Phil Minton is a jazz/free-improvising vocalist and trumpeter.Minton is a highly dramatic baritone who tends to specialize in literary texts: he has sung lyrics by William Blake with Mike Westbrook's group, Daniil Kharms and Joseph Brodsky with Simon Nabatov, and extracts from James Joyce's...
, Lindsay Cooper
Lindsay Cooper
Lindsay Cooper is an English bassoon and oboe player, composer and political activist. Best known for her work with the band Henry Cow, she was also a member of Comus, National Health, News from Babel and David Thomas and the Pedestrians...
and The Orckestra
The Orckestra
The Orckestra were a 12-piece English avant-garde jazz and avant-rock ensemble formed in March 1977 with the merger of avant-rock group Henry Cow, the Mike Westbrook Brass Band and folk singer Frankie Armstrong...
(Henry Cow
Henry Cow
Henry Cow were an English avant-rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members...
, the Mike Westbrook Brass Band
Mike Westbrook
Michael John David 'Mike' Westbrook is an English jazz pianist, composer, and writer of orchestrated jazz pieces.-Early work:Mike Westbrook grew up in Torquay...
and Frankie Armstrong
Frankie Armstrong
Frankie Armstrong is a singer and voice teacher.She has worked as a singer in the folk scene and the women's movement and as a trainer in social and youth work...
).
Painting
Kate Westbrook studied fine art at Dartington Hall School (which later became Dartington College of ArtsDartington College of Arts
Dartington College of Arts was a specialist arts institution near Totnes, Devon, South West England, it specialized in post-dramatic theatre, music, choreography, Performance Writing and visual performance, focusing on a performative and multi-disciplinary approach to the arts. In addition to this,...
) in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, Bath Academy of Art at Corsham and Reading University.
The first one-man show of her paintings was held at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art
Santa Barbara Museum of Art
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art is an art museum located at 1130 State St. in downtown Santa Barbara, California.It was founded in 1941 and currently ranks amongst the top 10 regional art museums in the United States . It is home to both permanent and special collections, the former of which...
in California, in 1963. Kate Westbrook continues to exhibit her work in solo and group shows in Britain and abroad. Her work is in public and private collections.
Many recent musical Westbrook projects, such as Art Wolf and Turner In Uri, have been inspired by the visual arts.
Kate Westbrook
- The Nijinska Chamber (2006)
- Goodbye Peter Lorre (1991, 2005)
- Cuff Clout (2004)
with Mike Westbrook
- Fine 'n Yellow (2009)
- a l l s o r t s (2009)
- Waxeywork Show (2007)
- Art Wolf (2005) (2003)
- Westbrook Rossini (1986)
- Love For Sale (1985)
- The Cortège (1983)
Selected filmography
- Hotel Amigo (TV, music-theatre piece)
- Good Friday 1663(TV opera)
- Turner in Uri (documentary and concert)
External links
- Kate Westbrook,singer/songwriter Kate Westbrook's official site
- Kate Westbrook,Painter
- Discography