Cathy Basrak

United States

A native of the Chicago area, Cathy Basrak earned her bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in spring 2000. Her teachers include Joseph de Pasquale, principal viola of the BSO from 1947 to 1964, and Michael Tree of the Guarneri String Quartet. She has participated in the Marlboro Music Festival, Banff Centre for the Arts, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. In addition, she has performed with the Brandenburg Ensemble and Boston’s Metamorphosen Ensemble and appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago, Detroit, and Bavarian Radio symphony orchestras, and Boston Pops with John Williams. Basrak has won several awards, including Grand Prize in the Seventeen Magazine/General Motors National Concerto Competition, First Prize in the William E. Primrose Memorial Scholarship Competition, First Prize in the Irving M. Klein International String Competition, and Second Prize in the 46th International Music Competition of the ARD in Munich. Basrak teaches at the Boston Conservatory and Boston University and also coaches chamber ensembles at New England Conservatory.