Saxon, Katherine

Katherine Saxon's music has been performed and commissioned by musicians and ensembles from Australia to France, including Ensemble Mångata and West Edge Opera. Her music reflects on of the humanity’s relationship with the natural world, as part of it, in conflict with it, and also the human imagination’s role in creating reality. Recent projects include Alba, a song cycle for trumpet and harp based on troubadour Giraut de Bornelh’s “Reis Glorios,” 0r161n for flute and electronic which interprets the opening of Darwin’s “Origin of Species” as binary code, and 452 Jamestown Place, a stand alone opera scene exploring the heartbreak of mental illness. Her music has been featured at the Open Space Festival, The Atlantic Music Festival, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, New Music On the Bayou, and the Aspen Music Festival. She was in the inaugural class for the COSI Opera Creation Lab, a 2015 Banff Musician in Residence, and a Composition Fellow at the Aspen Summer Music Festival and School in 2019. Dr. Saxon is director for the Santa Barbara Treble Clef Chorus, the Carpinteria Community Church Chancel Choir, and the Santa Barbara Community Early Music Ensemble. Dr. Saxon was born and raised in Santa Monica, California. She received her Ph.D. in Music from the University of California, Santa Barbara where she studied with Joel Feigin and Clarence Barlow. She also holds a BA from Williams College, and a Masters of Music from the University of Oregon where she studied with Robert Kyr and David Crumb. Dr. Saxon currently lives in Santa Barbara with her husband, two daughters, and cat.