Catherine Kontz: The Theatrical Voice of New Music
Catherine Kontz - Composer
The Theatrical Voice of New Music
The Theatrical Voice of New Music
In a world where the boundaries of classical composition continue to expand, Luxembourgish composer Catherine Kontz stands at the frontier, merging music with theatre, movement, and space in electrifying ways. Her journey into composition wasn't linear nor conventional, but this path has shaped her into one of the most imaginative minds in contemporary music.
The Journey to Composition
Catherine Kontz began her musical life at the piano. Yet, even from the start, a music career wasn't something she was planning for. She initially pursued business studies in Paris, but the city's structured academic demands left her uninspired. Longing for artistic fulfillment, she moved to London to return to her piano studies. There, a required composition class became the unexpected turning point in her life.
The class encouraged experimentation and exploration without borders, which deeply resonated with Kontz. It starkly contrasted her earlier composition attempts, where a teacher's red pencil critiques felt more like corrections than constructive guidance. "In the end, the piece was no longer mine," she recalls. But in London, the invitation to be avant-garde felt liberating. By age 21, she embraced composition with renewed seriousness and never looked back.
A Musical Style Like No Other
Kontz's style is as bold as it is thoughtful, heavily inspired by composers like Debussy, Cornelius Cardew, Mauricio Kagel, and John Cage. Cage, in particular, opened up a world of possibility, visual, theatrical, and entirely her music. Her affinity for Japanese theatre, nonlinear narratives, and her fondness for animals find their way into many of her works, which are often theatrical and provoke deep thought.
Her music speaks to the visual and spatial as much as the auditory, and she finds joy in working both solo and collaboratively. She thrives in theater settings, where music is one layer among many in storytelling. She is especially passionate about supporting women's voices in composition and strongly advocates for equity in the arts. "I want to see a world where male and female composers are treated equally and asked the same kind of questions," she says.
Artistry in Action
From the orchestral The Waves and Fruitmarket to the dramatic Neige and the immersive Driwwer Drënner Drop, Kontz's work spans mediums and geographies. Her 53-minute choral-orchestral piece Voix des Terres Rouges, commissioned as part of the European Capital of Culture program, demonstrates her ability to scale her intimate theatrical sensibilities to vast ensembles.
Her collaborations span an impressive roster: ensemble recherche, EXAUDI, Monica Germino, Lucilin, Cathy Krier, and many others. She's created innovative soundwalks in multiple languages, in collaboration with SL Grange such as Fleet Footing and Wou d'Uezlecht, marrying environment, sound, and story.
Academic and Creative Leadership
Kontz holds a Doctorate in Composition from Goldsmiths, where she explored Deleuzian theory, mime opera, the cinema of David Lynch, and the Japanese art of Kabuki. This mix shaped her ground-breaking music theatre work, MiE. She is currently a Professor of Composition at the Royal College of Music in London and serves as Artistic Director of the Rainy Days Contemporary Music Festival at the Philharmonie Luxembourg.
She was also an artist-in-residence in the Department of Engineering at King's College London, where she worked with Professor Zoran Cvetkovic to explore the intersection of audio technologies and human intelligence.
A Vision for the Future
Kontz dreams of creating a synchronized swimming production—"either the worst thing you've ever seen or amazing," she laughs. Her inventive mind rushes, brimming with ideas that challenge traditional performance boundaries.
She offers her students this piece of wisdom: "Do not compromise your ideas." While practicality may be necessary during the production stage, the creative process, she insists, must remain unfiltered and pure.
When asked about legacy, her response is grounded in humility and hope. While she would be honored for her music to be remembered and played, she focuses on the now, believing that music, like everything, will continue to evolve. Still, she hopes that an archive might allow future generations to discover who she was and how she contributed to the fabric of contemporary music.
Her advice to her younger self? "Be who you want to be because that's who you'll end up being if you want to be happy."
Languages, Colour, and Joy
A fluent English, French, Luxembourgish, and German speaker, Kontz is as multilingual as her artistic palette. She gravitates toward bright colors, bold clashes, and a bit of dissonance, always chasing a few beautiful moments along the way.
Catherine Kontz's music doesn't just entertain; it sparks conversation, invites introspection, and stretches the limits of what music can be. In doing so, she reminds us that creativity knows no boundaries, and neither should we.
Catherine She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Vox Feminarum Corp., a nonprofit organization dedicated to uplifting and celebrating the work of women composers in classical music.
