Elizabeth Kate is a Brooklyn-based cellist and vocalist—often both at once—whose work expands the contemporary classical repertoire by creating and commissioning new music for the vocalizing cellist. Her practice centers the body as instrument, blurring the lines between voice and cello, performer and composer. Through improvisation, vocalization, and composition, Elizabeth explores how sound moves through and around the body, guiding the listener’s attention in ways that challenge fixed perceptions of control and authorship. Her recent solo project, As One, is a compositional and performative inquiry into presence, resonance, and the dissolving of boundaries—between sound sources, identities, and traditions. By merging voice and cello, Elizabeth reimagines what it means to perform, to listen, and to be heard.
Elizabeth is also a founding member of the transatlantic ensemble AREPO, formed during her studies in Norway and now active between Oslo and New York City. The group’s unconventional instrumentation—accordion, cello, clarinet, and electric guitar—opens new possibilities for collaborative creation. Their upcoming album, Listening: Time by Ferdinand Schwarz, will be released in April 2025 on the experimental label Another Timbre. The recording was named one of Bandcamp’s Best Contemporary Classical Albums of March 2025.
Elizabeth has performed with the Munch Museum of Oslo, Eighth Blackbird, Cassandra Jenkins, Ensemble Lime, Rolf-Erik Nystrom, Håkon Thelin, Natsumi Osborn, Bang On A Can, and Yarn/Wire. Her recent solo set, Voice of Cello, has appeared at the 2024 DingDong? Festival in Oslo and the 2023 Ultima Festival of Contemporary Music. She holds a BM and BA from Oberlin College and Conservatory, and an MM from the Norwegian Academy of Music. Elizabeth performs on an 18th-century French cello by Andrea Castegnari, gifted by the Virtu Foundation for emerging artists.
Elizabeth is also a founding member of the transatlantic ensemble AREPO, formed during her studies in Norway and now active between Oslo and New York City. The group’s unconventional instrumentation—accordion, cello, clarinet, and electric guitar—opens new possibilities for collaborative creation. Their upcoming album, Listening: Time by Ferdinand Schwarz, will be released in April 2025 on the experimental label Another Timbre. The recording was named one of Bandcamp’s Best Contemporary Classical Albums of March 2025.
Elizabeth has performed with the Munch Museum of Oslo, Eighth Blackbird, Cassandra Jenkins, Ensemble Lime, Rolf-Erik Nystrom, Håkon Thelin, Natsumi Osborn, Bang On A Can, and Yarn/Wire. Her recent solo set, Voice of Cello, has appeared at the 2024 DingDong? Festival in Oslo and the 2023 Ultima Festival of Contemporary Music. She holds a BM and BA from Oberlin College and Conservatory, and an MM from the Norwegian Academy of Music. Elizabeth performs on an 18th-century French cello by Andrea Castegnari, gifted by the Virtu Foundation for emerging artists.