Katie Down
Sound / Sound Art / Original Music /Visual Art
Katie Down is a performer, composer, sound artist/designer and multi-instrumentalist.
Originally a classically-trained flutist, Katie's abiding interests are in the realms of sound art and Deep Listening as a way into musicking and artistic inquiry.
Additional instruments include piano, ukulele, glass instruments, steel cello, various types of percussion including frame drums, doumbek, djembe, and other hand drums and voice.
Katie's sound designs for theatre and dance have garnered her Drama Desk nominations and the award for best sound design from The Connecticut Critic's Circle.
Kaite is the recipient of several grants, residencies, and commissions including the Mid-Atlantic fund, The Jerome Foundation, BAM, Watermill Artist Residencies, Chashama, Music Omi, and Meet the Composer.
Katie is a member of several performing ensembles including NewBorn Trio, a glass percussion ensemble that was recently commissioned by BAM to create a sound-score for the play "Sleep" based on a short story by Murakami; Sofie Salonika, a hybrid Sephardic music ensemble with an emphasis on new arrangements and improvisation; and The Ukuladies!, an all-female, bawdy ukulele band equipped with tap dancer and too many instruments and props to name.
Katie's work in the world of sound and music is inspired by the ideas and practices found in Deep Listening, Acoustic Ecology, free improvisation, a compassionate discourse of ideas, and all the musical drones of the world.
Katie is an associate professor of Music Therapy at SUNY, New Paltz, and encourages her students to see their work in the world as an agent for positive change by connecting to each other through music and sound.