The Great Kat Rolls Over Beethoven, Paganini, and Bach

by Staff.

In November of 1982, violinist Katherine Thomas debuted at the Carnegie Recital Hall with performances of Pablo de Saraste's "Carmen Fantasy" and "Liebesfreud" by Fritz Kriesler. Then in her early 20s, Thomas was a recent Juilliard grad and one of three 1982 Artist International competition winners for violin. In his review of Thomas's debut, NY Times critic Edward Rothstein considered her Saraste overstated and her Kreisler "too furiously played". Little did Rothstein know. Within a few years of her Carnegie Hall appearance, Thomas would take overstatement and fury to a new level when she added the electric guitar to her instrument arsenal, traded the recital hall gown for dominatrix leather, and gave birth to the neo-classical guitar-shredding persona, The Great Kat. Now in her mid-40s, the leather-clad guitar goddess and self-proclaimed Beethoven of the 21st century is about to unleash a new DVD featuring Paganini's "Caprice 24", Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Flight of the Bumble Bee", and "Brandenburg Concerto #3" by Bach. Video clips from the upcoming title are available on The Great Kat's website.

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