Catherine Louise Geach, violin
Born in England, Catherine Louise Geach began the study of the Violin and Classical Ballet at the age of 4, giving her first concert a year later. She studied with Bernard Blay, then Caroline Lamont, until going to Conservatory. Performing as a Soloist with Chamber Music Ensembles and with Symphony Orchestras, her first masterclass was at the age of 5 with Professor David Takeno (Guildhall) and then from the age of 8 to 15, with Professor Felix Andrievski (Yehudi Menuhin School & Royal College of Music). She performed Solo (Elgar) at the Purcell Room, London, at the age of 16.
She won a Scholarship to study Violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London when she was 15, with Singing and Piano as her second studies. She studied Violin with Professors Maurice Hasson, Xue Wei and had Masterclasses with Professor Zakhar Brohn, (Moscow Conservatory), where she studied and then later performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto. She perfected her Singing Studies in Italy, as a Coloratura (Light Soprano) specializing in Early Music.
In 1990 at the age of 18, she went to Cambodia during the Civil War, to compile a report on the Violation of Human Rights by the Khmer Rouge, to show the International Community that the Khmer Rouge should not be seated at the United Nations. She was allowed by the Cambodian Government to enter areas affected by War to document the devastation and suffering of the civilian population. For her documentation, "The Aid and War Report", she was awarded the Bernard Brett Peace Bequest, London. This document resides in the online National Archives of the "Cambodian Documentation Centre for the Cambodian Genocide." Catherine was also requested by the Cambodian Ministry of Culture, to give Concerts in Cambodia and to Teach Violin at the Royal University of Fine Arts, Music Faculty in Phnom Penh, following the deaths of 90% of Cambodian Artists during the Khmer Rouge genocide.
Graduating from the Royal Academy of Music in 1991, she returned to Cambodia in the same year and began teaching Violin at the University of Fine Arts. Prior to her departure, she also studied Khmer language at the School of Oriental and African Studies, (SOAS, University of London).
In 1994, during the Civil War, she founded and built the Kampot Traditional Music School for Orphaned and Disabled Children - Khmer Cultural Development Institute, in Kampot Province, Southwestern Cambodia, with the Vision and Mission of Reviving and Preserving Traditional Cambodian Music and Culture for future generations of Cambodians, post-Khmer Rouge genocide, whilst caring for the most vulnerable of Children. She was director of the School for over 10 years, and, as its Founder, she continues to help raise funds and assist her Cambodian colleagues with both Cultural and Childcare Programs. All her activities for the School, have been and are given freely.
From 1996-1998, she founded a Music, Dance and Art Therapy Program at the Mesa Selimovic' primary School at the end of the war, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, for Children who were suffering from severe PTSD. The program then became part of the School curriculum and was continued by dedicated Bosnian Staff.
She has translated and edited a Book on Cambodian Musical Instruments for UNESCO, published several articles about the Cambodian War and Genocide, in the literary magazine, "The Tablet". Her School in Cambodia was awarded the UNESCO World Decade of Cultural Development, (Paris, 1995) and Catherine, the Raoul Wallenberg Humanitarian Award, (New York, 1999). She has given lectures for UNESCO, (Stockholm, Sweden) and at Somerville College, Oxford University, on the "Child's Right to Culture" and the "Healing Power of Music".
Catherine performs both as a professional Concert Violinist and Soprano and Recording Artist, all over the world. She also played for the late Pope John Paul II at Saint Peters, at the Vatican. She has performed as a Cambodian Ballet Dancer (Apsara) in the Theatre Bastille, Theatre de l'Opera, Paris when on Concert tour with her Cambodian Children (1996). She both sung as Soloist for the Opera "The Fairy Queen" and choreographed and danced for the Opera production at Amatrice, Italy.
Her Solo Album, "A Wish for Love for the World", BAM Records, Switzerland, (Bach Solo Violin Sonatas & Partitas and Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Sacred Sung Works), was released in December 2021.
She was featured Solo Artist, (Violin & Soprano) for The Grey II-III Album (2021), Love Conquers All Album (2022), The MASS Album and Embracing Sorrow Album (2022-23), all by renowned American Composer, Stephen L. Melillo. Catherine has volunteered often with the Ukrainian Diaspora of Rome, Italy, and the Music that Stephen Melillo and Catherine have done together in the Album, "Embracing Sorrow", reflects this profound journey into the understanding of the nature of War and Human Suffering and Transcendence.
Catherine has been the subject of a BBC documentary, ABC Australian Broadcasting documentary, she has been interviewed for BBC radio, South African radio, Voice of America (in Khmer language) and was the subject of the Sunday Telegraph magazine central article (1995) and the Reader's Digest, "Music of Hope", (1999), the latter translated into 16 languages and 11 million copies. More recently she has been interviewed in Khmer language for Cambodian radio.
Audition to Play in New York City
Audition to Play in New York City