Catherine Carr

Dr. Catherine Carr studied music at Bath (B.A Hons), Sheffield (M Phil) and Durham (PhD) universities. Classically trained from an early age on several instruments (violin, guitar, clarinet and piano) Catherine is also a specialist in steel pan playing and teaching, and performs as both guitarist and pan player with Rafiki Jazz and her own group, Classic Steel.

Having absorbed a multitude of influences, she has a long music career, with a musical output and presence on the local and national world music scene spanning over 25 years. This has involved music in a diverse range of genres as an experienced teacher, director, arranger and performer. Her interest in the life and music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was initially sparked in the mid-1990’s whilst studying Bob Marley’s music and the history and development of Jamaican reggae. This interest led to extensive further research and analysis of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s music for a PhD, during which Catherine uncovered the manuscripts of his, until then ‘missing’, opera Thelma.