The Great Kat was born Katherine Thomas in Swindon, England (on a U.S. Air Force Base Military Hospital) and moved to the U.S at the age of 3. After listening to Beethoven since birth, The Great Kat realized that her mission was to become a composer and musical revolutionary. Kat began Classical piano studies at 7. At the age of 9, she began Classical violin studies in New York.
At the age of 15, The Great Kat won a Full Scholarship to attend the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City as a Violin Student. The Great Kat became the Concertmaster of the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra and won the "Robert Hufstader Scholarship" in Composition and Theory at Juilliard. The Great Kat graduated with Honors from The Juilliard School and began performing, first as a Classical violin soloist at Carnegie Recital Hall as winner of the exclusive "Artists International Competition" and then soloing extensively in Mexico, the U.S. and Europe.
After touring the world, The Great Kat realized that Classical music was dead, so she began updating Classical Music with Speed Metal and transcribed intricate violin solos to the guitar. Kat developed a new genre of music: “SHRED/CLASSICAL” Music -- Fast, Furious, and Virtuosic.
The Great Kat Shred Guitar Virtuoso is the only musician taking note-for-note authentic Classical Music scores (from Vivaldi, Beethoven, Bach, Wagner, Liszt, Paganini, Sarasate, Bazzini, Rossini and more) and entering the original Classical Music scores into music-notation software. The Great Kat then edits, arranges, and orchestrates the entire scores with Shred Guitar virtuosity and mixing it with Speed Metal band and Classical orchestra. The Great Kat’s music is known worldwide for its phenomenal speeds, complicated Classical motives, counterpoint layering, guitar riffs, maniacal screams, heavy rhythms and thrashing sounds. Known as the “High Priestess of Guitar Shred,” The Great Kat was recently awarded the "50 Fastest Guitarists Of All Time," by Guitar World Magazine, "Top 10 Fastest Shredders Of All Time" by Guitar One Magazine, "The 100 Wildest Guitar Heroes" by Classic Rock Magazine, "12 Greatest Female Electric Guitarists" by Elle Magazine and "8 Of The World's Fastest Shredders" by Gibson Lifestyle.
The Great Kat's NEO-CLASSICAL MUSIC is continuing to spread to all aspects of entertainment with the FIRST Shred/Classical music ever heard in a Hollywood Movie, The Great Kat’s Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody #2,” featured in the comedy film “COMING ATTRACTIONS”. The Great Kat recently captivated audiences and performed on NBC TV's “WEEKEND TODAY IN NY” as The “World's Fastest Female Guitarist” on the virtuoso showpieces “The Flight Of The Bumble-Bee” and Liszt's “Hungarian Rhapsody #2”. The Great Kat has also appeared on TV on Entertainment Tonight, Good Day New York, Live with Regis, The Joan Rivers Show, The Maury Povich Show and has been featured on Sirius XM Liquid Metal, CNN’s Measure To Measure, National Public Radio and more. “BLENDER.COM VIDEOS” is now featuring the entire music video of The Great Kat's “The Flight Of The Bumble-Bee”.
The Great Kat's new "BEETHOVEN'S GUITAR SHRED" DVD features Shred/Classical Music Videos of the famous "The Flight Of The Bumble-Bee" (performed by Kat at 300 BPM!), Paganini's insanely technical "Caprice #24" (for guitar and violin), Beethoven's "5th Symphony" and Bach's Baroque Masterpiece "Brandenburg Concerto #3" for 6 Shred Guitars, 3 Violins, Chamber Orchestra and Metal band, plus original outrageously theatrical SPEED METAL Wagnerian Mini-Operas. The Great Kat's "Beethoven's Guitar Shred" DVD is now featured on LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON ONLINE and MEVIO MUSIC.
Source : http://www.greatkat.com/05/index05.html
