Kathleen Dineen

Kathleen Dineen

kate

is the founding director of White Raven, an ensemble whose repertoire reflects her special interests in medieval and renaissance music, as well as an interest in Irish traditional music. Kathleen began her early childhood singing traditional Irish songs in her native County Cork, Ireland. Born into a gaelic speaking family, singing was like second nature to her. These early musical experiences played a huge role in nurturing her gift of singing.

She read music at University College Cork (UCC), and, while in Ireland, performed regularly with harpsichordists Malcolm Proud and Christopher Stembridge . She was soloist in the premiere of works by the OUP composer, Gerald Barry, and she toured to all the major festivals in Europe with the Clerkes of Oxenford, London.

An Arts Council of Ireland Award took her to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Switzerland where she studied voice with Richard Levitt and Dominique Vellard. She now lives in Basel and, in addition to her performing career, she teaches voice and medieval performance at the SCB. She performed with some of Europe`s leading early music groups including Sequentia and Ferrara Ensemble, with whom she has made numerous recordings.
Recents highlights have included a project on the 15th century composer, Oswald Von Wolkenstein with countertenor Andreas Scholl which has toured extensively including London`s Wigmore Hall and Barbican. It also involved the recent release of an album entitled “songs of myself” on the Harmonia Mundi label..

Kathleen also teaches privately and gives workshops at major festivals and musical centers such as CEMPR at Birmingham University, Stimmen Festival Lörrach and Klangwelt Toggenburg sharing her unique approach to singing and harmony improvisation.