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Cathy Berberian | |
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![]() Cathy Berberian in 1972 | |
Born | Catherine Anahid Berberian July 4, 1925 Attleboro, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Died | March 6, 1983 Rome, Italy | (aged 57)
Education | |
Occupation | Operatic mezzo-soprano |
Spouse | |
Children | 1 |
Catherine Anahid Berberian (July 4, 1925 – March 6, 1983) was an American mezzo-soprano[1] and composer based in Italy. She worked closely with many contemporary avant-garde music composers, including Luciano Berio, Bruno Maderna, John Cage, Henri Pousseur, Sylvano Bussotti, Darius Milhaud, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, and Igor Stravinsky. She also interpreted works by Claudio Monteverdi, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Kurt Weill, Philipp zu Eulenburg and others. As a recital curator, she presented several vocal genres in a classical context, including arrangements of songs by The Beatles by Louis Andriessen as well as folk songs from several countries and cultures. As a composer, she wrote Stripsody (1966), in which she exploits her vocal technique using comic book sounds (onomatopoeia), and Morsicat(h)y (1969), a composition for the keyboard (with the right hand only) based on Morse code.