Kat Bio

HOME PAGE

KAT STORE

DVD

MUSIC

HOT PHOTOS

KAT NEWS

GUESTBOOK

ARTICLES

RADIO

KAT BIO

CLASSICAL COMPOSERS

REVIEW COPIES

LINKS

CONTACT KAT

The Great Kat Biography


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 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 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 and "The 100 Wildest Guitar Heroes" by Classic Rock Magazine

The Great Kat's SHRED/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 on Jason Bunch’s new 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.

"BLENDER.COM VIDEOS" is now featuring the entire music video of The Great Kat's "The Flight Of The Bumble-Bee". The NEW upcoming Great Kat Shred DVD and CD will feature "The Flight Of The Bumble-Bee" (performed by Kat at 300 BPM!), Paganini's insanely technical "Caprice #24" and Bach's famous Baroque Masterpiece "Brandenburg Concerto #3" for 6 Shred Guitars, 3 Violins, Chamber Orchestra and Metal band-- OUT SOON!

The Great Kat is bringing Shred/Classical Music to the entire world through the use of LIVE and MIDI instruments, computer technology and the Internet on The Great Kat Guitar Shredder Web Site at: http://www.greatkat.com .

SHRED/CLASSICAL MUSIC:
Shred Guitar/Symphonic Versions of Beethoven, Wagner, Vivaldi, Paganini, Bach, Rossini, Sarasate, Liszt, Bazzini, Chopin and MORE CLASSICAL GENIUSES! Taking Classical MUSIC SOARING into the 21st Century with SHREDDING Guitars, RAW, VICIOUS metal arrangements, BLISTERING violin virtuosity, INSANE TEMPOS, OUTRAGEOUS Imagery, HIGH-SPEED Thrashing, and the One Of A Kind Personality, Leader, and GENIUS that we all know as "THE GREAT KAT"!!!!
The Great Kat Awards, Accolades, Press, TV Shows and Movies:

Full Scholarship Student of the Juilliard School for Violin
Graduated with honors from Juilliard
Winner of the Robert Hufstader Award for Composition and Theory at Juilliard
Concertmaster of the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra
Winner of the Artists International Competition on Violin
Carnegie Recital Hall Debut on Solo Violin
Named the "50 FASTEST GUITARISTS OF ALL TIME" - Guitar World Magazine
Named the "TOP TEN FASTEST SHREDDERS OF ALL TIME" - Guitar One Magazine
Named "THE 100 WILDEST GUITAR HEROES" - Classic Rock Magazine
ARTICLES, COVER STORIES, INTERVIEWS, VIDEOS and REVIEWS in: Rolling Stone Magazine (Italy), Blender.com Videos, Yahoo! Buzz, Spin Magazine, Guitar One Magazine, People Magazine, New York Times, Q Magazine, Guitar World, Entertainment Weekly, Guitar Player, NY Post, Washington Post, Suite101.com's Modern Classical Musicians, Guitar Buyer Magazine, Excite.com, Netflix.com, Hollywood FYI, Billboard, Classic Rock Magazine, The Statesman, Guitar Player Brazil and much more
RADIO SHOWS: CNN's Measure To Measure, The Morning Edge with Buck and Dex-KTEG, Tommy & Rumble Show-FM99 WNOR, National Public Radio, Mac Edition Radio
TV SHOWS: Weekend Today In NY, Entertainment Tonight TV Show, The Joan Rivers Show, The Maury Povich Show, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee
MOVIES: "Coming Attractions" Movie

THE GREAT KAT PRESS QUOTES:

-"One is surprised to discover that there exists a human that fast, which is a furious woman. She is called The Great Kat. With her, the themes of Beethoven become a projectile." - Filippo Casaccia, Rolling Stone Magazine (Italy)

-"The Great Kat can outplay just about every guitarist on the planet. She can zoom up and down a fretboard faster than a hungry cheetah on steroids. Her fretboard speed is awesome."- Michael Molenda, Guitar Player Magazine

-The Great Kat Named "50 FASTEST GUITARISTS OF ALL TIME" - Guitar World Magazine, July 2008

-The Great Kat Named "THE 100 WILDEST GUITAR HEROES" - Sian Llewellyn, Editor
Classic Rock Magazine
-The Great Kat Wins Guitar One Magazine’s "TOP 10 FASTEST SHREDDERS OF ALL TIME" Award - Chris O'Byrne, Guitar One Magazine

-"Prepare to be dazzled by guitar and violin pyrotechnics that will blister your fingers (and you aren't even playing!)" - Netflix

-"The Great Kat is a force of nature, a performer of such dramatic histrionics and extreme virtuosity that she leaves audiences in awe." - Tower Records

-"Played hot enough to melt the plastic plants on a public access TV stage." - Blender.com Videos
-"In the matter of virtuosity, the speed metal guitarist, The Great Kat, leaves you stunned. The guitarist makes an impression with her dominance of speed techniques." - Henrique Inglez de Souza, Guitar Player Magazine Brazil

-"The Great Kat's chops are impressive – the speed with which she spits out scales on both electric guitar and violin is astounding, especially when accompanied, as it is on the DVD’s six videos, by her snarling, wild-eyed metal posturing and head-banging." - Patrick Enright, The News Tribune
-SPIN MAGAZINE DECLARES THE GREAT KAT "THE SPEEDIEST, SCARIEST FEMALE SHREDDER OF ALL TIME" - Caryn Ganz, Spin Magazine

"The Great Kat is one of the fastest guitarists in the world. The music is fast paced, full of adrenaline and breathes contemporary life into the crumbling legacies of these classical composers."- David Iversen, OneMicrophone.com

-"This one-of-a-kind musician knows excitement." John Lorinc, CNN Radio's "Measure To Measure"
-"The more you know about The Great Kat, the more she seems like a walking, talking unifying theory of women and rock guitar." - David Segal, The Washington Post

-"The Great Kat can totally shred. In fact, she's so scary fast on guitar and violin, that once you retrieve your ego from the gutter, you almost have to laugh." - Michael Molenda, Guitar Player Magazine

-"Inspired by the events of Sept. 11, Kat renders some of music's most famous, aggressive, battle-inspired pieces in shredding-speed metal arrangements that hiss and spit." - Dan Aquilante, NY Post

-"The wave of the future might well be heavy-metal Beethoven by way of Juilliard." - John Rockwell, The New York Times

-"Kat's hyper-driven humor and aggressive presence may be exactly what is needed to set straight the basics of Beethoven and Bach." Marilyn A. Gillen, Billboard Magazine

-"Her music isn't heard; it's felt. Loud and constant, it cuts through the listener's body like a blunt knife." Farhan Memon, The New York Post

-The Great Kat, Juilliard prodigy-turned-caterwauling speed-metal guitarist, may be abrasive, but judging from this disc, she's never boring. A-" Bob Strauss, Entertainment Weekly

"Great Kat is a virtuoso. She creates the style 'Shred Classical'. This style is original and complex, it combines the power of the guitar and the violin with 'Metal' speed." Alban Oujagir, Musicspot.fr

-"Get ready for a jolt!" -Martin Goldsmith, National Public Radio