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The Great Kat Biography

-"8 Of The World's Fastest Shredders" - Gibson Lifestyle

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, "The 100 Wildest Guitar Heroes" by Classic Rock Magazine and "8 Of The World's Fastest Shredders" by Gibson Lifestyle.

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 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. "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.

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
Named "8 OF THE WORLD'S FASTEST SHREDDERS" - Gibson Lifestyle
ARTICLES, COVER STORIES, INTERVIEWS, VIDEOS and REVIEWS in: Rolling Stone Magazine (Italy), Financial Times (England), Blender.com Videos, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Star Tribune, Providence Journal, Seattle Times, NewsBlaze, Critical Women On Film Journal - The Women Film Critics Circle, San Antonio Express-News, Wired@Home.com, Yahoo! Buzz, Spin Magazine, Guitar One Magazine, People Magazine, New York Times, Heavy Metal Examiner, 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: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Online, 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

PRESS REVIEWS:

-"On the new DVD 'Beethoven's Guitar Shred', The Great Kat (a.k.a. Katherine Thomas) buzzes through 'Flight of the Bumblebee' at a mind-numbing 300 beats per minute. The classically trained musician claims to be one of planet's fastest guitar players, and who can argue?" - Lou Carlozo, Chicago Tribune
-"She possesses a prodigious talent, a virtuosic precision that allows her to play classical transcriptions on her guitar at upwards of 300 beats per minute. The Great Kat is one of those outsize performing personas as well as a masterful musician." - Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

-"Beethoven’s music performed by The Great Kat, a Juilliard-trained musician and one of the fastest 'shredders' of all time. Beethoven’s Fifth that is played with absurd velocity on an electric guitar. Beethoven can never have found himself in odder company than that of The Great Kat, and I amused myself thinking what he would have made of it all. I like to imagine one of his furious temper tantrums. But Mozart, a more ribald soul, would surely have found it hilarious. " - Peter Aspden, Financial Times

-"The Great Kat, who you may know as one of the fastest, fiercest heavy metal guitar shredders in the universe. I popped it in, and was delighted to find some of the greatest heavy metal videos ever made. This lady is hard core. She plays Beethoven's symphonies the way he always intended: incredibly fast and covered in blood." - Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Online

-"Move over, Jamie Foxx. The Soloist's insanely genius Juilliard apprentice is up against some formidable competition, and she's female. The Great Kat is basically showing the male competition how it's done, better and faster. Her raging, fast forward in real time Beethoven's Guitar Shred is like nothing that has come before. A mix 'n match medley of Beethoven, Bach, Abu Ghraib and Islamic insurgency. A classical/metal lovers everywhere wakeup call, these mini-musicals for guitar, violin and machete could very well blow your mind." - Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
-"Blood + Beethoven + metal = Great Kat. Uber-fast metal guitar wiz. She performed Beethoven tunes at top volume covered in blood and shrouded in flames." - Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune

-"More female chauvinist than feminist, Kat is best described as a 21st century Janis Joplin who breaks out of the conventionally assigned gender role limitations of acceptable female behavior, creatively and otherwise, to give the historically male dominated music scene a woman's energy and edge." - Prairie Miller, Critical Women On Film Journal - The Women Film Critics Circle

-"The Great Kat should be feared because her hyper-blasting, neo-classical, whirlwind guitar playing is so precise and intense. This woman really is a better guitarist than most men ever were. Beethoven’s Guitar Shred DVD is a portable clinic of seemingly inhuman guitar antics. Dominating torture, blood, fire, anti-terrorist sentiments – all wrapped in an oddly tasteful, hyper-classical visual feast." - Mark Morton, Heavy Metal Examiner

-"Thrill again to the electrifying playing of The Great Kat in Beethoven's Guitar Shred." - Michael Janusonis, Providence Journal

-"Genius at work in this metal masterpiece. This Juilliard-trained violinist puts her intensely fast fingers to new use playing some of the fastest shredding you’re ever going to hear on both electric guitar and violin. Amazing version of 'Flight of the Bumblebee.'" - Jonathan Knell, Campus Circle
-"Watching, and more so listening to, Beethoven’s Guitar Shred is like the visual/audio equivalent of snorting a few lines of coke, drinking five cups of coffee, and pounding a bunch of energy drinks. The Great Kat is known as one of the fastest shredders of all time. I’ve always been a fan of Kat’s interpretation of classical music (the coupling of shred guitar, violins, etc. are phenomenal)." - Bryer Wharton, Slug Magazine

-"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 "TOP 10 FASTEST SHREDDERS OF ALL TIME" Award - Guitar One Magazine

-"'Girl power' is a gross understatement. The world's first shredding dominatrix." - Guitar One Magazine
-The Great Kat Named "50 FASTEST GUITARISTS OF ALL TIME" - Guitar World Magazine, July 2008

-"THE GREAT KAT SIGNATURE SONG 'The Flight of the Bumble Bee'" "Juilliard-trained virtuoso. Heavy leather dominatrix persona so over the top." - Guitar World Magazine, July 2008

-The Great Kat Named "THE 100 WILDEST GUITAR HEROES" - Sian Llewellyn, Editor
Classic Rock Magazine

-"The Great Kat - the world’s foremost female shredder. If you think composers like Antonio Vivaldi and Niccolo Paganini are just stuffy old white guys, wait until you see a leather-and-fishnet clad wild woman bump up the BPMs. You really need to see her videos in order to comprehend just how talented — and completely over-the-top — the Great Kat's persona is in person." - By Jonah Bayer, Gibson Lifestyle
-"She has technique galore -- playing incredibly fast (shredding). Her speed-demon take on classical music is fun to listen to. The driving rhythms at these speeds and amplification can be spectacular." - Andrew Druckenbrod, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Now's Classical Musings

-"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

-"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

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