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Catherine Weinfield-Zell

Catherine Weinfield-Zell
Oboe
 

Biography

Described as an “arresting” (Boston Globe) and “strikingly beautiful” (Miami Herald) musician, Catherine Weinfield-Zell is a busy performer and teacher in the New England area and beyond. Having held positions with the both the Hawaii Symphony and the Florida Grand Opera, she has also performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera, the San Diego and Charleston Symphonies, the Portland Symphony, the Naples Philharmonic, the new-music ensembles Alarm Will Sound and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Boston Philharmonic, the Boston Lyric and Odyssey Opera Companies, the Boston Festival Orchestra, and Emmanuel Music. Additionally, she has also performed at the Strings, Opera North, Lake George, Opera in the Ozarks, Breckenridge, Spoleto FestivalUSA, Aspen, Sitka, Alaska, Kent/Blossom, and Britten-Pears Aldeburgh World Orchestra summer music festivals. As a dedicated teacher, Ms. Weinfield-Zell isc urrently on faculty at Longy Conservatory, Northeastern University, Phillips Exeter Academy, and Bridgewater State University, and formerly held positions at the University of New Hampshire, Williams College and Brookline Music School. She is also the also the co-founder with her husband, percussionist Michael Weinfield-Zell, of Music at the Substation, a chamber music series that performed regularly at the Turtle Swamp Brewery in Boston during the 2018-2020 seasons, as well as presented a full season of virtual concerts during the Corvid-19 pandemic. Ms. Weinfield-Zell’s principal teachers include Elaine Douvas at Mannes College of Music in New York City, John Mack and Frank Rosenwein at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and Ray Still at Northwestern University.

Teaching Philosophy

As a teacher, I believe the most important thing I can do is inspire students to cultivate their own creativity, imagination, and ingenuity to rise to the next level in their artistic journey. I believe in dedication and hard work as the unspoken cornerstones of accomplishment, but equally, I also believe that learning how to form one’s own opinions about one’s own art, and how to develop unique and ingenious ways to express that, is just as important. As a teacher, I hope to guide and inspire students to use their own original set of abilities and ideas, kindle or rekindle a deep love for their craft and artistry, and oversee the synthesis of these elements in order to help create a deeply feeling and capable artist.