Kate Westbrook (born 18 September 1939) is an English painter and musician. Her musical work centres on her career as a vocalist, predominantly with the bands of her husband, British composer and bandleader Mike Westbrook. She also works extensively as librettist and doubles as instrumentalist (tenor horn and piccolo).
Biography
Kate Westbrook (nee Bernard) was born in Guildford, Surrey, England, and grew up in the U.S. and Canada, before going to Dartington Hall School (which later became
Dartington College of Arts
Dartington College of Arts was a specialist arts college located at Dartington Hall in the south-west of England, offering courses at degree and postgraduate level together with an arts research programme. It existed for a period of almost 50 ...
) in Devon, England. From there she went to
Bath Academy of Art
Bath School of Art and Design is an art college in Bath, England, now known separately as Bath School of Art and Bath School of Design. It forms part of the Bath Spa University whose main campus is located a few miles from the City at Newton P ...
at
Corsham
Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south-eastern edge of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 national route, southwest of Swindon, southeast of Bristol, northeast of Bath and southwest of ...
and then to
Reading University
The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...
. Later she lived and worked on the East and West coasts of America. After travelling in Mexico she returned to England and took up a part-time teaching post at
Leeds College of Art
Leeds Arts University is a specialist arts further and higher education institution, based in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a main campus opposite the University of Leeds.
History
It was founded in 1846 as the Leeds Scho ...
. Westbrook's musical career began in 1974, when she joined the Mike Westbrook Brass Band, and gave up teaching to concentrate on the dual career of painter and musician. She has worked in theatre, radio, and television.
Music
As an instrumentalist she plays
tenor horn
The tenor horn (British English; alto horn in American English, Althorn in Germany; occasionally referred to as E horn) is a brass instrument in the saxhorn family and is usually pitched in E. It has a bore that is mostly conical, like the flug ...
and piccolo, however her work centres on vocals both as singer and
librettist
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...
. Westbrook's wide vocal range embraces jazz, music theatre (she sang the role of Anna in Bertolt Brecht's ''
The Seven Deadly Sins The seven deadly sins is a classification of vices used in Christian teachings.
Seven deadly sins may also refer to:
Art
* ''The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things'', a 1485 painting by Hieronymus Bosch
* '' The Seven Deadly Sins of Moder ...
'' with the
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orc ...
), contemporary music (pieces by
Frederic Rzewski
Frederic Anthony Rzewski ( ; April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) was an American composer and pianist, considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time. His major compositions, which often incorporate social an ...
, Philip Clark), opera (
Gioacchino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards ...
) and music hall. She has performed all over Europe and as far afield as the Far East and North America. Her work as lyricist has encompassed everything from cabaret songs to
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
. In collaboration with her husband, Mike Westbrook, she has generated a whole series of jazz/cabarets and music-theatre pieces. She adapts and sings texts in several languages (English, German, French, Italian on a regular basis - several others when the occasion arises). Other than her own lyrics and music, her repertoire includes works by
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
Friedrich Hollaender
Friedrich Hollaender (in exile also Frederick Hollander; 18 October 189618 January 1976) was a German film composer and author.
Life and career
He was born in London to a Jewish family, where his father, operetta composer Victor Hollaender, w ...
,
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...
,
Paul Éluard
Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement.
In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...
Wilhelm Busch
Heinrich Christian Wilhelm Busch (14 April 1832 – 9 January 1908) was a German humorist, poet, illustrator, and painter. He published wildly innovative illustrated tales that remain influential to this day.
Busch drew on the tropes of f ...
,
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...
, and
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
. Other musical collaborations feature among others
Phil Minton
Phil Minton (born 2 November 1940) is a British avant-garde jazz/ free-improvising vocalist and trumpeter.
Minton is a highly dramatic baritone who tends to specialize in literary texts: he has sung lyrics by William Blake with Mike Westbrook' ...
,
Lindsay Cooper
Lindsay Cooper (3 March 1951 – 18 September 2013) was an English bassoon and oboe player and composer. Best known for her work with the band Henry Cow, she was also a member of Comus, National Health, News from Babel and David Thomas and t ...
Henry Cow
Henry Cow were an English experimental rock group, founded at the University of Cambridge in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler, b ...
Frankie Armstrong
Frankie Armstrong (born 13 January 1941) is an English singer and voice teacher. She has worked as a singer in the folk scene and the women's movement and as a trainer in social and youth work. Her repertoire ranges from traditional ballads to m ...
).
Painting
Westbrook studied fine art at Dartington Hall School (which later became
Dartington College of Arts
Dartington College of Arts was a specialist arts college located at Dartington Hall in the south-west of England, offering courses at degree and postgraduate level together with an arts research programme. It existed for a period of almost 50 ...
) in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
,
Bath Academy of Art
Bath School of Art and Design is an art college in Bath, England, now known separately as Bath School of Art and Bath School of Design. It forms part of the Bath Spa University whose main campus is located a few miles from the City at Newton P ...
at Corsham and
Reading University
The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, in 1963. She continues to exhibit her work in solo and group shows in Britain and abroad. Her work is in public and private collections. Many musical Westbrook projects, such as ''Art Wolf'' and ''Turner In Uri'', have been inspired by the visual arts.
Discography
As leader
* ''Goodbye Peter Lorre'' (Voiceprint, 1991)
* ''Cuff Clout'' (Voiceprint, 2004)
* ''The Nijinska Chamber'' (Voiceprint, 2006)
* ''Granite'' (Westbrook, 2018)
With Mike Westbrook
* ''Plays "for the Record"'' (Transatlantic, 1976)
* ''Goose Sauce'' (Original, 1978)
* ''Mama Chicago'' (Telefunken, 1979)
* ''The Westbrook Blake'' (Original, 1980)
* ''The Paris Album'' (Polydor, 1981)
* '' The Cortège'' (Original, 1982)
* ''A Little Westbrook Music'' (Westbrook, 1983)
* ''
On Duke's Birthday
''On Duke's Birthday'' is a live album by the Mike Westbrook Orchestra performing a five song suite dedicated to the memory of Duke Ellington which was recorded in France in 1984 and released on the Hat Hut label in 1985.Westbrook-Rossini'' (hat ART, 1988)
* ''Off Abbey Road'' (Tiptoe, 1990)
* '' Westbrook-Rossini, Zürich Live 1986'' (hat ART, 1994)
* ''Glad Day'' (Enja, 1999)
* ''The Ass'' (Jazzprint, 2001)
* ''L'Ascenseur/The Lift'' (Jazzprint, 2002)
* ''Art Wolf'' (Altriuson, 2005)
* ''Waxeywork Show'' (Jazzprint, 2007)
* ''Catania'' (Westbrook, 2018)
Filmography
*''Hotel Amigo'' (TV, music-theatre piece)
*''Good Friday 1663'' (TV opera)
*''Turner in Uri'' (documentary and concert)