Short Biography Catherine Dalton’s choral, instrumental, and solo voice compositions are inspired by classical, jazz, folk, world music and chant. Winner of MacPhail’s Composition Scholarship, Dalton was recently selected to participate in Nautilus Music-Theater’s nationally recognized Composer-Librettist Studio. Performers of her music include the internationally known new music ensemble Zeitgeist, vocal ensembles Part Four and Amaryllis, and singers Carrie Henneman-Shaw, Jeffrey Hess, Janice Porter and Nita Gilbert in addition to numerous choirs across the United States. Her recent commissions include works for concert band, children’s choir and brass quintet.

Photo by Nancy Varberg Photography

Notable composition teachers include Elizabeth Alexander, Gregory Theisen and Victoria Ebel-Sabo. In addition, she has studied song writing with Peter Mayer, piano with Reese Allison and Kathy Krueger, and voice with Barbara McAfee, Janice Porter, and Jeannie Brindley-Barnett. Dalton holds a Bachelor of Arts in Physics and Computer Science from Hamline University, and a Master of Arts in Middle School Science and Math form the University of Louisville.

Dalton currently lives in Mahtomedi, Minnesota with her husband, three children, one dog, two cats, two guinea pigs and a giant African millipede.

Longer Biography

Catherine Dalton spent her childhood years first in the shadow of the Colorado Rocky Mountains and later surrounded by the lakes of Minnesota. Her early musical experiences included piano studies, singing in choirs and playing in bands. While at Hamline University, Dalton continued studying piano under Reese Allison while majoring in physics and computer science. After spending several years in the field of science education and earning her Master’s degree, Dalton returned to her passion for music.

Dalton has studied composition with Elizabeth Alexander, Gregory Theisen and Victoria Ebel-Sabo. Additionally, she studied songwriting with Peter Mayer, piano with Kathy Krueger and voice with Jeannie Brindly-Barnett, Janice Porter and Barbara McAfee.

Dalton’s choral, instrumental, and solo voice compositions are inspired by classical, jazz, folk, world music, and chant. Much of her fascination with world music and chant stems from her lengthy travels in Asia. The musical highlights of one year long trip include listening to Tibetan monks chanting in the early morning hours in the monasteries of central Tibet, being surrounded by the festive music accompanying a wedding procession down the streets of a village in India, and taking her turn on a Tibetan Gyaling at 12,000 feet in the Annapurna region of Nepal. This interest in Asia, her accreditation as a T’ai Chi Chih teacher and her family’s adoption of a son from Vietnam have led to some of her current projects such as a commission to set a Hmong parable for Community of Peace Academy’s High School choir, studying the Chinese and Vietnamese Zither, her interest in composing chants, and writing an opera about a young woman growing up in Vietnam.

Winner of MacPhail’s Composition Scholarship, Dalton was recently selected to participate in Nautilus Music-Theater’s nationally recognized Composer-Librettist Studio. Performers of her music include the internationally known new music ensemble Zeitgeist, vocal ensembles Part Four and Amaryllis, and singers Carrie Henneman-Shaw, Jeffrey Hess, Nita Gilbert and Nicole Warner in addition to numerous choirs across the United States. Her recent commissions include works for concert band, children’s choir and world-music choir.

Dalton currently lives in Mahtomedi, Minnesota with her husband, three children, one dog, two cats, two guinea pigs and a giant African millipede.

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