Katherine Hughes is a versatile musician who has played the violin for over forty years. Thirty of those years have been spent as both a professional performer in and a contractor for a broad range of groups. She has appeared with such internationally known artists as Burt Bacharach, Tony Bennett, George Benson, Andrea Bocelli, Garth Brooks, Michael Bublé, Glen Campbell, Peter Cetera, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Dennis DeYoung, Celine Dion, Il Divo, Josh Groban, Glen Hansard, Faith Hill, Lyle Lovett, Barry Manilow, Bobby McFerrin, Yo-Yo Ma, Johnny Mathis, Michael McDonald, Randy Newman, Bernadette Peters, Jake Shimabukuro, Rod Stewart, Barbara Streisand, The Three Tenors (Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, and José Carreras), Eddie Vedder, Barry White, Stevie Wonder, and Yes. That was a long sentence... Katherine is featured on many recordings--samples of both her original music and that of her colleagues may be found on the “Collaborations” page. There you may also see her rock video, “TV Sages”–it was shown on MTV in a group of prizewinning self-produced short films.

Katherine also has years of experience providing music for special occasions. Samples may be found on the “Listen” page.

In the more traditional arena, she is a member of the chamber groups Parallax Trio, Hawk String Quartet, and Petite Orchestra. She also regularly plays with the Metropolis Symphony and is a performing member of the Chicago Philharmonic Society. She is very comfortable in the world of new music, having premiered many works written for an assortment of chamber groups.

For Milburn/Bodeen Music and Sound Design, she performs on the recorded incidental music for theater productions across the US. She also works in the studio for WMS Gaming, recording soundtracks for casino games. Katherine has played many live concerts featuring video game music, including “The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses”, and “Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy”. She has experience working in the pit orchestras for Broadway shows, having played a number including “Annie”, “Hairspray”, “Spamalot”, and “The Color Purple”.

Katherine has been the concertmaster of the City Lights Orchestra for many years, playing for concerts, private events, and recordings with that group. Along with two colleagues, she founded the Chicago Studio Orchestra within the organization Third Coast Music.