Katherine Weintraub (a native of Sarasota, Florida) is a decorated performer, passionate educator, and doctoral candidate at the Eastman School of Music. She made her solo debut at the age of 15 performing Jacques Ibert’s Concertino da Camera with the Florida Orchestra. Known for her sensitive musicianship, Ms. Weintraub champions the standard repertoire of the saxophone in addition to contemporary music and creative transcriptions of borrowed works. Ms. Weintraub is pleased to be returning to her home state, as she was recently appointed as Visiting Assistant Professor of Saxophone at Florida State University. Ms. Weintraub holds her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Michigan, where she studied with renowned saxophone pedagogue, Donald Sinta. While attending University of Michigan, she was named winner of the school’s Graduate Concerto Competition in 2011. As a doctoral student at Eastman, she was awarded first prize at the International William C. Byrd Young Artist.
Competition in 2013. The same year, she was also a national finalist in the MTNA Young Artist Competition. In the fall of 2014, Ms. Weintraub was the winner of the Eastman School of Music Concerto Competition. Shortly after, she was named first-prize winner of the International Saxophone Symposium and Competition (ISSAC) in Columbus, Georgia. Ms. Weintraub has performed at notable venues such as the Shanghai Grand Theater, the National Center of the Performing Arts in Beijing, China; Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She has also been featured as a soloist with the University of Michigan Philharmonia, the Flint Symphony Orchestra, and the illustrious Eastman Wind Ensemble.
In addition to her performing endeavors, Ms. Weintraub has maintained a substantial profile as an educator. While Graduate Teaching Assistant to Dr. Chien-Kwan Lin at the Eastman School of Music, she taught private saxophone lessons at the Eastman Community Music School, coached several undergraduate saxophone quartets, and taught secondary saxophone lessons to University of Rochester students. Community outreach has also been a vital component of Ms. Weintraub’s teaching profile.
From 2013-2016, she was the saxophone instructor for Rochester New Horizons, a music education program aimed toward enriching the lives of retired seniors. She also served saxophone instructor for the Eastman Pathways Program, a scholarship program designed to give inner city students a conservatorylevel music education. As the recently appointed Visiting Assistant Professor of Saxophone at Florida State University, Ms. Weintraub plans to further her relentless dedication to the field of music through her passion as a performer and educator.