Biography

Kate Janzen, composer/director/accompanist, has been working in the field of music since the age of 17 (2001). Her first job was accompanying a local community choir, and since then has never looked back. After receiving her Bachelor of Music degree from Sacramento State’s School of Music –with a double focus in Jazz Studies/Arranging and Theory & Composition– she has gone on to become a highly sought after musician wherever she resides.
Some of her favorite career highlights: winning two DownBeat awards, composing and playing for a 45 minute silent film, accompanying a choir of 800 people, being staff pianist for summer camps, music directing a community German choir for 6 years, composing a short musical, getting a message at midnight to come play with an orchestra the next day, and flying to Sacramento, CA no matter where she is to play for a fundraiser show every winter. (These are just a few of the many, many wonderful moments she has experienced along her musical journey).
One of her greatest joys in life is vocal music –composing for, as well as directing/teaching– whether it be choir, vocal jazz, or musical theater. She is always advocating for singers, encouraging them to: “Stand in (and speak) their truth, since singing is a direct line to the soul; the more someone is in alignment with their depth and truest nature, the more their voice can ring clear and shine out to the world as the gift that they are. And nothing is more human –and more beautiful– than singing together.”
Currently, she lives in Superior, CO and is deeply focused on composing new music for choirs, as well as writing a choir warm-up book, a full length musical, and training for a triathlon in the fall of ‘23.
(She also still flies out to California every winter to play for her favorite fundraiser show, and will continue to do so until the end of time)
"Get to know Kate Janzen"
From an interview with WhyYouProductions in 2016
What are you grateful for?
What was your first job?
What were you like as a child?