Growing up in Edmonton, Kathleen de Caen started playing the cello at age five. Her primary teachers were Grazyna Sobieraj, Julie Amundsen, and Tanya Prochazka, with whom she completed a bachelor’s degree at the University of Alberta. She later went on to complete a master’s degree in cello performance with Matt Haimovitz at McGill University.
As a soloist, de Caen has been invited to perform with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra on multiple occasions for their education series. She was also the featured young artist of the ESO’s 2012 Symphony Under the Sky series.
As a chamber musician, de Caen has performed across North America with musicians such as Yehonatan Berick, Jean Efflam-Bavouzet, and Paul Coletti. She has participated numerous times with Matt Haimovitz’s ensemble, Uccello, which performed at Carnegie Hall in 2013. In 2016, she co-founded Trio De Moda, an Alberta-based string trio that has performed across Alberta and the Maritime provinces.
Following a season as acting principal cello of Symphony Nova Scotia in Halifax during 2017/2018, de Caen was very excited to return to Alberta and join the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra as a section cellist.