Jessica Catron (Grow Music Founder) spent the first part of her professional life in Los Angeles where she worked as a freelance performing artist and educator. Some of her musical adventures include touring, performing, and/or recording with artists including Carla Bozulich (Geraldine Fibbers/Evangelista), Nels Cline (Wilco), Devotchka, The Eels, FUN, Trevor Hall, The Heavy, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Eleni Mandell, Dave Matthews, Tim Meyers (One Republic), Alexi Murdoch, Sheila Nicholls, Linda Ronstadt, Spiritualized, Corin Tucker (Sleater-Kinney), Steve Vai, the Vitamin String Quartet, VOCO, Wailin' Jennys, Scott Weiland, Emily Wells, The White Buffalo, and Wilco. Jessica has appeared on The Tonight Show, The Late Late Show, the NBC Music Video Awards, KPFK's Global Village, KUSC's Arts Alive, and has been a soloist for feature films Mean Creek, The Strangers, The Covenant, and Levity.
As a sound artist, Jessica was the first distinguished musical-artist-in-residence at the UCLA Hammer Museum (Los Angeles) for an 8-month residency where she created sound installations, experimental performances throughout the museum, created performance art inspired by the museum's collection of Ed Ruscha works, and curated weekly chamber music performances at the museum. She has also worked as a collaborator, performer, and/or music director with exceptional visual artists, composers, and performance artists such as Harold Budd, Vinny Golia, Mike Kelley, Pauline Oliveros, Stephen Prina, Susan Silton, and James Tenney. As a teaching artist, Jessica was the first cello mentor for YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles) - an El Sistema-inspired partnership of the Harmony Project and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by Maestro Gustavo Dudamel. During her 8 years at YOLA, she worked regularly with four youth orchestras, string ensembles, conducted youth orchestras, lead fiddle and singing workshops, and had 32 weekly cello students in both group and private lessons. Her students have had the fortune of sitting beside LA Phil musicians in concert, backing up Stevie Wonder, Journey, and The Black Eyed Peas, performing with Grace Potter and Sharon Stone on the Tonight Show, playing chamber music for Condoleeza Rice, and traveling to the White House to play for Michelle Obama, Alisa Weilerstein, and Joshua Bell. Additionally, Jessica has lead music workshops at the University of Auckland (NZ), Universidad de Bogota (Columbia), Western Front (Vancouver, BC), University of Nebraska, Cornish College (Seattle), University of New Mexico, Lake Tahoe Unified Schools, Port Chester School District (NY), Community Music Works (RI), and the California State Summer School for the Arts. In Missoula, Jessica can be seen as a member of both the Missoula Symphony Orchestra and Glacier Symphony. In addition to her private teaching studio, she has subbed as a music teacher at Sussex School and for MCPS. Jessica co-founded The Receptionists string duo, founded and arranges music for the Cello Mafia, String Mafia and Viol Conspiracy, and writes music and sings with her avant-folk band Missincinatti. In the summer of 2018, she was chosen as Open Air's sound-artist-in-residence at the Rattlesnake Creek Dam, spending 6-weeks creating a place-based composition from field recordings made in and around the now demolished historic location. In 2021-22 she will be one of four artists-in-residence for "New Songs for Butte Mining Camp" through the Montana Cultural Trust Grant and Silver Bow Archives in Butte, MT. Outside of music, Jessica has been developing her most fulfilling experiment to date - raising two amazing kids - with her sweetie, Jeremy. They love family game nights, traveling whenever possible, snuggling, asking Google random factoids, making tacos, caring for four hens and two cats, taking saunters in the woods, floating rivers, hiking, camping, spending time with their extended family, and eating those potato donuts in Ravalli, MT whenever possible. Jessica is currently accepting students, by appt only, via Zoom. She is available for coaching on performance careers, running a music business, teaching, freelancing, and musical entrepreneurship. |