Principals

Katherine Thayer has been concertmaster of Evergreen Chamber Orchestra since 2001. In addition, she is concertmaster of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra (since 2006) and performs with Inside the Orchestra, bringing music to school children for over 30 years. Katherine also enjoys her performances with her group Voice of the Wood Chamber Players who are heard frequently at ECO recitals, at DPOs Dazzle Jazz Club performances and at many metro area libraries. 

Katherine was principal 2nd violin and soloist with the former Denver Chamber Orchestra, JoAnne Falletta, conductor. She enjoyed performing for five summers at both the Colorado Music Festival in  Boulder and Grand Teton Music Festivals in Jackson, Wyoming. 

Prior to moving to Colorado in 1983, Katherine was an Assistant Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Eastern New Mexico University where she performed as the violinist in the Raphael Piano Trio. Her violin studies include a Masters Degree from Michigan State University when the Juilliard Quartet was in residence, and European studies with Zino Francescatti, Christian Ferras, Alberto Lysy and Ayla Erduran. 

Katherine held positions in the first violin sections of the Kamarata Lysy, the Wurttembergishes Kammer Orchertre and the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg touring frequently throughout Europe and the Philippines. She returned to Europe in October 2017 as part of an exchange program with the DPO and the Bayerische Philharmone in Munich. She thoroughly enjoyed seeing Salzburg again after almost 40 years. Katherine returned to Munich the summer of 2022 to perform Beethoven’s 9th Symphony to an enthusiastic audience in Munich. In November 2023 Katherine fulfilled her lifetime dream when she performed the Mendelssohn Concerto with the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra.

Katherine delights in watching her daughter Ayla’s professional dance performances and reading Chamber music with friends, old and new.