Cat Cantrell is a Los Angeles based oboist and English hornist. Enamored with the range of experiences in music, Cat can be found performing and recording in all corners of the US – from engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic to the New York Philharmonic, to ballets, operas, recording studios, and beyond. 

Immersed in the California music world since moving to the West Coast in 2019, Cat is a member of the Redlands Symphony. As an avid freelancer, she regularly performs with over a dozen orchestras from San Diego to Modesto, and welcomes chamber projects and other opportunities along the way.  Hailing from an Air Force family, she is an eager traveler making as much good music and eating as much delicious food as possible. Cat has worked with the symphonies of Virginia, Huntsville, Juneau, Great Falls, the Louisiana Philharmonic, American Ballet Theatre, and on orchestral tours of China and Europe. For six seasons she was the English hornist for the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in Arizona, while living and freelancing in New York City. During that dual life, she had the privilege of performing multiple times in Carnegie Hall and in every hall at Lincoln Center.

Cat relishes opportunities to work with composers and to elevate new and unheard works – particularly those featuring the English horn. She has worked as rehearsal musician in various composer and conductor workshops and competitions in New York and Virginia. While living in New York, she enjoyed playing for the Double Entendre Music Ensemble and Contemporaneous. She loves working with singers of all stripes, and has performed for opera companies, choirs, cabarets, and on albums for Country Western, Bluegrass, Jazz, Pop, Folk, and Metal artists. 

Cat earned an MM in Oboe Performance studying with Sherry Sylar at Mannes College the New School for Music, and a BM in Oboe Performance from Florida State University. As a Britten-Pears Young Artist for four years, Cat worked with many esteemed conductors and coaches in England, with performances around the UK and Europe. Cat has appeared on stage with drag queens, in musical theater pits, and on soundtracks for television and feature films.