Kat Zimmerman

Biography

Kat Zimmerman is a four time ASCAP Award-winning composer, lyricist, writer, and performer. Her new musical HEARTLAND received its first reading at New Musicals Inc (NMI) in Los Angeles in 2020. An earlier version of HEARTLAND (titled BUNDLED TOGETHER) premiered at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Current projects include an opera based on the life of Hedy Lamarr, a song cycle, and family programming for media. Kat's songs have been featured at Carnegie Hall and in the Emmy award-winning HBO documentary Autism: The Musical. She has collaborated with artists including Jack Black, Stephen Stills, Rev Run, and Rickey Minor and the American Idol Band. In addition, Kat has written musicals for families including THE COURAGE CLUB, FEINSTEIN'S DREAMS, and EVERYDAY HEROES. Her works have been performed at the Broad Theater, the Geffen Playhouse, and the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. Originally from New York, Kat started her career as a classical singer and pianist with a passion for contemporary music, performing with Absolute Ensemble under conductor Kristjan Jårvi and the Manhattan Contemporary Ensemble, premiering works by Tobias Picker (Symphony for Soprano and Orchestra), Ernst Widmer, Aaron Jay Kernis, and William Kraft. Kat has performed at the United Nations, Davies Hall, San Francisco, the Aspen Music Festival, the Herbert von Karajan Center, Vienna, Wigmore Hall, London, Nice Festival D’Été, France, Fondation Royaumont, France, Aberdeen International Music Festival, and music festivals in Spain, Italy, and Israel. She has been featured in operas including The Rake’s Progress, The Yellow Wallpaper, Cosi fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, La Boheme, and MacBeth. Kat has scored music for the web series Beverly Hills Salon and other projects for media. She has composed sacred music in Hebrew, Sanskrit and Latin. Kat has served as music director for theater programs around greater Los Angeles including The Miracle Project, the HELP group, Vista Del Mar, The Country School, Kids on Stage and Los Angeles and Malibu-Santa Monica school districts, helming West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Guys and Dolls, Once on This Island, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Music Man, The Lion King, Annie and The Wizard of Oz. Kat has created and facilitated songwriting and recording workshops for children, teens, and young adults, to foster positive self-esteem and self-advocacy through creativity. Kat is co-author, with her husband Tom Zimmerman, of the children’s book FUN WITH FRED, published by Higher Ground Press. Kat received her M.M. from the Manhattan School of Music, B.M. from the Eastman School of Music, and is an Interlochen Arts Academy graduate, with additional studies at NYU, Vienna Conservatory, UCLA for composition/electronic music, Kirtan with Jai Uttal at Esalen and Indian classical vocal music with Suman Laha.