About Cosmos                      

A professor of music at The Ohio State University (OSU) since 1985, Katherine has been chair of the woodwinds, brass and percussion department since 1999. She was awarded OSU's
Distinguished Teacher award in the School of Music in 1995.

Katherine is a founding member and co-principal flutist of ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, principal flute and soloist with the Columbus Bach Ensemble, a member of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and principal flute of the New Sousa Band, which has toured Japan and the United States. She has recorded for CRI, d’Note and Summit recordings and published with Southern Music. Katherine studied with Keith Brion, Robert Willoughby, Kyril Magg, Donald McGinnis and Julius Baker.

Devoted to the creation of new solo and chamber music, Katherine has commissioned works by Stephen Montague, Michael Ruszczynski, Mark DeVoto, Tom Duffy, Daniel Bukvich, Tom Wells, Dale Warland and Rudolfo Bubalo. Most recently, she commissioned the Trio in Four Movements for flute, viola and harp by Libby Larsen, premiered by Cosmos in 2006. Katherine has performed for George Crumb, Vincent Persichetti, Donald Harris, Libby Larsen, William Bolcum, George Perle, John Corligiano, Bright Sheng and Michael Daugherty and premiered works by Jean Françaix, Peter Schickele and Dana Wilson.

Jeanne Norton has been principal harpist and soloist with  ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus since 1979. She is founder and director of HarpOhio performing ensemble for pre-college students and is lecturer in harp at The Ohio State University School of Music. In 1985 she served as national conference chair for the American Harp Society Salzedo Centennial Celebration.

Jeanne has been principal harpist and soloist with the Florida Symphony Orchestra and the American Festival Orchestra, Salerno, Italy. Jeanne appears regularly as recitalist and soloist in Ohio, and has performed with the orchestras of Columbus, Atlanta, Wheeling, Charleston, Akron, Canton, Naples - Marco Island and the Lancaster and Cincinnati May Festivals.

Strongly committed to encouraging new music for the harp, Jeanne commissioned two works from Harriet Bolz: the harp solo “Narrative Impromptu” and “Repartee Rhapsodic” for flute and harp. In collaboration with Katherine Borst Jones, she commissioned a new work for soprano, flute and harp by Dale Warland. A recent collaboration with ProMusica Chamber Orchestra resulted in the commission of “Disparate Dances” by Stephen Montague, a concerto for flute, harp and chamber orchestra premiered in 2005.

A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Jeanne studied with Alice Chalifoux and with Marjorie Tyre of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera and Anna Bukay of the Cincinnati Symphony.

Mary E.M. Harris, Viola

Mary E.M. Harris is associate professor of viola and a member of the Oxford String Quartet at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. A former member of the Dakota String Quartet and I Musici de Montreal, Mary has also served as principal violist of the South Dakota and Fox Valley Symphonies and New American Chamber Orchestra, touring Europe extensively and performing at Korsholm, Casals, and other international festivals.

Mary is a graduate of Indiana University in Bloomington, where she studied with Mimi Zweig and Georges Janzer. She completed her graduate studies at the Institute of Chamber Music at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, where she also studied and performed with members of the Fine Arts Quartet and was heard live on WFMT-Radio in Chicago.