Bassist Kathryn Schulmeister is an internationally active soloist and ensemble musician whose creative practice encompasses contemporary, classical, and experimental music.

She is a member of ELISION Ensemble and Fonema Consort and has appeared as a guest artist with Ensemble MusikFabrik, Klangforum Wien, Wild Up!, Ensemble Vertixe Sonora, SWR Experimentalstudio Freiburg, Delirium Musicum, and Ensemble Dal Niente. Recent engagements include performances at the Ojai Music Festival, Lucerne Festival Forward, TIME:SPANS Festival, Zipper Hall, and Melbourne Recital Centre. She currently serves as Double Bass Faculty Coach for the Lucerne Festival Academy in Switzerland.

Kathryn was featured as a collaborating artist on the GRAMMY®-nominated album, The Edge of Silence, a recording of chamber works by György Kurtág on AVIE Records featuring soprano Susan Narucki. Her discography also includes releases on Warner Classics, KAIROS, Tzadik Records, Huddersfield Contemporary Records, and New Focus Recordings. Her debut solo album, Imagining Hands, featuring original compositions and improvisations, was released on Protomaterial Records in 2026.

Previously a member of the bass section of the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra, Kathryn has also appeared as a guest artist with the Ojai Festival Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Lucerne Festival Alumni Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, California Chamber Orchestra, and Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera.

Kathryn completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of California San Diego, where her research focused on developing learning strategies for contemporary music. Her paper, “Learning Strategies for Complex Rhythms: Approaching Richard Barrett’s splinter for Contrabass Solo,” received the Grand Prize in the International Society of Bassists’ 2022 Research Competition and was published in The Online Journal of Bass Research in 2023.

She also holds degrees from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music and the New England Conservatory. Her principal teachers include Mark Dresser, Ali Kian Yazdanfar, and Todd Seeber.