Catherine Milliken

Cathy Milliken is an Australian oboist, composer, freelance creative director and educational consultant who currently lives in Berlin. After majoring in piano and oboe in Australia, Catherine moved to Europe and continued her training with Heinz Holliger and Maurice Bourgue. She was a founding member of the renowned contemporary music group Ensemble Modern and collaborated with many prominent composers and conductors, such as Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, Frank Zappa, György Ligeti and Karlheinz Stockhausen. She has written music for theater, opera, radio, and film projects, commissioned by Staatskapelle Berlin, Das Orchester Des Staatstheaters Darmstadt, ZKM, CCMIX, Deutschlandfunk, Concerto Köln, South Bank Centre London, and the Experimental Electronic Studio of Freiburg. Her Earth Plays was premiered by the Symphonie-Orchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks as a part of Musica Viva (2) in December of 2015. In collaboration with Dietmar Wiesner and Hermann Kretzschmar, Cathy established HCD Productions group. Milliken served as a director of the Education Program of Berliner Philharmoniker from 2005 to 2012. As a distinguished creative director, she has been organizing events in South and North Africa, Japan, and Israel. Cathy is also an honorary member of advisory boards for the German Music Council and Goethe-Institut and works on the creative team of the Munich Biennale for Music Theatre (2016).