Kate Romano

I’m the Artistic Director of  Goldfield Productions , initially founded as the Goldfield Ensemble in 2011. Highly collaborative, relentlessly curious and and driven by a love of storytelling,  Goldfield Productions work with composers and other artists to make unique, bespoke ‘adventures in sound’. We find ways of presenting music and art that transform the everyday into the extraordinary and reawaken our ears.

In 2018, Goldfield created and toured our critically acclaimed Hansel & Gretel (a nightmare in 8 scenes) commissioning  new poetry from poet laureate Simon Armitage, chamber music from Matthew Kaner and art / puppetry from Clive Hicks-Jenkins and Jan Zalud. Hansel & Gretel premiered at Cheltenham Music Festival and touring to 9 UK venues with a London premiere at Milton Court Concert Hall (Barbican) and subsequent BBC Radio 3 broadcast.  

In 2016, we brought film, self-made instruments, old and new technology into the concert hall;  RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME  included three new commissions: music by Arlene Sierra and Kathy Hinde and the creation of an award-winning film by Solveig Settemsdal (Jerwood Prize 2016) and a creative collaboration with Langham Research Centre.   

In June 2019, Goldfield will release a recording of the chamber music of Erika Fox for NMC Records. Goldfield musicians have performed at St Johns Smith Square,  Kings Place, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and most UK festivals and music societies. In 2014, the Ensemble were Artists-in-Residence at Cambridgeshire Stapleford Granary. 

I’m especially proud of Goldfield’s acclaimed storytelling musical productions for younger audiences. I’ve written and directed five of these 50-minute pop-up shows, which have been seen by over 9000 children since 2014. They combine the finest chamber music woven into original narratives and shadow-puppet automata to inspire wonder and curiosity in young audiences.

In 2018 Goldfield further extended our outreach participatory work.  In collaboration with North Herts Music Service, we established the ground-breaking Highbury Whispers Youth Theatre project, enabling 50 teenagers to create a site-specific new musical from scratch. In 2020 Goldfield will lead the Aspire programme at Lichfield Festival, developing new community projects in the area.

I’m also a writer for the BBC Orchestras and the Proms and a regular BBC Radio 3 presenter; I’ve written and narrated over 130 short stories for Essential Classics and Our Classical Century. As an independent producer, I’ve produced work for Kings Place, V&A Museum (Opera Passion), Nova Music Opera, Cheltenham Festival, Guildhall, Birmingham, Bristol and Kent Universities. I’m especially interested in transcultural, spoken-word and cross-arts work.

And I’m also the clarinettist in Goldfield. As a chamber musician and soloist, I’ve performed at most major UK venues and festivals and given over 70 premieres. I’ve recorded for NMC, Metier and Minabel and my debut solo CD was awarded 5* reviews from Gramophone and ‘Pick of the Month’ in the chamber music section for the BBC Music Magazine. I studied at the Royal Northern College of Music where I graduated with first class honours, I hold an MPhil from Cambridge University and a doctorate in composition from Kings College London. From 2003  – 2016 I held a senior academic post at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and co-founded the schools’ flagship doctoral programme. In 2014, I was awarded a Fellowship from the School.

 I’m an active fundraiser and Goldfield are proud to have received full funding for all our endeavours since 2011 including substantial grants from Arts Council England and over twenty further trusts and foundations. I’m passionate about 20th century concrete, birds, landscapes of all kind, listening (and how we do it) and book shops. 

Registered charity: 1173427