Kaitlyn Raitz

New York native Kaitlyn Raitz grew up surrounded by an array of musical genres, finding each one more exciting than the next. These passions have led her to a career as a versatile cellist who is equally at home playing Schubert or Sondheim, sitting in on a bluegrass jam or reading a Beethoven string quartet, and performing on stage at Carnegie Hall or The Bitter End.

Kaitlyn has worked with such diverse artists as Frank London of the Klezmatics, hip-hop artist and composer Cobaine Ivory, tabla player Shawn Mativetsky, as well as numerous folk and jazz artists. Kaitlyn has been invited to join Matt Haimovitz’s innovative, GRAMMY-nominated cello ensemble Uccello and has performed with them at Carnegie Hall and Berkeley's Cal Performances. Her former folk duo, Bride & Groom, toured Canada and America playing numerous venues and festivals including NXNE, Canadian Music Week, and In The Dead of Winter Music Festival. She is currently touring with Montreal based band The Bombadils and will being touring and recording this summer with Canadian fiddler Ben Plotnick.

As an educator, Kaitlyn believes in the value of exposing young people to a wide range of genres, including music of different cultures, as a way to create not just well-rounded musicians, but well-rounded human beings. Since 2008, Kaitlyn has been the director of the Southampton String Festival (Long Island, New York), a music camp for children that integrates classical training, improvisation, creativity, and musical discovery into one program.

Kaitlyn currently holds a Bachelors degree and a Performer’s Certificate from Purchase College, State University of New York where she studied with Julia Lichten and a Master's degree from McGill University where she studied with Matt Haimovitz.