Mezzo-soprano.

It was while I was reading music at Cambridge that I first heard Gothic Voices. My twin brother put on an LP of their then-new recording 'The Mirror of Narcissus' - I was spellbound. Machaut is still a special favourite of mine - it is amazing how a single line can dance or lament and always speaks with his distinctive voice. It has been a real joy to explore the vast medieval repertoire with Gothic Voices and to bring it to life for audiences today.

Why Catherine loves singing with GV.

Since then I have gone on to have a wide and varied career, performing oratorio and very modern repertoire as well as early music. I think even a well-travelled medieval minstrel would be astonished by how much today's musicians get around, and by the range of music we cover. In recent years I have performed Handel, Bach, Elgar, Verdi and Tippett for instance in a host of different cathedrals and concert halls, including the Royal Albert, Birmingham Symphony, Wigmore and QEH and across a range of countries - Norway, Israel, France, Switzerland and Poland.

I get great pleasure from the variety of my work, while I enjoy using all of my vocal powers to fill a large hall, there are different challenges - and a lot of satisfaction - in scaling down the voice for early music. Besides Gothic Voices I have a lute song duo with Jacob Heringman, sing in the renaissance group Virelai, and have worked over the years with many other groups including Fretwork, the Rose Consort of Viols, London Baroque, Taverner Consort, Gabrieli Consort and New London Consort.

One of the most exciting things about my singing career has been the chance to have new pieces written for me - most recently by John Woolrich, Tansy Davies, Larisa Vrhunc and Igor Majcen for performance in the Radovljica Festival in Slovenia.

Recordings... well, there's a long list - six with GV, then my new Galuppi Arie Serie, Bach Alto Arias, Vivaldi Gloria, lute song discs of Mudarra, Milan, Dowland, Airs de Cour, Verdelot, Tomkins, Catoire and Hildegard, Barber... you can see them all on my own website.

We have a lovely 16th century Herefordshire home, largely rebuilt by us over the last ten years. So when I'm not singing I might be attempting to keep on top of an unruly garden and our two (not so unruly) children. We enjoy family camping holidays and take with us the traditional Norwegian sailing and rowing boat which my husband built (it's nice to be able to sit in it, rather than on it - the boards spent some months seasoning in the living room, where they made a handy coffee table, but were a bit difficult to walk around). I also enjoy walking and tennis - and mountaineering and rock climbing when I can get away.