Caterina Isaia (Italy) was born in October 2002 and started playing cello with Prof. Marianne Chen in
2012, under whose guidance, she won, between 2013 to 2015 eighteen first prizes in
National and International competitions in different cities. Her debut took place at the
age of twelve as part of the "Secco-Suardo Festival "in Bergamo, where she played,
as a soloist with orchestra, Haydn Cello Concerto n.1 in C major.

From 2015 Caterina studied with the cellist Monika Leskovar. In April 2016 Caterina recorded for the
Italian National Television RAI2 and in October Caterina inaugurated the "Alfredo
Piatti" international cello festival with a solo recital. At the age of thirteen she won
the first prize at the prestigious "Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition", in
Croatia, where she was also awarded, as special prize, an invitation to perform a solo
concert with the “Zagreb Chamber Orchestra" in September of the same year.

Since September 2017 she was admitted as a scholar at the international school for special
talents "Yehudi Menuhin School" in London under the guidance of Bartholomew
LaFollette and Matthijs Broersma.

The artistic direction of Yehudi Menuhin School chose Caterina for a tour
of seven concerts in Scotland in May 2018 where she played in Edinburgh, Blair
Atholl Castle, New Lanark, Eyemouth and Berwick.

Caterina is the cello section leader of the Yehudi Menuhin School orchestra , which toured in Spain last October 2018 in Madrid, Valencia, Zaragoza, and Pau Casals Auditorium.

In April 2019 Caterina was selected for the "Mit Musik - Miteinander" project of the
Kronberg Academy (Germany) as well as being selected by Ivan Monighetti to
participate in the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and Academy 2019.

Caterina performed Schumann Cello Concerto with Marlborough Concert Orchestra in London in December 2019. In January 2020 , Caterina has been invited to perform with the Nicola Benedetti Foundation, as a part of the Benedetti sessions held in Southbank Centre, London.

In February 2020 Caterina received the first prize at the "14th International Competition Vychytil" (Prague) and a special prize offered by the atelier Jan Spidlen.

In July 2020 Caterina has been invited by the acclaimed pianist Beatrice Rana, at her festival “Classiche forme 2020” with a cello ensemble led by Giovanni Sollima.

In January 2021 Caterina has been awarded first prize at the "Rudolf Barshai International Strings Competition" (Saint Petersburg, Russia).

She participated in masterclasses with Jens Peter Maintz, Jerome Pernoo, Ivan Monighetti, Giovanni Sollima, Giovanni Gnocchi, Mario Brunello, Robert Levin, Alexander Chaushian, Leonard Elshenbroich, David Waterman and Colin Carr.

As well as playing solo, Caterina has also been working with her quartet which performed works by Mendelssoh, Beethoven,Mozart, Schubert,Debussy as well as piano quintets by Dvorak and Schumann during the annual Yehudi Menuhin Summer Festival.

Since 2019 Caterina is supported by the Italian foundation “Associazione Musica Con Le Ali”and since 2021 Caterina is a scholarship holder at the Liechtenstein Academy.