Kate Botello
Music Host and ProducerKate comes to Northern Michigan via New York City, where she was a freelance actor, singer and playwright, appearing Off-Broadway as Judy Garland in the underground hit, Christmas with the Crawfords. She wrote and starred in several Judy Garland-themed productions, including Judy’s Christmas Garland and Judy Garland and Uninvited Company -- for which she was nominated for a Nightlife Award and won a Backstage Bistro award.
Before her time in New York, Kate was one of the founding on-air personalities for ZDTV, a national television network (later to become TechTV). There, she hosted "The Screen Savers," a live daily call-in show co-starring tech guru Leo Laporte, as well as "Extended Play," a show about videogames and the gaming industry with cohost Adam Sessler. She also puppeteered and provided the voice for Tilde, the network’s "virtual host" - work for which she won an Emmy Award.
Kate Botello has lived in Traverse City, Michigan since 2005, and is delighted by the huge amount of talent and art available to people in our area. She directed and starred in many productions for the Old Town Playhouse and Young Company, and led the OTP's Summer Performing Arts Camp for four years. Kate has even had a chance to make a few dreams come true, including hosting live "Sing-a-Long" events at the State Theatre, narrating stories with the Traverse Symphony Orchestra and serving as the official "Word Pronouncer" for the Traverse City County and Regional Spelling Bees.
Kate brings a lifetime love of classical music to IPR, and she is thrilled by discoveries of beautiful pieces, new and old, to share with you.
-
Composer Amy Beach was a lot of "firsts" - the first woman to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra, one of the first composers to train exclusively in the United States and more. -
This week on Kids Commute, we’re listening to music inspired by the moon! -
It's chord progression appears in countless pop songs, it's played at tons of weddings and repeats the same 8 notes over and over again… what is it? It’s Pachelbel’s Canon! We’ll get into what makes this piece so popular, and how to spot it in the wild this week on Classical Sprouts. -
This week of Kids Commute is all about the sun! We're listening to pieces of music inspired by sunrises, total solar eclipses, sunlight, sunbeams and more! -
It was the only movement of Camille Saint-Saens' "Carnival of the Animals" that he allowed to be performed while he was still alive. "The Swan" depicts a majestic bird gliding along the water and is now standard repertoire for cellists! -
This week on Kids Commute, we’re listening to composer Joe Hisaishi's score to some of the most famous Studio Ghibli movies! -
This sibling septet of violinists, cellists and pianists ranging in age from 14 to 27 is known around the world for their impressive musicianship. -
Snow is melting, the air no longer feels sharp, and the sun has returned! How should we celebrate? With Antonio Vivialdi of course! We’re listening for the sounds of warmer weather in the "Spring" movement of Vivaldi’s "Four Seasons" today on "Classical Sprouts." -
It’s in the name of countless pieces of music… but what makes a sonata, a sonata? We’re going to figure out the building blocks of a sonata using Mozart’s Sonata No. 16 in C Major this week on Classical Sprouts. -
This week on Kids Commute, we’re listening to Aaron Copland and Agnes DeMille's rollicking cowboy ballet, "Rodeo!"
