Katie Dey

Committed to using music as a tool for social justice, First Presbyterian Music Director Kathryn Dey is originally from Lake Mills, Wisconsin, population 6,400. She earned degrees in viola performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a student of
Sally Chisholm, and at the Eastman School of Music, where she served as teaching assistant
to John Graham. Known for her innovative musicianship, Ms. Dey has performed extensively
throughout the United States, Europe and the Caribbean, as well as in such diverse venues
as outdoor Haitian community centers, German prisons, and her own front yard. As a
Surdna Foundation Fellow, Ms. Dey was awarded a grant to study and perform works for
unaccompanied viola by Lillian Fuchs. She is an active supporter of the nonprofit
BLUMEHaiti organization, and in addition to collecting over 3000 instruments for that
organization, has been a instructor and mentor to countless Haitian musicians through
workshops and residencies in that country. Ms. Dey has served as a program consultant and
guest artist at the Palotti School of Music in Belize City, Belize. She has held previous
church music positions at Reidville Presbyterian Church in Reidville, SC and at St. Mark
United Methodist Church in Greenville, SC.
With a unique emphasis on the interdisciplinary connections between music, creative
writing and acting, Ms. Dey’s music making and teaching has been recognized by Strings
Magazine, the American String Teachers Association, the American Viola Society and Music
Teachers National Association, among others. Students from her viola studio have been
recognized at the state, national and international level and now perform and teach around
the world. Ms. Dey regularly presents workshops to teachers and students throughout the
United States and was a featured presenter at the 2023 International Viola Congress in
Bangkok, Thailand. She is committed to building and sustaining rural South Carolina music
programs, initiating projects in Chester, Fairfield, Jasper, Laurens, and Pickens counties. Ms.
Dey is a long-time music faculty member at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the
Arts and Humanities and is a co-founder and co-director of the Eastman Summer Viola
Workshop in Rochester, NY. She speaks fluent German, is a certified yoga instructor, and
spent twenty-four years renovating a home in downtown Greenville with her late husband,
cellist Robert O’Brien. She and her rescue Australian Cattle dog, Zelda, are currently
training for the next Ulti Mutt competition. Ms. Dey encourages anyone reading this to
consider becoming an organ donor, at Sharinghopesc.org.