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Cat Hope (b 1966) is an eclectic composer who writes acoustic and electronic works, with a focus on the lower end of the sound spectrum. She has written a considerable amount of material for dance, theatre and film, winning the Pandora's Box Best Film Score Award in 2002. Cat is also a performance and video artist whose works in these genres have a sound focus. She has written several papers on film music and related topics as a result of her interest in the relationship between sound and image.

Almost all her compositions feature some element of improvisation, and there is an emphasis on performative elements in her works. In 2001, Cat developed the D.A.C.S (Digital Audio Control Skirt); which enables a music performer to control video projected onto the skirts' surface as well as audio samples whilst performing. The score for The Other Velvet (1998) for standing instrumentalist, dancer, backing CD and skirt is sewn into a garment to be worn during the performance. She also incorporates radios and other consumer electronics into her works, which may take the form of compositions, performance art, sound installations or a combination of all of these.

Hope came late to composition after studying for a Bachelor of Music (Hons) in performance at the University of Western Australia, and studying composition as an elective with Roger Smalley. After playing in bands in Europe from 1989 - 1997, she began making experimental music for solo bass and small ensembles. The inclusion of her work Mindimi Trek (2000) on the Susan Lawly label's 'Extreme Music From Women' compilation led to extensive touring in Europe and the USA and the creation of her first recording Fetish (2001) on the Bergerk Sound Gallery label. She has since toured worldwide as a solo bass noise artist and Fetish has been released on labels in America, Europe and Japan.

Hope is currently a PhD candidate in Sound at RMIT Univeristy, and lectures in composition at the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts at Edith Cowan University. She is also the founder and convenor of the Totally Huge New Music Conference, a biennial new music conference in Perth. She also writes music for her bands Gata Negra and Lux Mammoth.

Hope says: 'Music for me is part of a larger schema; it comes alive in association with other arts; performance or images for example. We need not separate listening from our other senses, but allow it to be enriched by them'.

Biography provided by the composer — current to April 2007