Катерина Кольцова родилась в Киеве в 1971 году, где она окончила Университет культуры по классу фольклора. В 1994 она переехала в Прагу, где продолжила обучение в Дейл Консерватории для Студентов с проблемами зрения по классу вокала. Во время ее занятий в Чешской столице она вышла замуж за Яна Тлуста и нашла свой второй дом в этом городе. За последние несколько лет она много выступала с концертами и с другими певцами как Ханой Хегеровой, поэтом - песенником Владимиром Мерта, и др.
      Не считая нескольких ранних записей сделанных на радио в Украине, Катерина впервые дебютировала в студии в 2001 году с альбомом Yadid Nefesh. Как исполнитель еврейских песен, сольно она начала выступать, сопровождая себе на фортепьяно на фестивалях и в клубах. Сейчас она представлена в тандеме с сербским гитаристом Бориславом Преличем, который сопровождал её в записи диска Karev Yom.

Katerine Koltzova
(Prague, Czech Republic)

    I was born in 1971 in Kiev in the Ukraine where I attended a school for the visually impaired. It was my greatest wish to study singing but with my disability it was impossible to do this in my home country.

    I therefore studied at the University of Culture in Kiev a related subject, which was Music Folklore. My special area of study was the music of Western Ukraine. In 1994 I came to study in Prague where I was able to study singing at the Jan Deyl Conservatory in the Lesser Town area.

    From the very beginning of my stay in the Czech Republic I have given performances. Sometimes I give my own concerts but I have also appeared with the Spiritual Quintet, with Vladimнr Merta and many others. In 1998 I had a part in the film Hamsa. In 2000 the Czech director Martin Pбtek made a documentary film about my life called Kackele. Also in 2000 I recorded a CD of Jewish songs entitled Jedyd nefesh. On this CD there are songs in Jiddish, Ladino and Hebrew.

In 2000 I attended the Festival of Sephardic Culture, Esperansa 2000, in Sofia, Bulgaria, where I also gave several concerts.

    I do not intend to return to the Ukraine because I am now married to a Czech. Our wedding took place at the Old-New Synagogue on Sunday, 24.10.1999. I became a member of the Prague Jewish Community. In June 2001 our daughter Debora was born, she is of course the most beautiful infant in the world.

    In 2003 I recorded another CD entitled Karev jom - Close is the day. It contains Jewish religious songs in Hebrew.

    In 2003 I also took part in the Klezfest Festival in Kiev in the Ukraine. It was a very rewarding experience where I had the opportunity to attend various workshops on Jewish music.

    In the future I wish to concentrate mainly on Jewish music.

Kateryna Koltsova-Tlusta is a singer of remarkable refinement, range and emotional intensity. She possesses a voice which is beautiful, rich and resonant. She is a fine musician, conservatory trained as a singer and university trained as a folklorist. This background informs her interpretations with an unusual degree of intellectual and musical sophistication and depth. She resides in Prague, The Czech Republic, where she performs everywhere from television, film and radio, to the nation's important concert halls, theaters and clubs. Recordings of her singing demonstrate a wide-ranging Jewish repertoire in a number of Jewish languages and musical idioms - Ladino, Hebrew and Yiddish folk and composed music, in adventurous arrangements. She is a forward looking musician, in step with contemporary world music performance styles and an exciting performer.

Adrienne Cooper

New York, December, 2003