Kitty Draper, Trumpet Soloist

Artist Profile

Kitty Draper is a new face on the classical music stage, having only started her performance career in early 2024 at the urging of several of her teachers. Unlike many classical musicians, Kitty’s journey to the stage has not been one of conservatory education and solo competitions, but of a rediscovered hobby that turned into a rediscovered passion that has now turned into a career. That was certainly not the musical path Kitty had intended; Kitty did spend two years studying trumpet performance at Eastern Kentucky University when she first graduated high school, but as is sometimes the case, that simply did not turn out to be the path that Kitty was destined to take. Instead, after facing frustrations in college, Kitty’s life took an unexpected turn and she found herself instead investing her attentions in computer science and video game development, a path that she would follow to Austin and to a professional career working in the games industry, including titles such as Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Star Wars: The Old Republic, among others. Currently, Kitty is a part of the multiplayer netcode team at Unity, helping to build code solutions to enable more game developers to build compelling multiplayer games.

Kitty picked the trumpet back up in 2019 and sought out private instruction with Estela Aragon. In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, Kitty started further attending master classes at the Apex Trumpet Symposium and taking additional lessons with international soloist Mary Elizabeth Bowden; acting associate principal trumpet of the North Carolina Symphony, David Dash; and international performing and recording artist, Dr. Nathan Warner, to her core teachers list. With their instruction and strong encouragement, Kitty has decided to chase her original dream again and become a solo artist herself.

Kitty brings with her to the stage her interest in video games and technology through the inclusion of video game music and projected visuals in her concert programs, as well as her interest in Japanese “lolita” fashion through her performance attire and the inclusion of other musical selections from Japan, while still holding to her classical music roots by including some traditional musical selections from both historical and modern times. Being a queer woman, Kitty also strives to find music by other queer, female, transgender, and non-binary composers to include in her repertoire.

Kitty plays on Stomvi Master B♭ and C trumpets, Stomvi Master and Scherzer 8112 piccolo trumpets, and a Stomvi Titan 4-Valve Edition C Cornet. On the B♭ and C trumpets, Kitty is especially fond of the #30 big bell. Kitty's mouthpiece is an Austin Winds 645 M cup with the #1 backbore.