Acerca de

Cate Bryan, NCTM and Steinway Verified Teacher, is a native of Sioux City, Iowa, and began taking piano lessons at the age of 5. By age 12, she began to compete at both IMTA and MTNA up through her high school graduation, under the tutelage of IMTA members Aris Montgomery, Sally Hodges, and Dr. James March. Most notably in her junior and senior years of high school, Cate was a Level F winner at both local and state auditions and placed honorable mention in the 2001 MTNA piano competition.

​

Studying piano seriously in high school led Cate to a music scholarship at Hillsdale College, where she graduated summa cum laude with a piano performance major, under instruction from Drs. Robert and Susan Rathmell.  She also completed a classical studies major, under instruction from Dr. Joseph Garnjobst, Dr. Lorna Holmes, and Dr. David Jones. She combined both majors in her senior piano recital by composing and performing a song cycle from Virgil’s Aeneid called The Dido Series with soprano Hannah (Dixon) McConnell in 2005. Fifteen years later, she was most delighted to present the world premiere of the complete song cycle, known as The Aeneid Series, at the Eta Sigma Phi National Convention at St. Olaf College in March 2019, with soprano Hannah (Dixon) McConnell and tenor Christian Sanders.

​

Although Cate began piano lesson instruction during her college days, she spent the first decade working in financial services (insurance, investments, and government relations), state government (Iowa Senate), and federal government (U.S. Senate) while teaching a few piano lessons in the evening hours.  She transitioned to full-time teaching in March 2018 and now teaches private piano lessons to 40 students in her Steinway studio. Many of her students place and win district and state audition competitions.

​

​She has been a member of both IMTA and MTNA since 2018 and has served many roles in both her local and state associations. In 2019, she was Vice-President and President-Elect of her local association, DMMTA, and in 2020, she held the role of President. From 2021-2025 Cate served as Treasurer of DMMTA.  Her IMTA responsibilities began in 2021, where Cate held the role of First Vice-President, State Auditions Chair and then transitioned to the role of State Treasurer in 2023. Currently, Cate serves as the State Certification Chair, helping fellow members achieve their NCTM certification, as she did in 2020.​ Not only that, but Cate has also been an invited adjudicator and pedagogy presenter to many local associations across Iowa.

​

Cate has had the distinct honor of receiving Steinway’s Top Teacher Award in 2022, and the IMTA Distinguished Service Award in 2023.

​

In other musical undertakings, since August 2022, Cate is a Board of Trustee member of the Terrace Hill Endowment for Musical Arts (THEMA), which supports the annual Terrace Hill Piano Competition. Since 2024, Cate has been honored to Chair this esteemed organization, and for the first time in competition history, the event was moved to its proper home at Terrace Hill, with the full support of the board and First Family in 2025.

​

With Cate’s love of classic films throughout the Golden Age of Hollywood, she has performed and recorded two virtual concerts in collaboration with the Cary Come Home Festival (Bristol, UK) and Cinemaize (Des Moines’ classic film club), performing music to celebrate the work and life of Hollywood actor Cary Grant.

​

In home life, Cate and her husband, Ben, and daughter, Kaitoon, reside in Waukee with their rescue beagle, Dusty Rose. They are members of Peace Lutheran Church in Des Moines. Cate is also a member of Cinemaize, the Sigma Alpha Iota Alumnae Chapter of Des Moines, the Iowa Federation of Republican Women, and Capitol Region Republican Women.

​

In her free time, Cate enjoys reading, running, traveling, watching Cary Grant films, and cheering on her Green Bay Packers.