Katz, Rowan
Rowan Katz is a Bay Area–based vocalist, composer, music educator, and performance artist whose work sits at the crossroads of diasporic Jewish music, contemporary songwriting, and embodied voice practice. Drawing from Yiddish, Ladino, Eastern European, American theater/folk, and related song traditions alongside original material, Rowan treats the voice as a living archive—carrying memory, rupture, migration, grief, joy, and continuity through sound.
Their performances often weave together song, historical context, translation, and storytelling, inviting audiences into relationship with the music. Influenced by folk transmission, cabaret, somatic practice, choral work, and ritual forms, Rowan approaches Jewish song not as preservation alone, but as a breathing, evolving practice shaped by present-day bodies and lives.
Rowan’s work has been presented at the JetLAG Music and Arts Festival, Alameda Free Library, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Borscht Bay, Kol Music Festival, and Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, with additional performance collaborations alongside Kitka and Free Key Choir. They are currently composing the music for Stephanie Sherman and Molly Levy’s dance piece “Welcoming The Stranger,” premiering in San Francisco in Spring 2026.
In addition to performing and composing, Rowan is a trauma-informed voice educator and workshop facilitator, teaching singers and speakers of all levels through a relational, inclusive, and exploratory lens.
- Listing ID: 9531
- Contact: rowanckatz@gmail.com