Savannah Music Festival (SMF) is delighted to announce that acclaimed singer, songwriter and banjo player Kaia Kater will serve as the nonprofit organization’s 2024-2025 Artist in Residence. Her year-long residency will include in-depth work with local musicians and in-person visits with and performances for Savannah-area students.
Kater will select a small group of local songwriters and musicians, offering free personal mentoring and coaching to the group. She will workshop original songs with local musicians throughout the year and will perform new works with local songwriters in September 2025. Musicians in the coastal region who are interested in working with Kater can fill out an application starting on Sept. 6 at savannahmusicfestival.org.
Throughout her year-long Savannah Music Festival residency, Kater will host student workshops and introduce nearly 10,000 K-2 students to American folk music through SMF’s Musical Explorers program. Musical Explorers is a free program developed in partnership with Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute in which local K-2 students develop basic music skills in their classrooms as they learn songs from different cultures, reflect on their communities and work on singing and listening skills.
“Kaia is a remarkable talent with a passion for North American folk music and its traditions,” said SMF Senior Director of Community Impact Jenny Woodruff. “We first met her as a student at our Acoustic Music Seminar in 2016, and from the moment she stepped onstage, it was clear that she has a unique and special voice. It has been wonderful to watch her career grow, and we know that she will be an asset to Savannah’s students and to the local music community. She is an engaging performer and masterful storyteller who will encourage local songwriters to refine their craft and inspire local students to see music as a way to tell their own stories.”
Born in Montreal, Canada, Kater is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and composer known for her haunting and inventive Americana and Appalachian folk scores and songs with a modern twist. Her work is heavily influenced by her ties to the Canadian folk music scene, her college years in West Virginia surrounded by Appalachian music and her father’s upbringing in Grenada. Her jazz-fueled voice and deft songcraft have garnered acclaim from NPR’s Tiny Desk, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, CBC and BBC Music. She previously performed at the Savannah Music Festival in 2024, contributed the Musical Explorers program in 2019 and participated in the Savannah Music Festival’s Acoustic Music Seminar in 2016.
Referred to as “a star in the making” by online music service and respected leader for folk, roots, and Americana content Folk Alley, Kater released her first EP Old Soul shortly after high school graduation. By college graduation, this talented performer was named to Rolling Stone’s list of the “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know.” She has released several albums, including Sorrow Bound, Nine Pin and Grenades, which earned acclaim in Canada with a JUNO Award nomination and a coveted place on the Polaris Music Prize long list.
Kater is currently promoting her latest album Strange Medicine with performances throughout the United States and Canada. Throughout her career, she has toured internationally and performed at many concert halls and festivals, including Carnegie Hall and the Newport Folk Festival.
About Savannah Music Festival
A leading nonprofit performing arts organization, Savannah Music Festival (SMF) is dedicated to presenting exceptional live music that entertains, educates, inspires and unites communities. In addition to year-round performances, music education, community engagement and broadcast initiatives, SMF produces one of the most distinctive multi-genre music festivals in the world.
Hailed by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution as “one of the gleaming musical treasures of the Southeast'' and by the Toronto Star as “one of North America’s most distinctive musical events,” the annual springtime festival has featured thousands of artists from across the globe since its founding in 1989. More info: savannahmusicfestival.org.
