Catharina Backman (b. 1961, Stockholm) is a Swedish composer, jazz pianist, and improvisational musician with a rich and varied background. Her career has included roles as bandleader, theater musician, choir director, and performer—including as part of the traveling variety show Varieté Vauduvill, where she composed music, learned the accordion, and even performed on stage.
With her acclaimed ensemble Katzen Kapell, Backman performs her own tango-influenced compositions, known for their playful, stylistic twists and Zappa-like flair. Alongside her work in jazz and theater, she has composed orchestral and chamber music, having studied composition with Maurice Karkoff in Stockholm and later with Hans Gefors, Rolf Martinsson, Kent Olofsson, and Javier Alvarez at the Malmö Academy of Music, where she earned her degree in 2000.
Text and voice often play a central role in her music—not just for their meaning, but for their sound. She has composed settings of poetry as well as children's operas such as Porträttet and Stackars mej. Her compositional style is shaped by her wide-ranging musical experience and blends elements from both classical and non-traditional genres. Backman has also explored electroacoustic music, particularly works for loudspeakers and solo instruments.
Tony Lundman,2003