“Cathlene Pineda has the ears, touch and sound of a player decades beyond the date on her license – what a surprise to find that she is at the beginning of her career. Record companies, this is your wake-up call – She’s a player to watch…and a name to remember.”
— John Schneider, The Global Village on KPFK

“Cathlene Pineda is a sought-after composer and pianist known for her 'beautifully intimate and heartfelt music.'”
— Ralph Alessi, musician, composer, and creator of the School of Improvised Music

Cathlene Pineda is a sought after pianist and composer in the Los Angeles area. In 2016, Orenda Records released Cathlene's second album of original music, Passing: A California Suite. "Airy, elegant, and haunting" (Cesareo Garasa, The Californian), this album was originally a piece commissioned by the Los Angeles Jazz Society and premiered at the Angel City Jazz Festival. The album creates “an open atmosphere that hints at the complex beauty of the city" (Lee Epstein, freejazzblog.org). The LA Times called Cathlene’s first album, A Week’s Time, (Orenda Records, 2014) a “graceful pleasure.” Her third album, Rainbow Baby, released June 5th 2020, chronicles her progression through motherhood, birth and loss.

Highlights of her recent projects include a two-year-long collaboration with the Big Show Dance Company (premiered in October 2015 and again in February 2017) to incorporate original compositions with recorded memories, a commission by the Oakwood school for a collaborative dance and choral piece, and a commission to compose a piece for the Jane Goodall Institute, as well as her featured compositions in the critically-acclaimed film, "Jason Nash is Married," produced by Comedy Central Studios. She is currently working on a choral commission from the University of Idaho, Pocatello, to be performed in 2020.

As a performer, Cathlene has worked with an extensive list of notable musicians and composers, including: Charlie Haden, Bobby Bradford, Ab Baars (From the ICP), Art Lande, Wadada Leo Smith, Albert “Tootie” Heath, Kris Tiner, Philip Greenlief, Vinny Golia, and Mark Miller. She is a music professor at Glendale Community College and teaches a private studio of pianists and composers out of her home studio in Altadena, California.

www.cathlenepineda.com