Kate studied Early Music at the Victorian College of the Arts graduating with a Bachelor of Performance 1996. During this time she also studied composition with Mary Finsterer, Mark Pollard and Brenton Broadstock.
Kate received a NUFFIC scholarship from the Dutch Government in 1998 and moved to The Netherlands to study composition with Louis Andriessen, Martijn Padding and Gilius van Bergeijk at the Koninklijk Conservatory, and Carnatic (Sth Indian) music studies with Rafael Rainer at the Sweelink Conservatory, Amsterdam. In 2000 Kate was awarded equal first prize in the International Young Composers Meeting and a special mention in the Henriette Bosmans prize.

She returned to Melbourne, Australia in 2003, establishing her events company Dead Horse Productions. In August 2005 Kate received a scholarship from the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Siena Italy and studied under Maestro Corghi and Ensemble. In 2006 Kate was the recipient of the Hephzibah Tintner Fellowship, affiliated with the Australian Ballet, Sydney Dance Company, Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
The Dead Horse Band was established in 2005, and has become a major vehicle for Neal’s compositions. The ensemble comprises of: string quartet, piano, el. guitar, el. bass and drums.
Kate is the recipient of various awards and fellowships, including the Aspen Music Festival, the Atlantic Centre for the Arts and the Australia Council for the Arts.
She has enjoyed working as an orchestrator and arranger for many pop and rock bands as well as feature and independent films (Rogue 07; Song for a Comb, Tropfest 08).
Kate worked as a sessional composition teacher in the Music Department of the Victorian College of the Arts, and also lectured in Music and Image at the Centre for Ideas, Melbourne 2004-2007.
In July 2008 Kate graduated with honours in Post Graduate Diploma in composition from the Royal Northern College of Music, UK and in September 09 will begin a PhD position at Princeton University, NJ.

Recent Commissions and Performances include:
Trio No. 5 – Golden Furr Trio, Melbourne 09; Hourly Scrutinising – Firebird Ensemble, Harvard 09; -Gogonassus (arr Vln, Vox, Pf) Melbourne 09; Song for a Comb – Short Film, best animation, Tropfest 09; Semaphore Part II – RNCM, Steve Mackay Festival, UK, 2008; Dead Horse Band performing - ‘Particle Zoo’, ‘Dead Horse 1 and 3’, ‘Concave City’ – arr., ‘The Gift’: 2007 Melbourne International Festival & Full-Tilt – Arts Centre, AUS; ‘GeeHi Trio’ – Aspen Music Festival, US; ‘Semaphore’ – Forum Theatre, Melbourne; ‘Concave City & A Love Story for Two Cars’ – Nth Melbourne Arts House, Meat Market; ‘Dead Horse 1’ – Dead Horse Band, Melbourne Festival 2006; ‘String Trio’ – Melbourne Festival 2005; ‘Mechanical Sympathy’ - Brass Quintet + drum & bass ANU 2005; ‘Concave City’ – ANAM String Orchestra conducted by Brett Dean 2004; ‘Solo’ – for solo violin, Melbourne Festival 2003; ‘Little Fury II’ – Dead Horse Ensemble, World Wide Warehouse 2003, 2004; ‘Rabid Bay’ for Michael Kieran Harvey and ensemble, World Wide Warehouse 2004; ‘Little Fury I’ - Ballet, D’Ereprijs Ensemble, Holland 2002; ‘Fanfare for the Debutante' - Ensemble Royale Holland 2001; 'Copernicus’ - Symphony Australia New Voices TSO 2001; 'Exodus' - film score, Holland 2002; 'HYRAX'' - Ian Potter Foundation – Melbourne Festival 2000; 'Jos Ei Nyt Niin Million' - INDICTUS Dance Company Finland 2002.

 

‘Transforming traditional parameters of the classical musical experience has been a challenge for many entrepreneurs. Dead Horse gets it right’..... Xenia Hanusiak, Herald Sun 04

‘New music, new champion..... the program established Dead Horse as an exciting vehicle not only for Neal, but a wide range of new music’..... Jonathan Marshall, Real Time 04

‘There’s nothing moribund about the music she has written for this remarkable eight-piece ensemble; her ‘dead horses’ literally leap with life’. Neal…. an Adrenalin-filled musical adventure a winner, at a gallop’..... Jessica Nicholas, The Age Oct 2007

Neal’s compositions show great variety: one moment she is combining with video artist Mendel Hardeman for some sharp social satire (Holy Vessels), the next she explores micro-tonalities (Little Fury). Rabid Bay, for piano and big band, blends dense notation with bebop riffs..... Martin Ball, The Australian, 2004

‘It’s not every day that you go to a concert featuring a concerto for two Toyota Cressidas and a string orchestra. But that’s just the sort of thing to expect from [Kate Neals’] Dead Horse Productions’..... Martin Ball, The Australian, 2006

‘Composer Kate Neal represents the new wave of Australian composers and is the heart and brains behind dead Horse Productions. Neal’s Rabid Bay, a new work composed for Michael Kieran Harvey, is an explosion of scintillating colour and intoxicating movement’..... Xenia Hanusiak, Herald Sun, 2004

The evening’s finale, Kate Neal’s Concave City and A Love Story for Two Cars (2006) is the show-stopper. In the open space between the string Orchestra and the audience, 2 cars drive in, one gently crashing into the other. Two traffic weary drivers emerge to confront each other and begin an intense, agile and at times erotic dance in, on and around the cars. The miked sounds of slamming doors, indicators and windscreen wipers form part of the score. The excellent dancers – Lina Limosani and Choreographer Anton – portray frenetic urban life with power and energy, supported by Neal’s evocative composition for strings. This collaboration is the most effective and powerful blending of media’..... Chris Reid, Real Time 2006.