Staff & faculty

A native of Louisiana, Colin Catoe began his musical studies on the violin and viola in the public schools of Baton Rouge and graduated cum laude from Louisiana State University (LSU), where his primary instructors were Dr. James Byo, Dr. Jerzy Kosmala, and Dr. Linda Moorhouse. While at LSU he performed primarily as a violist with the LSU Symphony and was also a part of the tuba section and served as drum major for the Golden Band from Tigerland.

Mr. Catoe is in his nineteenth year of teaching and his fourth year teaching at Creekwood Middle School in Kingwood, Texas, where he has the joy of teaching beginning and young musicians alongside his good friend and mentor, Ken Buck. Before arriving to Creekwood, he most recently served 13 years as the orchestra director at Atascocita High School.

His tenure at Atascocita included consistent UIL Concert & Sight Reading Sweepstakes awards from all five levels of orchestras and invited performances at the 2012 Midwest Clinic: An International Band & Orchestra Conference, the 2014 American String Teachers Association’s National Orchestra Festival (NOF), the 2016 Grand National Adjudicators Invitational (GNAI), and the 2020 Music for All: Orchestra America National Festival, with the AHS Chamber Strings earning the Grand Champion award at the NOF and GNAI.

Mr. Catoe resides in Kingwood with his wife Elyse, also an active musician and educator, and their sons Jonah, a young cellist, and Caleb, a just starting violinist. As a family they love being a part of their community, spending time together as a family, running and biking on the greenbelt trails, and serving in their church.

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