Cathy Berberian was an American mezzo-soprano and composer, born in 1925 in Attleboro, Massachusetts, who began her career in the mid-20th century and specialised in contemporary classical and experimental vocal music. She pioneered extended vocal techniques and theatrical performance practices through close collaborations with avant-garde composers, and her repertoire spanned classical, experimental and popular idioms, contributing to changes in vocal performance practice and the reception of new music.
