Emma Rush Illuminates 19th-Century Guitar Pioneer With "The Life and Times of Catharina Pratten" Album

"Evening Song" – YouTube and Spotify

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TORONTO, May 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Acclaimed classical guitarist Emma Rush, hailed as "one of Canada's premier classical guitarists" (Vivascene Magazine), brings a forgotten icon to vibrant life with her new album The Life and Times of Catharina Pratten, out now. With expressive mastery, historical insight, and curatorial brilliance, Rush presents the first-ever album dedicated to 19th-century virtuosa Catharina Josepha Pratten — a trailblazing performer, composer, and educator whose legacy she's determined to restore.

"Pratten was so prolific," says Rush. "She taught Queen Victoria's daughter, invented new notation, and even tuned her guitar down to D — a hundred years before Black Sabbath did! Yet she's been largely excluded from guitar history. I intend to set the record straight."

The album features seven previously unrecorded works by Pratten, alongside first recordings of pieces by her father Ferdinand Pelzer, her husband Robert Sidney Pratten, her colleague Leonard Schulz, and her student Frank Mott Harrison. Rush also includes music by contemporaries like Francisco Tárrega, Giulio Regondi, and Ernest Shand. "I wanted to show Pratten's work in context — to paint a fuller picture of the 19th-century London guitar scene," Rush explains.

Adding to the project's historical depth, Rush recorded the album on two guitars tied directly to Pratten: one bearing her personal signature, and another Boosey & Sons "Pratten model" from the 1850s — one of the first-ever signature series guitars.

Highlights include "Absence," a piece Rush describes as "technically rich, yet emotionally moving," and "Evening Song," which captures Pratten's lyrical grace and harmonic sensitivity.

Known for championing overlooked voices, Rush's 2020 release Wake the Sigh featured rare works by women composers, while 2023's A Dream of Colour commissioned new music inspired by Canadian painter William Blair Bruce. With The Life and Times of Catharina Pratten, she deepens her mission — blending performance, scholarship, and advocacy.

Rush's international reputation continues to grow, with performances at the Altamira Shanghai International Guitar Festival, Future Echoes in Sweden, and a cross-country tour aboard The Canadian. Her 2025–26 tour includes stops across Canada, Europe, the U.K., and the prestigious Iserlohn International Guitar Symposium in Germany.

"She really defined the guitar in Britain for most of the 19th century," says Rush. "And now, finally, she can take her rightful place in our musical memory."

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