Catherine Roma

Catherine Roma in 2015

Catherine Roma (born 1948) is an American organizer and founding member of the women's choral movement. She founded the feminist Anna Crusis Women's Choir in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1975.

Biography

Catherine Roma was born in Philadelphia on January 29, 1948.[1] She attended Germantown Friends School, a Quaker School. Roma earned degrees in music and choral conducting at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and became involved in lesbian and feminist politics while studying there.[2] While in Wisconsin she worked with historian Ann D. Gordon to identify music by and about women throughout history, creating the folk opera American Women: A Choral History for the United States Bicentennial.[3] After returning to Philadelphia in 1975 to teach music at Abington Friends School,[2] she formed the Anna Crusis Women's Choir, which performed American Women: A Choral History at a number of colleges throughout the northeast.[4]

By starting Anna Crusis, the first feminist women’s choir in the United States, Roma became one of the founding mothers of the women's choral movement.[5] Her beliefs in feminism, social justice, and Quaker models of leadership fundamentally shaped the mission and direction of Anna Crusis.[2] Decisions were often made through a process similar to Quaker consensus, in which all members had a voice.[6]

Roma left Anna in 1983 to pursue a graduate degree in music at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, receiving her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in 1989. In Cincinnati Roma founded MUSE (Cincinnati's Women's Choir).[2]

Roma received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses in 2012.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Follet, Joyce (June 2005). Catherine Roma: Voices of Feminism Oral History Project (PDF). Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Follet, Joyce (19–20 June 2005). "Catherine Roma" (PDF). Voices of Feminism Oral History Project. Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  3. ↑ Zimmerman, Bonnie, ed. (2000). Encyclopedia of lesbian and gay histories and cultures. an encyclopedia (online ed.). New York: Garland. p. 517. ISBN 978-0815319207.
  4. ↑ Doane, Kathleen (2004). "MUSE's muse: How Catherine Roma created a women's choir that sings in a diverse key". Cincinnati Magazine.
  5. ↑ "The Dr. Catherine Roma Women Composers Commissioning Project". GALA Choruses. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  6. ↑ Shea, Kathleen (24 January 1992). "Anna Crusis: Many Voices, One Spirit". Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  7. ↑ "Cathy Roma to Receive GALA Lifetime Achievement Award". MUSE. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
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