Dr. Amy Catron

Acclaimed for her "admirable virtuoso skills," Amy Catron appears regularly as a soloist, chamber, orchestral musician, and clinician in settings throughout the United States, Europe, and China. She is the principal cellist of the Starkville Symphony Orchestra and associate principal cellist with the Illinois Symphony and Chamber Orchestra. Until 2023, she was the principal cellist with Sinfonia da Camera and Millikin-Decatur Symphony. She has appeared as a soloist with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (Florida), the Illinois Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia da Camera, the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, the Illini Symphony at the University of Illinois, Olivet Nazarene Symphony Orchestra, Millikin Wind Ensemble, and with the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana (BACH). Before moving to the Midwest, she was a member of the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra in Florida. She collaborated with the Akron and Canton Symphonies in Ohio and the Richmond Symphony Orchestra in Virginia.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Dr. Catron is also an avid promoter of new music, having performed and premièred many works by composers, including Robert Chumbley, Michael Schelle, Peter Michalove, and Carlos Carillo. Her CD, Particles and Prayer, won a Global Music Award silver medal in March 2019. Amy Catron has given several world première performances, including Carlos Carillo's O Casi el Alma for Cello and Orchestra, dedicated to her and commissioned in collaboration with Sinfonia da Camera. She also gave world premieres of and has recorded Robert Chumbley's ParticIe I for solo Cello, Particle II for cello and wind Ensemble, and Songs of the Siren for cello and piano live on YouTube. She also appears internationally as a chamber musician.

As a researcher, Catron has presented her scholarship and performances at the 2023 International Society for Sociology in Music Education Conference in Xalapa, Mexico, the 2023 National Music Teacher's National Association Conference (Nevada), the 2023 Desert Skies Music Education Conference (Arizona), 2022 National College Music Society Conference (California), the 2022 National Sigma Alpha Iota Conference (North Carolina), the 2022 Great Lakes College Music Society Conference (Illinois), and the 2021 International Society for Sociology in Music Education Conference (Norway). Dr. Catron frequently publishes new music reviews in the National American String Teachers Association Magazine and is published in Transform, a peer-reviewed journal of the International Centre for Community Music.

In addition to her performing career, Ms. Catron is a sought-after pedagogue, adjudicator, and clinician. She has taught and performed widely at music festivals, including InterHarmony International Music Festival (Italy), Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Illinois Wesleyan Chamber and Cello Camps, Bands of America, Illinois Summer Youth Music Programs, and the International Chamber Music Festival in Bulgaria, where she was named Artistic Director for 2015. She has also been a collaborative faculty member at Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois State Universities. Catron previously was the String Area Coordinator at Millikin University School of Music, where she taught applied cello, music theory, ear training, pedagogy, string methods, and university studies. She also taught Suzuki Strings at Johns Hill Magnet School in the Decatur Public Schools. Currently, Dr. Catron is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Cello at Mississippi State University, where she also collaborates with the Starkville-Oktibbeha Public Schools in string education.

Dr. Catron studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester (New York) and the University of Akron (Ohio) and is a recent DMA graduate in Music Education from Boston University (Massachusetts). She has also advanced her studies at music festivals and in masterclass sessions with Paul Katz, Yehuda Hanani, Carter Brey, and the Cleveland and Kronos Quartets. Her principal teachers were Michael Haber and Pamela Frame.

In addition to teaching and researching, Amy is passionate about performing as a chamber musician, soloist, and orchestral player to share her love of music in any context where there is room for more cello.