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Amy Catron, cello
Concert cellist Amy Catron has established herself as one of the leading performers of her generation. She has toured and recorded extensively as a soloist, as well as in chamber and orchestral settings throughout the United States, Europe, and China. She has appeared as soloist with Charlotte Symphony in Florida, Illinois Symphony Chamber Orchestra, and Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra.
As a solo and chamber musician she tackles repertoire spreading from the Renaissance Era to contemporaneity. Her interest in early music led to highly praised appearances as a viola da gamba player and a fruitful collaboration with Illinois’s BACH Orchestra for many years. Ms. Catron is also an avid promoter of new music, having performed and premièred many works by living composers, including Michael Schelle, Peter Michalove, and Carlos Carillo. She is also the cellist with the Arcadia Chamber Players.
An active orchestra musician, Ms. Catron is currently principal cellist with Sinfonia da Camera and Millikin-Decatur Symphony and assistant principal with Illinois Symphony and Illinois Chamber Orchestras. Prior to moving to the Midwest, she has been a member of the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra in Florida and has collaborated with the Akron and Canton Symphonies in Ohio, and the Richmond Symphony Orchestra in Virginia.
In addition to her performing career, Ms. Catron is a sought-after pedagogue, adjudicator, and clinician. She currently resides in Decatur, IL, where she is the cello professor at Millikin University School of Music. She is in high demand as a jury member and clinician and has taught and performed widely at music festivals, including 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. She frequently publishes reviews of new music in the National American String Teachers Association Magazine.
Ms. Catron studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester (New York) and the University of Akron (Ohio). Her principal teachers were Michael Haber and Pamela Frame. She has also advanced her studies at music festivals and in masterclass sessions with Paul Katz, Yehuda Hanani, Carter Brey, and with the Cleveland and Kronos Quartets.
Recently, Amy Catron has appeared as soloist with the Decatur Youth Symphony, Olivet Nazarene Symphony, and the Sangamon Civic Orchestra, and has been broadcast live on WILL FM. Highlights of Ms. Catron’s 2014-2015 season include a Midwest tour in duo with pianist Silvan Negruțiu and the world première performance of Carlos Carillo’s new Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, dedicated to her and commissioned in collaboration with Sinfonia da Camera. The première took place on February 13, 2015, at the Krannert Center in Champaign IL.