The MUSE staff members are hard working individuals with rich experience that guides the choir through it's future. While they all share similar visions, each staff member influences the choir in a unique way. Always changing. Always growing.

Catherine Roma

Catherine Roma became one of the founding mothers of the women's choral movement, an international network of over 70 women's choruses, when she started Anna Crusis Women's Choir in her native Philadelphia in 1975. She began MUSE in 1984 after coming to Ohio to do graduate work at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music where she completed her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in 1989. Catherine is currently Professor of Music at Wilmington College. Through her association at Wilmington, Catherine founded and directs UMOJA Men’s Chorus at Warren Correctional Institution, in Lebanon, Ohio. She is Minister of Music at St. John's Unitarian Universalist Church in Cincinnati, and is co-founder and director of the Martin Luther King Coalition Chorale. Recent honors include the Jane Schlissman Award for Outstanding Contributions to Women's Music (1993), Race Relations Recognition Award (1999), the GALA Legacy Award (2000), the Maurice McCracken Award (2000), the Cincinnati Leading Woman Award, Arts/Entertainment category (2001), the Image Maker Award (2002), the Enduring Spirit Award (2003), the Community Service Award from the Council of Christian Communions (2004), and the Governor's Award for the Arts, in the category Community Development & Participation (2008). In January 2006, Roma's first book The Choral Music of Twentieth-Century Women Composers: Elisabeth Lutyens, Elizabeth Maconchy, and Thea Musgrave, was published by Scarecrow Press. artisticdirector@musechoir.org

Lois Shegog

Lois Shegog, Assistant Director of MUSE since 1995, taught music in the Cincinnati Public Schools until her recent retirement. She received her Bachelor of Music Education at Miami University (Ohio) and continued her studies in vocal performance and counseling at The Ohio State University. Lois sings and helps direct the Martin Luther King Coalition Chorale, and works as a choir clinician teaching singing in the African-American tradition.

Rachel Kramer

Rachel Kramer, Associate Director and Accompanist, has been with MUSE since 1995. Rachel holds Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in piano performance from Eastern Illinois University and a Master of Music in piano performance and pedagogy from The University of Michigan. From 1990-1996, she served as the Manager of Educational Programs for the Baldwin Piano & Organ Co. and from 1998-2001 was the Assistant Executive Director at the Music Teachers National Association. Currently, Rachel is President of Music Learning Center, Inc.; Member Liaison for Music Teachers National Association and Associate Director of Music at St. John's Unitarian Universalist Church. She is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM),is co-founder and director of Piano Planet - a piano camp in Cincinnati and president-elect for the MTNA/OMTA Southwest District Association. associatedirector@musechoir.org

Ruth Rowan

Ruth Rowan, Interpreter, has been delivering the music of MUSE to the hearing impaired at MUSE concerts since 1985. She has a Bachelor's degree in Speech Language Pathology and a Master's degree in Deaf Education from the University of Cincinnati. In June of 2006, Ruth retired from teaching deaf students in Cincinnati Public Schools. She is now busy freelance interpreting, substitute teaching, interpreting for the Cincinnati Men's Chorus, the Voices of Freedom, as well as her first love, MUSE. Ruth is also an active board member for Women in the Arts, the producers of the National Women's Music Festival. She will always be an Alto I at heart and continues to be honored to be able to be a part of this inspiring organization. For the seventeeth year, Ruth is thrilled to be sharing the stage with her beautiful daughter, Tammy.