Acclaimed for her “admirable virtuoso skills,” Amy Catron appears regularly as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician in settings throughout the United States, Europe, and China. She is the principal cellist of the Starkville Symphony Orchestra and occasionally appears with the Alabama Symphony, Mississippi Symphony, and Meridian Symphony. Until 2023, she served as the principal cellist with Sinfonia da Camera and the Millikin-Decatur Symphony, and as associate principal cellist with the Illinois Symphony and Chamber Orchestra. 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, Dr. Catron actively presents her research and creative activity, most recently at the the 2025 and 2022 National College Music Society Conferences, the International Symposium for Sociology in Music Education (2025, New Jersey; 2023, Mexico; 2021, Norway), the International Society for Music Education and Community Music Activities Commission and World Conference in Finland (2024), Music by Women International Festival (2024 and 2025), College Music Society Southern Conference (2023 and 2024), the 2022 National Sigma Alpha Iota Conference (North Carolina), and the 2022 Great Lakes College Music Society Conference (Illinois). Dr. Catron frequently publishes new music reviews in the National American String Teachers Association Magazine, serves as an associate editor for the International Journal of Education and the Arts, and has been published in Transform, a peer-reviewed journal of the International Centre for Community Music.
In addition to her performing career, Dr. Catron is a sought-after pedagogue, adjudicator, and clinician. She has taught and performed widely at music festivals, including Five Cities Baroque Festival, 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 serves as an Assistant Teaching Professor of Cello and String Area Coordinator at Mississippi State University, where she also collaborates with the Starkville-Oktibbeha Public Schools to develop curricula and implement high-quality, no-cost string education initiatives.
Dr. Catron studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester (New York) and the University of Akron (Ohio) and holds a DMA 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.