“Windsong, Cleveland’s Feminist Chorus, strives to create a joyful, caring community with a spirit of inclusiveness and diversity. We create music to promote feminism, social justice, activism, and the empowerment that comes from finding one’s own unique voice.
Come join our song!”
Leadership
Jessica L. Gallagher-Steuver,
Artistic Director
Jessica L. Gallagher-Steuver [STY-ver], she/her, is a passionate music educator, choral conductor, performer, clinician, lifelong learner, and advocate for social justice. Originally from South Euclid, OH, Jessica is a full-time PhD Candidate in Music Education at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland. She is currently completing her dissertation on LGBTQ+ choral participation in older adulthood. Her research interests include queer studies and intersectional feminism in music education, belonging and mental wellness in choir, and community music. In addition to her work with Windsong, Jessica is an Adjunct Professor of Choral Methods at Cleveland State University, and the Instructor of Record of University Chorale and Voice Skills & Pedagogy at CWRU.
Prior to her work with Windsong, CWRU, and CSU, Jessica taught early childhood and elementary general music, and middle school choir in Cincinnati, OH. Jessica holds degrees from Bowling Green State University (BM) and the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music (MM). Jessica is proud to serve as Windsong's Artistic Director and looks forward to continuing the chorus's work of community building, advocacy, inclusivity, and empowerment through song.
Megan Denman, Accompanist
Megan Denman, she/her, is a freelance musician from Lakewood, Ohio. She earned her Bachelor’s in Piano Performance from the Baldwin-Wallace University in 2008, and her Master’s of the same emphasis from University of Akron in 2010. Her piano instructors include Robert Mayerovitch and Laura Silverman, and organ instructors Margaret Scharf and Barbara McGregor. Ms. Denman is a seasoned piano accompanist previously serving as staff at Baldwin-Wallace University, the University of Akron and Kent State University. She maintains a thriving piano studio through her home as well as at Chagrin Valley Music.
Megan studied jazz piano with Rock Wehrmann and Ron Drotos, and her working knowledge of jazz and improvisation permeates her teaching and playing. She is an active Music Teacher’s National Association member and volunteers with the Northeast Ohio chapter. In terms of performing, Megan most looks forward to intentional, dynamic musical art collaborations that coincide with her values.
Jaca Kaverman, Core Group President and Head of Operations
Jaca Kaverman, she/they, has served as the President of Windsong’s Core Group (Executive Board) since 2022. In addition to singing with the group as a Soprano 2, Jaca hosts Core Group meetings, secures performance venues and opportunities, and heads a wonderful team of behind-the-scenes leaders.
In a recent interview with Ideastream Public Media, Kaverman spoke about Windsong’s mission of fostering a safe and inclusive environment for everyone.
“Feminism has always been at the core of who Windsong is and really why it was started. When it was started in 1979, it was a handful of people who wanted a safe space to sing about things that mattered to them.
There have been people who feel comfortable expressing who they are at the concert for the first time or just fully using pronouns for the first time or coming out with an orientation that they've never said out loud before…That's such an important thing to me to keep.”
Natalia Stojkovic,
Choral Music Education Intern
Natalia Stojkovic [STOY-ko-vich], she/her, is a choral music education student at Case Western Reserve University. Raised in Buffalo, NY, Natalia’s love for choral music ignited at a young age, and she has since sought every opportunity to sing in community with others who share that same passion. As a future music educator, Natalia aspires to use music as a tool for fostering deep connection and understanding among those she will have the privilege to work with.
She credits her love for music to the incredibly talented educators who taught her the power of communication and expression through music. Natalia’s growth as a musician and individual is deeply rooted in the love and support she received from these mentors, and she is thrilled to have the opportunity to share this inspiration with Windsong and all who will listen.
The Karen Weaver Memorial Choral Music Education Internship provides a music education student the opportunity to participate in an intergenerational feminist community while receiving mentorship and field experiences in teaching and conducting in a community chorus setting.
In memoriam and with gratitude, Windsong honors Karen Weaver, Artistic Director 2005-2016.
Karen passed away on April 21, 2016. She will be remembered with love and appreciation.
A Detailed Herstory of Windsong
WINDSINGERS CARRY IT ON AND SING WITH FULL HEARTS!
Welcome to Windsong’s fortieth anniversary season! We hope you will enjoy the musical offerings we have prepared for you.
Windsong boasts a long and full Herstory of making beautiful music while promoting feminism and social justice, going all the way back to 1979. First known as the Cleveland Women’s Chorus, the group changed names several times—The Moral Chorale, The Haggettes, and Windsong Womyn’s Ensemble—before settling on Windsong, Cleveland’s Feminist Chorus in 1996. Our numbers have fluctuated over the years, with as few as a half-dozen hardy souls keeping the chorus alive, to as many as forty-nine dedicated singers in 2018. Windsong rests solidly on the dedication of our founding mothers and early leaders: June Adams, Betsy Reeves, Lisa Rainsong, Gayle Pilat, Penny Guy, Nan Gerald, Gayle Crawford, Ellen Catlin, Diane Hobus, Michelle Colopy, Sharon Marrell, Julie “Maze” Henderson, Argerie Vasilakes, and Karen Weaver.
Windsong is a proud member of the Sister Singers Network, an organization founded in 1981 to nurture the spirit, energy, and diversity of the women’s choral movement. We have participated in SSN choral festivals in Grand Rapids, San Diego, Chicago, Champaign-Urbana in 2014, and again in Grand Rapids in 2018 at the 12th Sister Singers Network National Women’s Choral Festival.
SSN gathers every four years to share workshops, performances, and fellowship. As many as 400 singers, including members of more than two dozen choruses from across North America, plus individual singers, composers, and directors, attend the festivals to sing together and perform for each other, culminating in a mass chorus event on the last night. Windsong rocked the house at the University of Illinois in 2014 under the direction of Karen Weaver, both in our own set and in one of the mass chorus pieces. We did it again in Grand Rapids in 2018 under Heather Russell’s direction. We co-hosted that festival with Grand Rapids and are looking forward to co-hosting the 2022 festival here in Cleveland with another SSN member chorus.
Windsong has collaborated with Artemis Singers of Chicago and SheWho of Philadelphia. We’ve shared the stage with the Columbus Women’s Chorus, both here in Cleveland and in Columbus. We have enjoyed being guest performers with the North Coast Men’s Chorus (NCMC), and hosted them in our concerts at Lakewood Presbyterian Church and The Church of the Covenant. In August 2014, Windsong participated in “The Big Cleveland Sing” at the State Theatre during the International Gay Games. Performing individual sets along with Good Company, the NCMC, and the 2014 Gay Games Festival Chorus, we joined in a mass chorus finale of over 150 voices from all over the globe.
Our collective voice has been heard in the larger community through participation in the Womyn’s Variety Show, the Holiday CircleFest in University Circle, and the Cleveland Pride festivals. Windsong has performed at the Lakewood Public Library and at Barnes and Noble at Crocker Park, and we sang the National Anthem at the Veterans Administration Employee Appreciation Multicultural Celebration in August 2016.
In the fall of 2013, we released our first commercial CD, Season of Light: Celebrating holiday traditions sacred and secular, a recording of our December 2012 holiday concert at The Church of the Covenant.
Our last performances under the direction of Karen Weaver were in the 2015–2016 season. Heather Russell became our assistant director in 2014 and our Acting Artistic Director for our spring concert in May 2015. We sang with more than a dozen former Windies at Karen Weaver’s memorial service in April 2016 under the direction of Jan C. Snow. Heather Russell became our Artistic Director, and we dedicated our May 22 concert to Karen’s memory.
In 2016, we were so glad to sing at the opening festivities of A Place for Us, an LGBT-friendly housing community on Cleveland’s West Side—and the lifelong dream of Windsong member Linda Krasienko, who worked for years with many other dedicated dreamers to make it a reality.
We presented three concerts in 2016-2017: “Never Turning Back” in November; “Words Noted: Music of Jan C. Snow” in March, featuring the works of our favorite composer and arranger; and “The Heart and Soul of Windsong” in June, a bouquet of songs evoking the fondest memories and deepest connections of our singers. In July 2017, we performed at River’s Edge as part of “Circle the City with Love,” organized by the Sisters of St. Joseph.
Our 2017-2018 concert season included “Walk on the Earth” in December and “Telling Our Stories” in the spring where we performed in both East Side and West Side venues. Anne E. DeChant brought her guitar to the West Side concert and joined us in her “Girls and Airplanes” for a fabulous encore. Just a few evenings later, we opened for California’s guitar-playing social satirist Roy Zimmerman in his ReZist concert in Cleveland Heights. We were proud to join him in his patriotic “My Vote, My Voice, My Right.”
Jessica Gallagher-Steuver was hired as Artistic Director in 2022 and emphasized the importance of intersectional feminism, doing the work to become an actively anti-racist organization, and honoring our transgender, nonbinary, and otherwise gender-expansive siblings in song. In 2024, we collaborated with Case Western Reserve University Choirs and members of the community to produce A Concert for Rage. The event was inspired by The Case for Rage: Why Anger is Essential to the Anti-Racist Struggle by philosopher, professor, and author Dr. Myisha Cherry, who also served as a special guest speaker. The concert featured a multi-ensemble performance of Dr. Rollo Dilworth’s Weather, for which Dr. Dilworth served as a guest clinician.
We collectively emphasized the importance of maintaining momentum for justice advocacy and formed Windsong’s first committee for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). We also created an ongoing book club to further our work towards radical inclusivity.
In 2024, Windsong also celebrated its 45th anniversary with Cleveland’s first Intersectional Feminist Festival, radio and television features, and a concert at the Cleveland Museum of Art entitled “Honor the Past, Inspire the Future.” We are grateful for the feminist matriarchs who paved the way, and are excited for the next 45 years of growth and empowerment!
Windsong, now ~60 members strong, continues to grow as a chorus and an organization dedicated to promoting intersectional feminism and social change. Through times of darkness, resilience, and joy, we will continue to share our songs and our message in events that align with our mission.
We thank every one of you for coming to hear us and supporting Windsong!
