Katie Ritzema is a master's Musicology student at Washington University in St. Louis. She recently received her bachelor’s in keyboard performance and music history from Baldwin Wallace Conservatory.

 

Katie’s research interests center around nineteenth-century keyboard music, particularly music by women composers. As an undergraduate, she studied the“Clara Schumann Bach Book,” a collection of Bach’s organ music annotated by Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms. Her undergraduate thesis, titled “‘Like a Man’: The Clara Schumann Bach Book and Women’s Influence on the Reception of Bach’s Keyboard Music in the Romantic Period,” explored the difference between the annotations in the book and how they illustrated women’s roles in music at the time.

 

In addition to her research, Katie is an avid organist and pianist. She recently premiered an organ piece commissioned by the American Guild of Organists in collaboration with Daixuan Ai through AGO’s student commissioning project. She also has spent many years teaching piano and finds joy sharing her love of music with her students.

 

Katie also engages in public musicology through her social media presence (@katiekeyboard). With over 60,000 followers across platforms, she works to bring classical music, especially music by women, to wider audiences.

 

Outside of her academic and performance work, Katie enjoys reading, hiking, rewatching Gilmore Girls, and spending time with her cat.