Company Profile

Sistrum Chorus

Company Overview

Our mission is to create music that inspires, empowers, and entertains.

Our Core Values:
~We provide a musical haven where singers may find and nurture their voices and enjoy the camaraderie offered by the Sistrum community.
~We challenge and entertain our audiences and ourselves, such that all are moved to emotion, thought, and action.
~We create a choral instrument through which our members can use their voices to raise beautiful music and powerful energy.
~We believe in the magic and joy of raising our voices together as diverse lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual, queer, and transgender women and gender-expansive people.
~In doing so, we lend our spark to the worldwide struggle for peace, equality, and freedom for all people.

Company History

Our name, Sistrum, comes from a musical instrument: a rattle used in ancient Egypt. It was kept in constant motion as a symbol of the Egyptian god Isis, the sacred and ever-changing Life Force. We draw upon the words, music, and energy of women composers, arrangers and poets to educate, entertain, and inspire our audiences.

Sistrum Chorus was started in 1986 by a small group of lesbian women with a vision of musical excellence, feminism, and the power of women singing together for social justice. Rachel Alexander founded and directed the chorus for its first 15 years. Dr. Meredith Bowen led the group through its next 15 years, and Meghan Eldred-Woolsey has served as Artistic Director since 2016.

Sistrum is a 501c3 organization that has performed and participated in the Sister Singers Network (SSN), the Gay and Lesbian Choral Association (GALA), Michigan Music Conference (MMC), the Michigan ACDA Conference, the Choral Music Experience workshop with Doreen Rao, and other regional workshops and festivals. The chorus has recorded two albums: Sweet Women and Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn. In 2016, we traveled to Cuba in collaboration with the Holland Chorale.

Sistrum continued to rehearse virtually through the COVID-19 pandemic and produced several virtual performances. In January of 2025, Sistrum presented the Michigan premiere of Dr. Andrea Ramsey’s Suffrage Cantata. Sistrum has also commissioned several original pieces of music—both individually and collaboratively. We regularly collaborate with LansingOut and other community choruses, local youth choruses, and Voices of the Revolution (a local collective of feminist poets).

Our membership is made up of lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual, queer, and transgender women and gender-expansive people. While we have traditionally primarily sung choral music scored for treble voices, we have also sung some SATB choral music. Our goal is to be intentional in how we include all our singers and how we uplift marginalized voices in our community.

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  • 8 days ago

    Artistic Director

    Sistrum Chorus - Lansing, MI, United States
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    Sistrum Chorus (Lansing, MI)Position:Artistic Director Purpose of Position:To develop and carry out artistic programming, collaborations, and performances that support and enhance the mission of the organization. Sistrum's Mission:Creating music that inspires, empowers, and entertains. Sistrum's HistorySistrum Chorus was started in 1986 by a small group of lesbian women with a vision of musical excellence, feminism, and the power of women singing together for social justice. Rachel Alexander ...

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