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The Amewrican conductor, Carma Romano-LaMorte, began her musical education in the San Francisco Bay Area under such noted choral directors as Maestro Vincenzo Giannini of the San Francisco Opera. She began studying conducting at age 15 with Maestro Hugo Rinaldi at the San Domenico School, and she studied violin with Peter Schaffer, the associate concert-master of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. After secondary school, she entered the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in Ohio, where she studied violin and chamber music with members of the New Hungarian String Quartet and choral conducting with famed conductor Daniel Moe. After a summer fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, graduate school took her to New York and a multi-disciplinary Master of Fine Arts degree jointly granted between Sarah Lawrence College and The Julliard School. She studied violin with Dorothy Delay and was a member of the Sixten Ehrling Master Class at Julliard. She studied counterpoint with noted American composer David Diamond and choral conducting with Harold Aks.
At this time, international touring opportunities were offered to Carma Romano-LaMorte, and she made her first appearances in Switzerland and Austria as assistant conductor of the Sarah Lawrence College Choir. In 1977, she won the Choral Conductors’ Prize at the International Bach Festival in San Moritz, Switzerland. The jury was chaired by Sir Neville Marriner. After post-graduate study with Maestro Neville Marriner in London, she came to Colorado to spend the next four years on the music faculty at the University of Northern Colorado. Moving to Denver in 1984, she became active as a violinist in area orchestras and music festivals. In 1991, she accepted the invitation to become associate director, then Director of Liturgy for the Archdiocese of Denver.
In 1993, in addition to forming the Musicians of St. Clare, Carma. Romano-LaMorte was one of the producers for the VIII World Youth Day, with His Holiness Pope John Paul II in Denver. In 1996, the Musicians of St. Clare became an independent international touring choir, maintaining a busy local yearly concert schedule, as well as organizing international tours and pilgrimages.
Recently, during holy week, 2002, the Musicians of St. Clare performed 2 concerts, one at St. Francis in Assisi and one at St. Ingacio in Rome as well as 5 papal masses at St. Peters Basillica, including Easter Sunday. Also, in November, 2003, the Musicians of Saint Clare performed the Mozart Requiem in Rome with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra.
Carma Romano-LaMorte was Conductor and Artistic Director of the Golden Concert Choir from the Fall 2000 through Spring 2006. She was instrumental in supporting a steady path of growth for the choir as it became a viable cultural asset for the community of Golden, Colorado.
In addition to directing the Golden Concert Choir and the Musicians of St. Clare, Carma Romano-LaMorte also teaches voice classes and a vocal master-class for the Golden Community Choirs, and she maintains a private vocal studio in Golden, Colorado, where she lives with her husband Andrew. |
