For this Women’s History Month spotlight, mezzo-soprano Leandra Ramm reflects on the powerful role women play within the American Guild of Musical Artists and across the opera field. Ramm highlights the women who lead negotiations, mentor younger artists, advocate for safer workplaces, and support one another both onstage and behind the scenes. Through everyday acts of solidarity and leadership, women in AGMA continue shaping a more sustainable and supportive future for the next generation of artists.
Women’s History Month Spotlight: Queens, Witches, Mothers, Mourners, & Lovers (Community Behind the Curtain)
By Leandra Ramm, Chorister
I am a mezzo-soprano who has spent more than a decade in the San Francisco Bay Area, which I consider both my musical and personal home. I sing under AGMA contracts with San Francisco Opera Chorus, San Francisco Symphony Chorus, and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale. Over the years, AGMA has been a constant thread through my professional life as an artist. On stage, I inhabit characters whose stories span centuries: queens, witches, mothers, mourners, and lovers. Off stage, I am a wife and mother of four, a teacher, and a colleague building a sustainable artistic life in an industry that demands both excellence and endurance.
One of the most powerful things about AGMA is that it reminds us we are not alone in that balancing act.
Over the years, I have watched women in our union lead negotiations, mentor younger artists, advocate for safer workplaces, and fight for conditions that allow artists to actually have lives outside of the rehearsal room. Those efforts matter deeply. They are part of what allows singers like me to build long careers while raising families, teaching students, and continuing to grow artistically. I deeply admire the women who inspired me to take part in this work as well, including serving as an AGMA delegate.
As a performer, I often think about how women’s voices have historically been written into music. In so much repertoire, women are portrayed through extremes: saints or seductresses, ingenues or villains. But the women I work beside every day in AGMA companies are far more powerful than any stereotype. We are collaborators, leaders, negotiators, high-level musicians, and creators.
Some of the most meaningful moments in my career have come not from standing alone in the spotlight, but from the quiet solidarity among women artists backstage: a colleague offering a boost of confidence before a difficult entrance, a mentor encouraging a younger singer after a tough rehearsal, or mothers sharing parenting stories between scenes. Women supporting women.
One of my fondest memories was when the San Francisco Opera Chorus surprised me with a baby shower gift a few years ago. The effort was organized by women in the chorus, and they presented me with two baby bottles, each filled with a $100 bill—a gesture that was both practical and deeply touching, and a reminder of the generosity and camaraderie that sustain artists through every stage of life.
Those moments remind me that artistry and community are inseparable.
When I look at the next generation of singers, many of whom I now teach, I hope they inherit not only the musical traditions we carry forward, but also the culture of support and advocacy that women in this union have built over decades.
Women have always been at the heart of this art form. Through our voices, our labor, and our leadership, we continue shaping what the future of our field will be and ensuring that the artists who come after us can thrive.