About

Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy is a non-profit organization founded in 2008 in order to:

  • Recognize the achievement of The Women’s Philharmonic (1980-2004) over their 24 years of activity.
  • Build on this work by advocating for the performance of women composers by orchestras and ensembles.
  • Address the place of women composers (historic and contemporary) in today’s repertoire of orchestras and ensembles in the US and internationally.
  • Present information that highlights the shortage of programming of works by women; the heritage of TWP emphasizes that this should and can be corrected.

Board of Directors:

Robyn Bramhall   Treasurer of WPA. Past President, The Women’s Philharmonic, formerly a  Professional in Human Resources

Liane Curtis – President of WPA,  Author and music critic; President, The Rebecca Clarke Society, Inc.     Ph.D. in Musicology

Chen Yi    Composer, Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance.

Beth Denisch   Composer and Faculty, The Berklee College of Music

Dr. Samantha Ege is a musicologist-pianist and is the Lord Crewe Junior Research Fellow in Music at Lincoln College, University of Oxford. 

Tammy L. Kernodle is Professor of Musicology at Miami University (Oxford OH).  She is a past President of the Society for American Music, the author of Soul on Soul: The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams, and served as editor for the Encyclopedia of African American Music

Margaret Lucia  Professor of Music at Shippensburg University (PA), she is a noted pianist and has performed and recorded widely.

Pamela Madsen  Composer and Music Faculty, at Cal. State University, Fullerton. She regularly organizes festivals of new music.

Barbara Day TurnerMusic Director and Founder of the San José Chamber Orchestra, and music administrator and conductor of the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater

Nan H. Washburn, Co-founder and Artistic Director of The Women’s Philharmonic – Music Director and Conductor of the Michigan Philharmonic

Founding Blogger and Grants Advisor

Sarah E. Baer –   M.A. in Musicology and Women’s and Gender Studies

Senior Editor, Music Publications

Chris A. Trotman,  M.M. in Music Composition and M.L.I.S.  Editor-in-Chief of Amy Beach Project.

Advisory Council:

Mary Buckley — Retired Social Worker, music-lover and researcher on Women’s History

Dr. Ashley Jackson — harpist, activist, and academic, faculty at Hunter College.

Grammy-nominated Sara Jobin, principal conductor for the Center for Contemporary Opera.

Robert Kendrick —   Professor of Music at the University of Chicago. Author of Celestial Sirens: Nuns and Their Music in Early Modern Milan, and editor of music by Chiara Maria Cozzolani.

Ann Krinitsky  She directs the Marin Symphony Youth Performance programs and the Virtuoso Program at San Domenico School.  She was also a guest conductor for The Women’s Philharmonic.

Tania Léon  — award winning composer and conductor, recognized for her accomplishments as an educator and advisor to arts organizations.

Kathleen McGuire    Conductor Laureate, The Community Women’s Orchestra and San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus.   Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne.  Music Director, The Tudor Choristers.

Kile Smith —  Composer, and Past Curator of the Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music in the Free Library of Philadelphia

Past Board Members:

Judith Rosen — Music activist, Author of Grazyna Bacewicz: Her Life and Works.  Past Board Member of The Women’s Philharmonic
Beverly McChesney  Bassoonist, performed with The Women’s Philharmonic
Joan Capra   Violinist, musician with The Women’s Philharmonic. Researcher of historic women composers, provided material for TWP’s Baroquen Treasures recording

Our Logos: