Our Team

Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy was founded with the goal of keeping part of the mission of The Women’s Philharmonic alive. Our founders and Board members include women who were active with TWP

Board of Directors

Liane Curtis

President of WPA

Author and music critic; President, The Rebecca Clarke Society, Inc. Ph.D. in Musicology, Univ. of North Carolina. Author/editor of A Rebecca Clarke Reader (2004) and many articles on Clarke; frequent public speaker about Amy Beach.

Laurie Blunsom

Treasurer of WPA

Retired Professor of Music History and Women’s Studies at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Ph.D. in Musicology, Brandeis University; MFA in Musicology and Women’s Studies. Researches women in music in the U.S. during the late 19th /early 20th centuries.

Robyn Bramhall

Secretary of WPA

She worked with The Women’s Philharmonic for most of its lifespan, including serving as its President. She was also a Senior Professional in Human Resources, and is knowledgeable about Dame Ethel Smyth.

Dr. Samantha Ege

Dr. Samantha Ege, musicologist and pianist, is author of South Side Impresarios: How Race Women Transformed Chicago’s Classical Music Scene, and serves as Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southampton. She records on the Lorelt and BBC labels.

Tammy Kernodle

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.

Nan H. Washburn

Nan H. Washburn, Co-founder and Artistic Director of The Women’s Philharmonic – Music Director and Conductor of the Michigan Philharmonic. She is the winner of The American Prize in Orchestral Conducting, 2013.

Margaret Lucia

Margaret Lucia recently retired from her position as Professor of Music at Shippensburg University (PA). As a pianist she has performed and recorded widely, and she received a research Fulbright award for Spain in 2017.

Chen Yi

Chen Yi, Composer, Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. She served as Composer in Residence with The Women’s Philharmonic. In 1996, Chen Yi made history as the first woman in the United States to be the focus of a full multimedia concert, with her symphonic and choral works performed in San Francisco by TWP.

Sandy Lewis

Sandy Lewis had a professional career as a banker in San Francisco and London. Was a violinist with the Bay Area Women’s Philharmonic, and currently plays with the Cheltenham Symphony. While living in Connecticut, she served on the board of Music for Youth.

Dr. Beth Denisch

Dr. Beth Denisch Composer and Faculty, The Berklee College of Music. Her orchestral work Yanvalou is on the 2025 Grammy nominated CD Alone/Together. Her forthcoming orchestral work “All of Us” will be performed by five LBGTQ orchestras in Europe and the USA in 2026.