The Women's Philharmonic (TWP) was a San Francisco-based, professional orchestra founded by Miriam Abrams, Elizabeth Seja Min and Nan Washburn in 1981 and disbanded in 2004.

History

Originally known as the Bay Area Women's Philharmonic, in 1998, the orchestra's repertoire consisted almost entirely of works by more than 150 women, including more than 130 premiere performances and more than 40 commissions
A partial list of TWP's repertoire
compiled by Women's Philharmonic Advocacy, includes 283 works. TWP's mission was "to change the face of what is played in every concert hall by incorporating works by women composers into the orchestral repertoire." TWP's long list of accomplishments includes multiple awards for ''Adventurous Programming'' from

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

and the

American Symphony Orchestra League The League of American Orchestras, formerly the American Symphony Orchestra League, is a North American service organization with 700 member orchestras of all budget sizes and types, plus individual and institutional members. Based in New York Ci ...

. In 2008, Women's Philharmonic Advocacy was formed "in order to recognize the achievement of The Women's Philharmonic (1980-2004) over their 24 years of activity, to build on this work by advocating for the performance of women composers by orchestras and ensembles, to address the place of women composers (historic and contemporary) in today's repertoire of orchestras and ensembles in the US and internationally, and to present information that highlights the shortage of programming of works by women; the heritage of The Women's Philharmonic emphasizes that this should and can be corrected."See 'Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy' (a non-profit organization founded in 2008 in order to build on the achievements of The Women's Philharmonic)
Accessed 30 December 2016 The Philharmonic continues in existence as the

Community Women's Orchestra The Community Women's Orchestra (CWO), based in Oakland, California, was founded by conductor Nan Washburn in 1985 as a community project adjunct to The Women's Philharmonic (TWP), a now-defunct, professional orchestra. Part of CWO's original purp ...

, which was initially founded in 1985 by Nan Washburn as an adjunct to The Women's Philharmonic.

Leadership

Music directors

* Elizabeth Seja Min (music director, 1981–1985) *

Nan Washburn Nan or NAN may refer to: Places China * Nan County, Yiyang, Hunan, China * Nan Commandery, historical commandery in Hubei, China Thailand * Nan Province ** Nan, Thailand, the administrative capital of Nan Province * Nan River People Given n ...

(artistic director and associate conductor, 1981–1990) *

JoAnn Falletta JoAnn Falletta (born February 27, 1954 in Queens, New York) is an American conductor. Biography Falletta was raised in the borough of Queens in an Italian-American household. She was educated at the Mannes College of Music and The Juilliard Sc ...

(music director, 1986–1997) * Apo Hsu (music director, 1997–2003)

Guest conductors

* Ebrina Alfonso *

Gisele Ben-Dor Gisèle Ben-Dor ( Buka; born 26 April 1955) is an American Israeli orchestra conductor of Uruguayan origin. Conductor Ben-Dor was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, to Polish Jewish immigrant parents. She graduated from the Rubin Academy of Music ...

Sarah Caldwell Sarah Caldwell (March 6, 1924March 23, 2006) was an American opera conductor, impresario, and stage director. Early life Caldwell was born in Maryville, Missouri, and grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She was a child prodigy and gave publ ...

* Ann Krinitsky * J. Karla Lemon *

Jadine Louie Jadine is a female given name and can refer to: *Jadine Childs, protagonist of Toni Morrison's Tar Baby (novel) *Jadine Nollan, member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives *JaDine, portmanteau of the Filipino love team James Reid and Nadine L ...

Anne Manson Anne Manson (born 1961, Cambridge, Massachusetts) is an American orchestral and opera conducting, conductor. Manson was music director of the Kansas City Symphony from 1999 until 2003, and is currently music director of the Manitoba Chamber Orchest ...

Marsha Mabrey Marsha Eve Mabrey (born November 7, 1949) is an African American conductor and educator. She was the first African American woman to be appointed and serve as the conductor of the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra. Early life and education Marsha M ...

Kathleen McGuire Dr. Kathleen Alison McGuire (born in 1965 in Melbourne) is a choral and orchestral conductor, arranger, composer, music educator, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. Known also for her work with social justice and human rights organizations, fro ...

Frances Steiner Frances Steiner (born February 25, 1937) is an American conductor, cellist and professor emeritus. Steiner is known for her advocacy of American music, especially works by women and African Americans, and for her expertise in 18th century perfo ...

Recordings

*''Baroquen Treasures'' (

Newport Classic Newport Classic, Ltd, is a record label of classical music, founded by Larry Kraman, and is located in Newport, Rhode Island. In its catalog are recordings of both familiar and unusual works, including ''Casanova's Homecoming'', ''A Waterbird Tal ...

, 1990) * ''The Women's Philharmonic: Mendelssohn, Schumann'' (1993,

Koch International Classics Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television se ...

7169, reissued 2008) * ''Uses of Music in Uttermost Parts: Music by Elinor Armer, Text by Ursula K. Le Guin'' (1995, Koch International Classics) *''The Music of Chen Yi'' (1996, New Albion Records) *''The Music of Florence Price'' (2001, Koch International Classics 7518, reissued 2008)

Notes and references

External links

American Symphony Orchestra League
official website
Community Women's Orchestra
official website
Women's Philharmonic Advocacy
official website

partial list of The Women's Philharmonic repertoire
I Resound Press
digital scores {{DEFAULTSORT:Womens Philharmonic, The Disbanded American orchestras Musical groups established in 1981 Musical groups disestablished in 2004 Women's orchestras Musical groups from California Musical groups from San Francisco 1981 establishments in California 2004 disestablishments in California History of women in California