EMA Board Members are passionate about early music, are committed to equity in the arts, and have the time and energy to devote to the mission, vision, and values of Early Music America.
Staff
David McCormick, Executive Director
(davidmccormick@, ext. 202, ET)
Dina Bash, Assistant Director
(dina@, ext. 201, ET)
David Simmons Wood, Programs Director
(davidwood@, ext. 203, CT)
Pierre Ruhe, Publications Director
(pierre@, ext. 204, ET)
David Mozur, Development Director
(davidmozur@, ext. 206, ET)
All staff email addresses begin with the name@ as identified in the staff list above and end with earlymusicamerica.org.
To leave staff members a voicemail, please call 412-642-2778 and use their extension number in the list above. We will endeavor to return your call as soon as possible, within 24-48 hours during the work week. Our staff are located throughout North America and their timezones are listed next to their extension number.
Board Officers 2026-2027
Karin Cuéllar Rendón, President
August Denhard, Vice President
Sian Ricketts, Secretary
Suzanne Ryan-Melamed, Treasurer
Board Members 2026-2027
Sallynee Amawat
Cathy Barbash
Angela Marroy Boerger
Wei En Chan
Susan Gidwitz
Antonio M. Gómez
Michele Kennedy
Kevin Leong
Helen McConnell
Patrick D. McCoy
Dana Marsh
Gilbert Martinez
Ingrid Matthews
Reginald Mobley
Garrett Murphy
Patricia Ann Neely
Kristin Olson
Reynaldo Patiño
Suzanne Rousso
Byron Schenkman
Andrew Sheranian
Nina Stern
Peter Sykes
Dana Whiteside
Councils and Task Forces
Emerging Professional Leadership Council (EPLC)
Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) Task Force
David McCormick
Executive DirectorI’m thrilled to be at the helm of EMA as its sixth executive director, with the ambition of creating a more inclusive, equitable space for all who engage with historical performance. In recent years, I served as executive director of Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival and Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival. I am artistic director of Early Music Access Project and a founding member of Brooklyn-based medieval ensemble Alkemie. I play vielle, rebec, and Baroque violin.
Dina Bash
Assistant DirectorI have been with EMA for over 10 years. I have a background in Public Relations, English & International Studies from Penn State University. Prior to my work with EMA, I served as the Donor Relations Director for the United Way of the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland. I reside in Pittsburgh, PA with my husband and two children.
David Mozur
Development DirectorI joined EMA in 2026. I’ve been fortunate to have a career working administratively across a range of music genres and styles in the Washington, DC area: orchestra, opera, jazz, chamber music, and early music. In addition to positions with the Kennedy Center and Folger Shakespeare Library, I most recently served as Executive Director of PostClassical Ensemble.
Pierre Ruhe
Publications DirectorMy career has been multi-faceted, as a writer, editor, and arts administrator. I’ve been a critic and cultural reporter for the Washington Post, London’s Financial Times and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, worked as an editor at NPR, and was founding executive director of the Atlanta-area arts website ArtsATL.org. For seven years I served as director of artistic planning for the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.
David Simmons Wood
Programs DirectorI joined the EMA staff in 2015. I teach on the faculty of Kansas State University’s School of Music, Theatre, and Dance in Manhattan, KS, where I direct the early-music ensembles and teach music theory, history, world music, and performance practice. I’m also the artistic director of the Blue Earth Camerata.
Sallynee Amawat
I am a Baroque violinist originally from Chicago and studied in Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Montreal, which is now home. I enjoy the life of a musician with many hats: freelancer, teacher, researcher, creator, and arts administrator. I am also the Executive Director and Co-Artistic Director of Infusion Baroque.
Cathy Barbash
I am a cultural diplomacy impresario and independent producer. For over 40 years I’ve managed and consulted to organizations including The Philadelphia Orchestra, United States Department of State, Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Juilliard School, and China Shanghai International Arts Festival. I am President of the Barbash Arts Foundation, which produces the Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition, and member of the International Advisory Council of the Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum, and the National Committee on United States-China Relations.
Angela Marroy Boerger
I am an arts administrator with nearly 20 years of experience advocating for the vital role of music in society. I am currently Managing Director of The Thirteen in Washington, D.C., and am honored to contribute to the rich cultural offerings in our nation’s capital. My education background is in musicology, violin performance, and medieval studies, and I hold degrees from Rice University and Yale University. My research interests have focused on Viennese opera of the late eighteenth century, and I’m always up for impromptu chamber music sightreading sessions with friends.
Wei En Chan
Translating my experiences performing early music, I am Assistant Professor of Theatre at Allegheny College, where I lead mainstage musical productions as Music Director. Outside of the classroom, I am a countertenor whose professional and personal life traverses Asia and North America. I am humbled to be on the board of Early Music America, serving as a committee member in Awards & Scholarships and co-chair of the IDEA Taskforce.
Karin Cuéllar Rendón
PresidentI am a Bolivian historical violinist and scholar interested in researching and presenting non-euro centered early music while recognizing the syncretism and connections with traditional music. I studied Historical Performance at Case Western Reserve University, Royal Academy of Music and currently pursue a PhD in Musicology at McGill University with a research focus on 19th c. performance practices in South America using as a case study the music of Peruvian composer Pedro Ximenez Abrill Tirado.
August Denhard
Vice PresidentI perform on lute and guitar family instruments from Europe, Asia, and Latin America and am a cofounder of the Eurasia Consort (NYC) and Trío Guadalevín (Seattle). I’ve served as Executive Director and Artistic Director of Early Music Seattle since 2000. In working to expand the definition of early music, I connect global ancient music traditions to recognize the cultural ties we share. I do this through artistic planning, concert presentation, research, teaching, writing, advocacy, and community service.
Susan Gidwitz
I have been in love with music all my life. I grew up playing piano and guitar and attending many concerts. I have been singing in choruses since childhood and currently sing in two. I am an enthusiastic amateur recorder player. I didn’t start playing seriously until I took early retirement from my career as a biochemist. My passion is playing music from original notation, especially 15th C French notation.
Antonio Gómez
I am a nonprofit arts administrator, educator, producer and musician based in Tacoma, Washington. I create economically and culturally accessible arts experiences for all ages. As a musician, I focus on the “in-between” spaces connecting seemingly disparate experiences and worldviews. I recently joined Early Music Seattle as the Director of Partnerships and Education. Previously at Tacoma Arts Live, I advanced arts education and served creative entrepreneurs. I’ve worked with Humanties Washington, ArtsWA, PBS, museums, universities and taught K12 in California. Musically, I co-founded Trío Guadalevín and worked with Pacific MusicWorks, Orquesta Northwest, Tango del Cielo and others. My musical and cultural studies have been in Mexico, Panama, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Morocco, Spain and Italy.
Amit Joshi
I am a practicing surgeon at Cooper University Healthcare where I also oversee the postgraduate training of 500 residents and fellows in 50 specialties. I lead the national curriculum for surgery (SCORE) at the American Board of Surgery. Prior to medical school, I studied music history at Brown and participated in numerous ensembles as a pianist and chorister. My wife and I are raising two teenage musicians (a harpsichordist and organist).
Michele Kennedy
I am a vocal specialist in early and contemporary repertoire. From the great works of Bach, Handel, and Haydn to the masterpieces of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds, my career ranges from recitals to chamber music to full-scale oratorio. My favorite kind of work bridges the historic and the contemporary, and I love to use my voice to open doors for composers, performers, and directors deserving of wider recognition in the field. I’m a winner of the 2025 Berlin International Music Competition and the 2023 American Prize in Voice, and just released recordings of songs by trailblazing female composers with AGAVE Baroque, Monteverdi’s Vespers with The Thirteen, Medieval songs with Concordian Dawn, and a Haitian song album – Lisette – with baritone Jean Bernard Cerin.
Kevin Leong
I’m a choral conductor in the Boston area currently serving as Music Director of the Masterworks Chorale, the Concord Chorus, and the Jameson Singers. I’ve also conducted and taught at Harvard University and Boston University, where I received my doctoral degree and researched the Vespers hymn settings of Ludwig Senfl. Although I have always been a musician, I began my career as a life scientist, so I know how important music can be to nonprofessionals. My work focuses on educating amateurs through the choral arts and making every chorister into a better singer, musician, and performer.
Helen McConnell
An avid amateur harpsichordist, I enjoy the challenge of learning and performing solo and ensemble repertoire. I also teach piano to adult students. I chair the Governance Committee of the Board of Directors of the Washington Bach Consort. I divide my time between Washington, DC and Raleigh, NC and am actively involved in the early-music scene in both locations.
Patrick D. McCoy
From the early years of my youth, I was introduced to glorious musical works such as the Monteverdi Vespers, the towering Bach Mass in B minor and Handel’s Messiah. Serving in music ministry for more than 20 years, I am currently the Organist and Choirmaster at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Beltsville, MD. These experiences continue to be an integral part of my musicianship. During my term, I hope to add to the conversations surrounding diversity in early music and amplify artists of color who continue to excel in this arena.
Dana Marsh
I was introduced to early music at age ten as a boy chorister in both the US and UK, and it has remained one of my musical homes ever since. My path has included life as a church musician, organist, conductor, countertenor, teacher, and academic. After studies at Eastman and a DPhil in historical musicology from the University of Oxford, I built a career at the intersection of performance, teaching, scholarship, and institutional leadership. Today I serve as Director of the Historical Performance Institute and Professor of Choral Conducting at Indiana University, and as Artistic Director of the Washington Bach Consort. I am particularly interested in rhetoric as a generative approach to interpretation, and in supporting the next generation of early musicians and audiences.
Gilbert Martinez
I am a harpsichordist and fortepianist originally from California. Since 2012, I have divided my time between the San Francisco Bay Area and Scandinavia. I was the Artistic Director of MusicSources for 20 years, following its founder, Laurette Goldberg. I retired as Director Emeritus in 2023, and have settled full time in Copenhagen, Denmark. I recently conducted a new production of Rameau’s “Les Indes Galantes” in sold out performances in Copenhagen, and in an original baroque theater in Arhus. This was the first Rameau opera that has been staged in Denmark in modern times. I’ve played principally with the baroque orchestra Copenhagen Soloists, and also with the Copenhagen Philharmonic and Tivoli Orchestra. I have also launched my own keyboard series called Det Danske Cembalo Menageri.
Ingrid Matthews
I teach Baroque Violin, Baroque string literature, and Bach Interpretation at the Historical Performance Institute of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, as well as leading the IU Baroque Orchestra. With harpsichordist Byron Schenkman, I co-founded the Seattle Baroque Orchestra and served as its Music Director from 1994-2013, and I’ve performed widely as a soloist, orchestra director and chamber musician. I’m a first-prize winner of the Erwin Bodky International Competition for Early Music (1989) and have done lots of CD recording, notably of the Sonatas and Partitas of J.S. Bach.
Reginald Mobley
I’m a countertenor and Southern transplant bringing the gift of music and hospitality to frigid New England. I’ve been singing as a professional soloist for the better part of this century. Not only Bach and other 17th c. cats, but also everything from Jazz to Barbershop. I’m also a director with the Handel and Haydn Society also serving as their first ever Programming Consultant. I also sling a mean Manhattan.
Garret Murphy
Based in Utah, I currently serve as Director of Development at Utah Symphony | Utah Opera and Executive Director of Bach Charlotte. Previously, I held the roles of Senior Development Officer and Director of Alumni Giving and Engagement at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Executive Director of Back Bay Chorale, Festival Administrator at the Savannah Music Festival, and Associate Director of the Heifetz International Music Festival. A composer, baritone, and conductor by training, I received my education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Walnut Hill School for the Arts.
Patricia Ann Neely
I have appeared as a string player with the Washington Bach Consort, the Folger Consort, Tempesta di Mare, Opera Lafayette, Smithsonian Chamber Players, Pegasus, Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, and Sequentia. I am currently director of Abendmusik. I’ve recorded for Arabesque, Allegro, Musical Heritage, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Ex Cathedra, Classic Masters, Erato, Lyrichord, and Music Masters labels. I have taught at Amherst Early Music, the VDGSA Conclaves, Pinewoods Early Music, Pittsburgh Early Music Workshop, and Mountain Collegium and have been on the music faculty at The Brearley School and Wagner College. I currently teach viol at Vassar College. I’ve been on the board of the Viola da Gamba Society of America and chaired several DEI Committees.
Kristin Olson
I am a historical oboist, educator, and arts entrepreneur based in Charlotte, North Carolina. There, I am the Founder and Executive Artistic Director of 7th Street Concerts, an organization known for imaginative programming that brings world-class artists and historically informed performance to new audiences across the Charlotte region, partnering with museums, shelters, hospitals, schools, and more. I perform regularly across North America on both modern and historical oboes as both an ensemble member and soloist. I am on faculty at Wingate University, where I quietly infuse all of my (modern oboe) lessons and chamber music classes with rhetoric, style, and wild expression.
Reynaldo Patiño
After completing degrees and certificates in music at Texas Tech University, University of North Texas, and Indiana University, I’ve decided to enter a new phase in my relationship with music, embracing the idea of being an amateur musician according to its Latin roots, “one who loves.” I’m currently halfway through a new bachelor’s degree in business management with a concentration in accounting at Walla Walla Community College in eastern Washington. I still enjoy performing with groups such as Portland Baroque Orchestra and Austin Philharmonie while charting this new path. My main hobbies include spending time with my wife and two small children, cooking, reading sci-fi novels, fencing, swimming, and sometimes practicing the violin. I’ve been hailed by my four-year-old son as “the best.”
Sian Ricketts
SecretaryI am an early wind player (recorders and double reeds) and singer in Brooklyn, NY who is deeply invested and interested in the ways in which early music can bridge connections between teachers, students, amateurs, professionals, and listeners. I am a founding member and co-managing director of Alkemie, which specializes in medieval and new music, and a core member of the Renaissance wind band, Piffaro.
Suzanne Rousso
As a professional violist and artistic administrator, I accepted an appointment as artistic director of Mallarmé Music in 2008. It is a great position as I can perform AND manage an awesome chamber music ensemble known as one of the most diverse collectives of musicians in North Carolina. My previous appointments included service as Director of Operations/Education of the Portland (Maine) Symphony and Director of Education for the North Carolina Symphony. I attended the Curtis Institute of Music, the Eastman School of Music, and at New England Conservatory. After receiving grants from the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County and Durham Arts Council in 2010, I was able to acquire a baroque viola and enter into the field of historically informed performance; I have never looked back!
Suzanne Ryan-Melamed
TreasurerFollowing a two-decade career in publishing, during which I was Editor-in-Chief of Humanities at Oxford University Press and directed their global music books program, I shifted focus to arts and public service. I am currently President & CEO of Bloomington Early Music, and have been privileged to work with refugee families since late 2022 on resettlement efforts and children’s arts projects. I hold degrees from UChicago, DePaul SoM, NEC, and IU’s O’Neill School of Public & Environmental Affairs.
Byron Schenkman
I am a Queer Jewish keyboard player based in Seattle where I direct the chamber series Sound Salon. I have recorded on historical keyboards in the National Music Museum, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and private collections. I have also premiered works by Jean Ahn, Garrett Fisher, Damien Geter, Jonathan Woody, and most recently Caroline Shaw’s Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings which was dedicated to me. I am honored to join the board of EMA.
Andrew Sheranian
Since 2010 I have served as the organist and music director at the Parish of All Saints, Ashmont, in Boston. In 2017, I founded The Bach Project at Ashmont Hill Chamber Music, an ensemble of instrumentalists and vocalists aiming to present the full spectrum of Bach’s music in the Boston area. I hold degrees in music from New England Conservatory of Music and Yale University, and I maintain a busy schedule as guest conductor, choir trainer, organ recitalist and accompanist, and pianist, in addition to time devoted to teaching a growing studio of organ students.
Nina Stern
A native of New York City, I fell in love with the recorder in the third grade and have been playing early music since I can remember. As a performer of recorders, chalumeaux, and historical clarinets, as an educator, and as the Founder and Artistic Director of the mission-driven educational non-profit, S’Cool Sounds, I have enjoyed a great variety of opportunities to play, teach, and share music. With my ensembles East of the River and Rose of the Compass, I have had the good fortune to explore music of many diverse traditions, in the company of extraordinary musicians.
Peter Sykes
I’ve been playing the harpsichord ever since I finished building my Hubbard French Double kit while a sophomore in high school; growing up near Boston, I reveled in the early-music scene from the ‘70’s onward. Right now I teach harpsichord, performance practice, and improvisation at Juilliard, give private lessons and solo recitals on all the early keyboards, play in ensembles, work as an independent recording session producer, and collect keyboard instruments – at current count, thirty-four.
Dana Whiteside
As a baritone, I feel blessed to have been able to craft a life in music that encompasses performance as a soloist and ensemble member with Boston Baroque, Handel and Haydn Society, Emmanuel Music, and Skylark Vocal Ensemble. In addition to my performance opportunities, I serve as Deputy Director for Economic Development in the Mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning & Community Development, Somerville; and I enjoy collaboration in the arena of arts administration/organizational development as a Board Member of the Cantata Singers, past Board President of Emmanuel Music and currently as Governance Committee Chair for the Board of Early Music America
