Ever thought about helping the entire early-music field by serving on the EMA Board of Directors? Do you know someone who would make an excellent addition to our board? EMA is now soliciting nominations for a handful of board openings. We are seeking individuals who are passionate about early music, are well-connected to the field, have experience with nonprofit boards, are committed to equity in the arts, and who have time and energy to devote to the mission, vision, and values of Early Music America.
Nomination deadline: Wednesday, May 3, 2023
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)
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 2022-23
Derek Tam, President
Holly Maurer, Vice President
Maria Romero Ramos, Secretary
Linda Clifford, Treasurer
Board Members 2022-23
Sallynee Amawat
Cathy Barbash
Jesse Blumberg
Karin Cuéllar Rendón
Vijay Chalasani
Joyce Chen
Toni Codinas
Tekla Cunningham
Dominic Giardino
Corey Jamason
Nicholas Jones
Amit Joshi
Helen McConnell
Dana Marsh
Alison Melville
Reginald Mobley
Patricia Ann Neely
Frank Nowell
Byron Rakitzis
Tom Rosenthal
Carrie 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 Early Music America 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 play vielle and baroque violin, serve as artistic director of Early Music Access Project, and I’m a founding member of Brooklyn-based medieval ensemble Alkemie.
Dina Bash
Assistant DirectorI have been with the organization for over 9 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 Simmons Wood
Programs DirectorI’ve been part of the staff since 2015. I am also on the faculty of Kansas State University’s School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, where I direct the early-music ensembles and teach music theory, history, and performance practice. I’m also the director of Blue Earth Camerata in Manhattan, KS. I served previously as Music Director for WFIU Public Media in Bloomington, IN. I’m a vocalist and choral conductor by training, and I studied at Kansas State, University of North Texas, and Indiana University.
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.
Blake Ginet
Development AssisstantI’m the Development Associate of Early Music America. My love of music started at a very young age and led me to receive a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Memphis and later a Master of Arts in Performing Arts Administration from Roosevelt University. For six years, I served as the Patron Services Manager at the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and am now the Development Operations Manager at Ballet Memphis.
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’m Cathy Barbash from New York. I’m a specialist in cultural diplomacy and creative industry development, a consultant, and an independent producer with over 25 years of experience working with the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, and with performing arts organizations in the United States and abroad.
Jesse Blumberg
I’m a singer who grew up in New Jersey and studied in the Midwest. Based in NYC since 2003, I’ve enjoyed a wide range of performing projects across many languages and styles. I’m the Founding Artistic Director of Five Boroughs Music Festival, and in 2021 became Visiting Voice Faculty at Cleveland Institute of Music.
Linda Clifford
Alongside my law practice in Madison, Wisconsin, I’ve fostered a secret life as an amateur organist and harpsichordist and early music supporter. I helped establish what is now the Historical Keyboard Society of North America. I’m the current president of the board of Madison Bach Musicians, and I co-founded “The Neighborly Consort,” enjoying weekly practices that culminate in occasional house concerts for neighbors and friends.
Karin Cuéllar Rendón
I 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.
Vijay Chalasani
I am a South Asian-American performer of modern and historical violas, scholar, teaching artist, and an advocate for diversity and equity. I am a founding member of Sinfonia Spirituosa and perform with ensembles on the west coast and in Colorado, and contribute to groundbreaking research in 19th century viola playing and performing styles. One of my greatest joys is sharing repertoire and playing styles that have been lost or ignored, and I look forward to continuing to open the field of early music to those who have been historically excluded with the EMA IDEA Taskforce.
Joyce Chen
I am a Taiwanese harpsichordist based in Philadelphia while pursuing a PhD in Historical Musicology at Princeton University. My research interests include acoustics, musical instruments, aesthetics, and performance practice; I am currently preparing for an online opinion piece for EMA on Asian practitioners of early music. As an avid performer, I was one of the featured soloists in the 2019 Early Music America Emerging Artist Showcase in Bloomington.
Toni Codinas
I am a corporate strategy professional and board member of the Washington Bach Consort. I am originally from Barcelona, and I live in Washington DC where I engage actively in the local arts and culture scene. I attended the conservatory during my formative years taking violin lessons, and in recent years I started studying the harpsichord. I believe that early music and historically-informed performance has a distinct potential to attract new audiences and awaken curiosity in people from all backgrounds.
Tekla Cunningham
I am a baroque violinist based in Seattle, WA. I’m also co-artistic director of Pacific MusicWorks, founder and director of the Whidbey Island Music Festival, and artist-in-residence at the University of Washington.
Dominic Giardino
I am a historical clarinetist and arts administrator based in Williamsburg, VA, and I currently serve as the Executive Director of Arizona Early Music. Having accidentally stumbled into the world of early music as a Civil War reenactor during high school, I have maintained a deep interest in exploring the intersections between historical spaces, historically informed sounds, and the discipline of Public History.
Corey Jamason
I chair the historical performance program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and am principal keyboardist for American Bach Soloists as well as co-director of the annual ABS Academy. I grew up in New York City, Puerto Rico and Florida and have very much enjoyed living in California since 1998.
Nicholas Jones
I am a retired English professor (Oberlin College) now living in the Bay Area. I teach, write about, and translate Renaissance literature—most recently, Italian madrigals—and I love to play and, most of all, sing the music of that period (and medieval and Baroque).
Amit Joshi
I am a practicing surgeon at Cooper University Healthcare where I also oversee the postgraduate training of 440 residents and fellows in 45 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 young musicians (a harpsichordist and organist).
Helen McConnell
I am an amateur harpsichordist and enjoy the challenge of learning new repertoire and ensemble work with other players. I also serve on the Board of Amherst Early Music which offers an array of online classes, several annual workshops in various period instruments and voice and a summer early music festival. Personally, I live in Washington, DC and am actively involved in the early music scene here.
Dana Marsh
My parents were both musicians and I began singing professionally as a child in New York. I’ve worked as an organist, singer, conductor, and academic. I’m a professor at IU and Artistic Director of the Washington Bach Consort. I’m fascinated by institutions of all kinds—their history and what makes them tick, but especially the visionaries that put them to the service of the arts and humanity.
Holly Mauer
I teach and perform in Charlotte, NC and around the southeast. My primary instrument is the viola da gamba, although with a woodwind background I also play recorders, flutes and an occasional crumhorn. I was a member of the music faculty at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte where I taught a Renaissance Consort class, Baroque Performance, and Viol Consorts. I enjoy working with adults in the workshop setting, especially in mixed ensembles.
Alison Melville
I’m a player of recorders and historical flutes, based in Tkaronto (Toronto). I’m grateful for a performing life that involves early, new, improvised and some traditional music. I’m a member of the Toronto Consort, frequent player with Tafelmusik and other ensembles, and Artistic Co-Director of North Wind Concerts, which presents ‘musical summit’ concerts by musicians from diverse traditions, as well as Baroque chamber music.
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.
Patricia Ann Neely
I’m an early-bowed string player and teacher who, for several decades, has specialized in the viola da gamba, violone, vielle, and baroque bass. I’ve played with many early-music ensembles here and abroad, and I currently direct Abendmusik – New York’s early-music string band. I am also member of the Board of Viola da Gamba Society of America.
Frank Nowell
I am a harpsichordist and organist based in Denver, where I founded the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado. As its Managing and Artistic Director, I am excited by the orchestra’s focus on emerging talent, apprenticeship and educational partnerships. I enjoy introducing Baroque music to people of all ages and backgrounds and working with creative collaborators from different art forms.
Byron Rakitzis
I live in Seattle, WA where I am a
Principal Engineer
with Amazon Web Services. I was co-founder and architect at Igneous Systems, a Seattle-based data-storage startup. I’m also a freelance Baroque violinist, flutist, oboist & bassoonist.
Maria Romero Ramos
I’m a Venezuelan-born violinist based in Nashville, TN, and I started my musical training at age 12 in the El Sistema music program. I am concertmaster of Music City Baroque, collaborate with modern and period ensembles around the nation, and I teach modern and baroque violin at Vanderbilt University. I enjoy bridging the pedagogical gap between modern and period performance and I am devoted to access and representation in music education.
Tom Rosenthal
I am a retired kidney transplant surgeon and hospital administrator from Santa Monica, California. I spent my career at UCLA. I am also an amateur bassoonist and an avid reader of history. I am pleased to be on the EMA Board to support the vision of developing and celebrating early music and supporting people and organizations that perform, study, and find joy in it.
Carrie Sykes
I am President and Owner of Schwalbe & Partners, a highly-respected artist management company representing both world-renowned artists and emerging stars in the early-music world. Originally from Minnesota, I joined S&P in 1993 and became the owner in 2014.
Derek Tam
I am a native Californian and a historical keyboardist and conductor serving as the Artistic Director of the Berkeley Festival & Exhibition and the Executive Director of the San Francisco Early Music Society.
Dana Whiteside
A native of Boston, I am a soloist and ensemble member with Boston Baroque, Handel and Haydn Society, Emmanuel Music, and Skylark Vocal Ensemble. I also enjoy satisfying work as Deputy Director for Economic Development in Boston and as President of the Board of Emmanuel Music.