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.
EMA is accepting nominations for the Board of Directors through Friday, April 19, 2024. Submit a Nomination.
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)
Michael Stiles, Administrative Assistant
(michael@, 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 2023-24
Derek Tam, President
Holly Maurer, Vice President
Dominic Giardino, Secretary
Linda Clifford, Treasurer
Board Members 2023-2024
Sallynee Amawat
Cathy Barbash
Jesse Blumberg
Karin Cuéllar Rendón
Vijay Chalasani
Joe Chappel
Joyce Chen
Kevin Leong
Amit Joshi
Helen McConnell
Alison Melville
Reginald Mobley
Patricia Ann Neely
Frank Nowell
Maria Romero Ramos
Andrew Sheranian
Nina Stern
Carrie Sykes
Catherine Turocy
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 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 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 Simmons Wood
Programs DirectorI’ve been part of the EMA staff since 2015, and I am also 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 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.
Michael Stiles
Administrative AssistantIn addition to working for EMA, I am a performer and educator on horn and natural horn based in Bloomington, IN. I received my DM in Music Performance and Literature in 2021 from Indiana University. I play second horn in the Carmel Symphony Orchestra and am a regular substitute member for several other orchestras in Indiana. I perform on natural horn with ensembles throughout the country. For my doctoral dissertation I created a performer’s edition of Handel’s complete horn parts; soon to be published by Songburd Music.
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.
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.
Joe Chappel
I am a bass-baritone based in New York City and hold degrees from Eastman School of Music and the Brooklyn College Conservatory of music. I’ve had a diverse career in opera, choral ensemble, and liturgical music and enjoy singing early music and standard rep, as well as new music. I believe we as artists should always be in conversation with the larger world around us. This has been a regular part of my own work as a producer and performer and I look forward to working with the board to insure that the early music community regularly engages in conversations concerning diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and social justice. It is my deep honor to join the board of directors.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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
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.
Holly Maurer
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.
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.
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.
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.
Catherine Turocy
I was born in Cleveland, Ohio. My work is in historical dance with a focus on the 17th and 18th centuries. As Artistic Director and co-founder of The New York Baroque Dance Company, I am thankful to the many artists who have joined us in exploring the depths of historical performance practice since 1976. I wear many hats including dancer, choreographer, stage director, teacher, lecturer, mentor, administrator, producer, fundraiser and writer. Commitment to the art form both on and beyond the stage is important to me. Community is everything.
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.
