Orange County Womens Chorus

The Orange County Women's Chorus creates and performs outstanding choral literature, engages and enriches our audiences, and celebrates women in music.

The Orange County Women’s Chorus, established in 1997 and led since 2000 by Eliza Rubenstein, has earned its reputation as one of the area’s leading choruses. The OCWC has performed at venues including the Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts, the Irvine Barclay Theatre, and Walt Disney Concert Hall’s REDCAT Theater. The OCWC made its Carnegie Hall debut in June 2022 with its own spotlight performance prior to a massed choir and orchestral performance of Haydn's "Lord Nelson Mass" under the baton of Artistic Director, Eliza Rubenstein. In March 2020, the OCWC performed at the Western Division conference of the American Choral Directors’ Association, for the third time in its history, as the OCWC was also selected to perform in 2012 and 2004. The chorus was named a 2014 Outstanding Arts Organization by Arts Orange County, won a prize at the 2015 International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales, and participated in the Carnegie Hall premiere of Kirke Mechem’s "Songs of the Slave" under the baton of Eliza Rubenstein in New York City in June 2017. The OCWC recently returned from a tour to Croatia in 2024, where the chorus collaborated with local folk choruses. The OCWC’s wide-ranging repertoire especially emphasizes contemporary and little-known works. The chorus is committed to exploring works by women composers of the past and the present, and has commissioned new works by Kirke Mechem, Ruth Huber, Angel Lam, Dale Trumbore, Sharon Farber, Ethan Sperry, and Joan Szymko. The ensemble’s website hosts a nationally-known database of choral works by women composers at http://ocwomenschorus.org/women-composers. The chorus’s members include teachers, professors, nurses, executives, students, artists, activists, mothers, and grandmothers.

We bring choral music to our community that is seldom heard elsewhere. We are the only major women's chorus in the area that performs both classical and contemporary work. We regularly commission new works for women's voices, and we frequently do so from women composers. We offer a paid conducting internship program to a promising young woman conductor annually, giving her an opportunity to practice her craft outside of the classroom and with an accomplished group of singers, under the tutelage of our outstanding Artistic Director, Eliza Rubenstein. The intern is selected by the Artistic Director from a pool of candidates, and holds her internship position for no more than two years. We have nurtured more than a dozen conducting interns since the program began in 2002. We reach over 1,000 patrons annually with three programs in five to six concerts, in addition to free performances in the community. We performed for more than 1,400 patrons at Carnegie Hall on June 27, 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the cancellation of two-thirds of our season in 2019 - 2020, and our 2020 - 2021 season was conducted entirely online. Our first post-pandemic season (2021 - 2022) was limited to two programs, and our audiences were slow to return to live performances--an experience common to arts organizations. Our 2022 - 2023 season celebrated our 25th Anniversary and a return to unmasked, face-to-face connections with our community of singers, donors, volunteers, and patrons. Our 2023-2024 season was a rousing success with three full programs capped off by a tour to Croatia where we collaborated with local Croatian choral groups. Our goals for our 2024-2025 season include engaging our audiences both face-to-face and online; offering a full season of three programs, the last of which will be entirely under the direction of our Assistant Director, Sarah Hughes, while our Artistic Director is on sabbatical; and continuing to achieve our mission.

Community Board members:

Expertise and advice in fundraising, event planning, marketing and audience development, finance. Networking to assist fundraising is critical.
 
Capacity Building: $20,000 - $40,000 annually

Invest in the tools, systems, leadership development, and administrative support necessary to grow the organization.
Conducting internship program offered to a promising young woman conductor annually. 
Continuing education for Artistic Director, Assistant Director, conducting intern, board members and staff, including conference attendance and travel (e.g., Chorus America, ACDA, etc.)
Continuing support for Assistant Director role.

Orchestral accompaniment, guest artists, recording: $5,000 - $30,000

Video and audio recording to provide online content. Annual commitment for guest artists and/or orchestral accompaniment vs. current rate of every three years. (An orchestra of 30 union players is approximately $30,000.) Release selected digital recordings.

Singer Financial Support: $2,000 - $5,000

Provide scholarships to qualified singers who are unable to make the annual requested donation of $250; ranges from $1,000 - $2,500 annually.

Orange County, California
Los Angeles County, San Diego County, and the Inland Empire
Selected tour destinations in the US and outside the US

While Orange County has many excellent choral programs, the Orange County Women’s Chorus is the only major women’s chorus in the area. We offer our audiences music that is performed nowhere else, and we offer women an opportunity to sing together in and for their communities.  We promote women in the arts by offering a paid conducting internship to a promising young woman conductor, and by performing and commissioning works by women composers. We consistently demonstrate our core values of excellence, community, diversity and leadership.
 
Sincerely,
Katrina Veldkamp
President, Board of Directors

The Orange County Women's Chorus concluded its 2023 - 2024 season with a strong financial position and an extremely capable board.  The challenge before us is to ensure that the OCWC will be an active participant in the Southern California arts community in the years to come, long after we have concluded our board service.  We are focused on board development, seeking members of the community who share our passion for choral music, and women's choral music in particular, who will make the investment in this organization for the long term.
 
Sincerely,
Katrina Veldkamp
President, Board of Directors