FREE EVENT
March 8, 2022. 7pm EST
The discussion will be aired on EXTENSITY’s YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
In honor of International Women’s Day, EXTENSITY will host a virtual discussion on gender equity and diversity in classical and new music. Panelists: Ana Abrantes, cellist and Director of Education at The Sphinx Organization, Haley Olson, composer and Manager of Artist Services at American Composers Forum, Eunbi Kim, pianist and Board Member at the New York Foundation for the Arts, and Christina Rusnak, composer and President of the International Alliance for Women in Music.
PANELISTS
Ana Abrantes
Director of Education, The Sphinx Organization
A native of Campos do Jordão, Brazil, Dr. Ana Abrantes serves as Director of Education for the Sphinx Organization overseeing the Overture Program, which serves elementary school students throughout Detroit and Flint, and the Sphinx Performance Academy, in partnership with the Curtis and Cleveland Institutes of Music and the Juilliard School.
Before joining the Sphinx Organization, Ana was the Curriculum Director for the Heifetz Institute’s acclaimed HeifetzPEG program, and she also served as Operations Manager handling the daily office and Heifetz On Tour operations year-round.
As an avid educator, Ana Abrantes is a Suzuki certified cello teacher and uses their philosophy – Every Child Can! – as the basis for her teaching method. In Georgia, Ana was the Suzuki Cello Instructor at the UGA Community Music School and at the Newton County Youth Strings program.
Ana Abrantes has performed across the United States and Brazil. She was a core member of the Meridian Symphony Orchestra (MS), Macon Symphony Orchestra (GA), and principal cello of the Athens Symphony Orchestra (GA). At the University of Georgia, Ana served as principal cellist of the ARCO Chamber Orchestra, a distinguished ensemble founded by Levon Ambartsumian in 1989. With ARCO, Ana has recorded a DVD during its 2015 tour through Brazil, and she is also featured as cello soloist in Efrem Podgaits’ CD, String Fairy Tale, under the Art Classics label.
Ana graduated with Honors from the University of Southern Mississippi with a Bachelor of Music degree in cello performance, and she also earned degrees from the University of Georgia: Master of Music in cello performance and Doctor of Musical Arts with a minor in music theory.
Haley Olson
Manager of Artist Services, American Composers Forum
Haley Olson is a composer, pianist, and arts administrator based in Minnesota. She holds degrees in composition from St. Olaf College and the Peabody Institute, and works have been programmed and performed by ensembles and festivals including the Occasional Symphony, the Charlotte New Music Festival, and the Sparks and Wiry Cries SongSLAM. Upcoming performances include the premieres of new solo piano works in the Center For Performing Arts’ Waves concert series. Haley is an active educator and performer in the Twin Cities and currently directs the children’s choir and theory program at St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in St. Paul. An advocate for artists, she connects creators with resources, audiences, funding, and opportunities as a member of American Composers Forum’s Artist Services team.
Eunbi Kim
Board Member, NYFA
Korean-American pianist Eunbi Kim is known for creatively curated performances that express dreamlike “liquid elegance” (Times Union). Highlights include giving world premieres of “It Feels Like a Mountain, Chasing Me” and “Songs for the Alone” both written for her by Daniel Bernard Roumain at The Kennedy Center, creating/producing/performing the music-theater production Murakami Music, and speaking at TEDx in 2017. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for New York Foundation for the Arts and is co-founder of bespoken, a mentorship program for women in music.
Christina Rusnak
President, International Alliance for Women in Music
Christina Rusnak is a composer, explorer and cultural catalyst who draws inspiration from the world around her. She integrates a sense of context into her music from a variety of sources including landscape, culture, history, ecology and art, she strives to something meaningful about the human experience through music.
Rusnak’s work includes chamber, orchestra, wind ensemble, choral, jazz, and solo pieces as well as electro-acoustic works, and film. An avid hiker, Ms. Rusnak she has been commissioned by the U.S. Forest Service, The National Park Service, and Oregon State Parks with over dozen pieces inspired by experiences in their landscapes. In 2019, she led the renowned Composing in the Wilderness Seminar at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. Her work has been performed across the country, and internationally.
An advocate for New Music, Rusnak has served as Sound Art Curator for the Dallas Contemporary Art Museum, as Executive Director for Orchestra 2001 in Philadelphia. She currently serves on the board of the International Alliance for Women in Music. Her essays on music and advocacy can be found on LandscapeMusic.org, New Music Box,, and the Journal of the IAWM. Her works are available from Amazon, Naxos and Parma Recordings, with her scores available through her website. http://christinarusnak.com.