Arts & Culture

 ‘Feeling of community and connection’: Women Composers Festival at Strathmore features local musicians

Event offers performances, other events centered on women, gender-marginalized composers on Friday, Saturday

By

Jacqueline Kalil

April 24, 2026 11:55 a.m. | Updated: April 24, 2026 11:57 a.m.

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The annual Women Composers Festival (WoCo Fest) returns Friday at the Mansion at Strathmore in North Bethesda, bringing together musicians from the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera Orchestra, along with chamber ensembles and soloists for a two-day celebration of music.

Presented by the Boulanger Initiative and co-presented by Strathmore, this year’s theme, “Transcend,” centers on connection, resilience and renewal. Across concerts, workshops and conversations, the festival spotlights music by women and gender-marginalized composers, spanning centuries while emphasizing discovery in the present moment, according to event organizers. 

For co-founder and violinist Laura Colgate, the idea for the festival grew out of an information gap she first encountered while researching women composers.

“There is no hub, there is no organization really doing all of the work in education and research and providing resources,” Colgate said. “There were all these grassroots individuals … but there was no big initiative.”

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Colgate, who lives in Takoma Park and is concertmaster of the National Philharmonic in North Bethesda, co-founded the Boulanger Initiative roughly eight years ago alongside organist Joy-Leilani Garbutt. What began as a shared research frustration quickly evolved into an organization dedicated to expanding access to music by women and gender-marginalized composers.

WoCo Fest has grown from its early, experimental editions in unconventional venues like Culture House DC (formerly Blind Whino)—a graffiti-covered former church in Southwest Washington—into a signature event at Strathmore, while retaining its emphasis on discovery, collaboration and accessibility.

The festival opens Friday with a free concert featuring musicians from the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera Orchestra at the Mansion at Strathmore. This year’s program highlights Kennedy Center-affiliated musicians who perform in smaller chamber groupings, often outside the traditional orchestra setting.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has become a political flashpoint after President Donald Trump moved to overhaul its leadership and take on a bigger role at the institution. Plans to shut down the venue for a lengthy two-year renovation, combined with concerns about political influence over a historically nonpartisan cultural institution, have sparked backlash from artists, lawmakers and advocacy groups, leading to cancellations, legal challenges and broader debate about the center’s future.

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“We are the Kennedy Center musicians—there’s a lot of unrest,” said Jaime Roberts, assistant principal oboist of the National Symphony Orchestra. “It was such a nice opportunity to be asked to play in a program in support of us but in a separate place. It’s really nice to be asked to perform, because that’s what we love to do.”

Roberts is performing in a chamber trio that includes flute, oboe and piano, featuring works such as Madeline’s Dreams, a trio by composer Leah Musgrave, a colleague she performs alongside in the orchestra.

“We just learned the program,” she said. “It’s 15 to 20 minutes, and I found a bunch of colleagues also performing in one- to three-person groups of different instrumentation—duets, trios, pianist coming on stage. It’s really nice chamber music.”

For Roberts, the festival offers a rare chance to step outside the structure of orchestral performance.

“It uses a different part of your brain,” she said. “There’s no conductor—we’re the musicians, the interpreters.”

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She also noted the personal dimension of the ensemble work, with many performers balancing demanding careers and family life.

“All our musicians are women,” Roberts said. “It’s interesting working with the Boulanger Initiative and discovering composers like Leah Musgrave. It’s like a really different puzzle.”

Beyond the music, Roberts reflected on the broader role of orchestral musicians at a time of institutional uncertainty.

“We do get paid—the musicians’ union of the Washington, D.C., area got us through the pandemic,” she said. “But I’ve been thinking a lot … what is our purpose? Do they need us?”

Then, she said, the answer becomes more clear in performance.

“We’re not doctors, we’re not a lot of things,” Roberts said. “But there’s this energy transference, the way you can express emotions and feelings. There’s anger, and right after that is wonder. Sometimes just having sound mirroring does something deeply empathetic.”

The program spans centuries, beginning with music by Hildegard von Bingen and continuing through contemporary works including Rhiannon Gidden’s “At the Purchaser’s Option.” The evening concludes with “Luminous Being,” an immersive performance by Audrey Wright featuring wearable light sculpture by Geoff Robertson.

Saturday’s programming continues with performances, workshops and open rehearsals, inviting audiences into the creative process itself. Ticket prices start at $10 for students, individual concerts at $38, and all-day passes at $90.

Among the featured artists is flutist Claire Chase, alongside harpist and composer Maeve Gilchrist and the Argus Quartet, whose program spans historical women composers such as Fanny Mendelssohn to contemporary voices shaping the field today.

Despite funding pressures and uncertainty across the arts sector, Colgate said the festival’s purpose remains rooted in connection.

“It’s this feeling of community and connection that’s so important right now,” she said. “The love and the vibe people get from it—that’s what’s needed.”

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine