Youth Inspiring Youth Artistic Leadership

Libby Larsen

Teaching Artist Libby Larsen is one of America’s most performed living composers, with over 400 works spanning virtually every genre from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive orchestral works and over twelve operas. Grammy Award winning and widely recorded, Larsen has held residencies with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony and the Colorado Symphony. Larsen was recently awarded the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America.

Charles Bruffy

WomenSing Advisory Board member Charles Bruffy is a nationally prominent choral conductor who has garnered high praise for his ensembles’ live performances and recordings. The Grammy-winning Bruffy is currently conductor of the Kansas City Chorale and the Phoenix Chorale, among others. He is a sought-after choral clinician, has extensive experience with commissioning new works and premieres, and supervises the publishing of a choral music series.

Martin Benvenuto

Artistic Director
Martín Benvenuto (D.M.A.) has established a reputation for the finest choral performances, and has extensive expertise in treble choir repertoire and vocal production. He has led numerous choral collaborations with a wide diversity of organizations, and his choirs have a history of commissioning new works with leading composers as well as promoting new composers. In addition to leading WomenSing, Benvenuto is Artistic Director of the Peninsula Women’s Chorus and for many years was on the faculty of the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir.

Collaborating Organizations

River of Words. Founded in 1995 by former US Poet Laureate and 2008 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Robert Hass, along with writer Pamela Michael, River of Words, a California-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization has energetically enlisted youth from around the world to compete annually in both art and poetry on the subject of the environment. ROW has conducted training workshops for teachers, park naturalists, grassroots groups, state resource agencies, librarians and others since 1995, helping them to incorporate observation-based nature exploration and the arts into their work with young people – improving children’s literacy and cognitive skills of investigation and critical thinking.