Emily Tabin (Executive Director and co-founder) received training in business (BS, The Wharton School) and the law (JD, NYU School of Law). After working in the advertising field and in litigation and real estate law in Manhattan and Westchester, she turned her sights to not-for-profit causes, primarily those involving children and the arts. Emily was President of the Chappaqua PTA, a district-wide post; editor-in-chief of two PTA publications; and Chair of the Young Writers’ Conference Committee, an instructional writing program for over 370 district students. As a fundraising coordinator for the Jacob Burns Film Center, Emily helped with the Burns’ initial $5 million capital campaign. Emily is a past director of Project Morry, a year-round mentoring program for underprivileged children, and of Litchfield Performing Arts, which brings diverse arts experiences to Connecticut schoolchildren, offers arts education programs with scholarships, and presents a world-renowned jazz festival every August.
Emily has been the organization’s Executive Director since its inception in 2003. A lifelong music lover, Emily played classical piano during her school days. She currently can be found practicing her alto saxophone in hopes of becoming a WJO band member by 2040.
WJO artistic director and composer/arranger Mike Holober was trained as a classical pianist and conductor, developing a passion for jazz in college. Thirty years later, he is recognized as an imaginative pianist, unique composer and inspirational conductor. He has written for and performed with numerous luminaries in the US, and he toured as guest composer, conductor and soloist with the world-renowned Stockholm Jazz Orchestra, and also for the US State Department in Venezuela in June 2005. His recent two-year appointment as Associate Guest Conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Big Band (HR) for 2012-13 further solidifies his growing reputation as one of today’s top big band writers and conductors.
Mike’s CDs as a leader include the small group projects Canyon, released in 2003, and Wish List. His jazz large ensemble releases include the Gotham Jazz Orchestra’s Thought Trains (named by DownBeat as one of the outstanding recordings of 2005) and Quake (Sunnyside Records 2009).
In April 2010, Mike world-premiered his composition "Flow: In Celebration of the Hudson River," a 3-movement suite commissioned by WJO with funding from NYSCA. In February 2008, he premiered “Hiding Out,” a 5-movement suite commissioned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, funded by The Pew Charitable Trust, with the Gotham Jazz Orchestra. Other performance and writing credits include The HR Big Band in Frankfort, The WDR Big Band in Cologne, The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, The Gotham Wind Symphony (where he is composer in residence), The Airmen Of Note, The Army Blues, Prism Saxophone Quartet, John Patitucci, The Tim Ries Rolling Stones Project, Nick Brignola, Jason Rigby, The Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra and Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society.
Mike is an associate professor at The City College of NY, associate music director of the BMI Jazz Composers’ Workshop, and a recent multiple MacDowell Fellow, Corporation of Yaddo Guest, and UCross Foundation Resident. www.mikeholober.com
