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 motherhood and a devotion 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 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, but developed a passion for jazz in college. Almost thirty years later, he is recognized as an imaginative pianist and unique composer. He has written for and performed with numerous luminaries in the US, and his credits abroad include a recent tour as guest composer, conductor and soloist with the world-renowned Stockholm Jazz Orchestra as well as a tour of Venezuela in June 2005 for the United States State Department.
Mike’s CDs as a leader include the small group projects “Canyon,” released in 2003, and “Wish List,” released last fall. His jazz orchestra project, “The Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Thought Trains,” received a 4-star review in DownBeat Magazine and was named as one of DownBeat’s outstanding recordings of 2005.
Mike’s arrangements and compositions have been performed and/or recorded by The Vanguard Orchestra, The BBC Big Band in London, The R.I.A.S. Big Band in Berlin, The Gotham Wind Symphony, The Airmen of Note, Prism Saxophone Quartet, among many others. As a pianist he has performed and recorded with The Stockholm Jazz Orchestra, The Vanguard Orchestra, John Patitucci, The Tim Ries Rolling Stones Project, Nick Brignola, The Anita Brown Jazz Orchestra, Dave Pietro, and others. He remains active as a composer in the contemporary classical idiom with commissions for chamber works and he is currently composer in residence of the newly formed Gotham Wind Symphony.
Mike is an assistant professor at The City College of NY, assistant music director of the BMI Jazz Composers’ Workshop, and a recent multiple MacDowell Fellow, Corporation of Yaddo Guest, and UCross Foundation Resident.
