Mission

Community Women’s Orchestra creates a welcoming environment to engage, inspire, and celebrate women in classical music.

History

CWO is proud to celebrate our 40th year engaging women in classic music. We are an independent non-profit and are one of just a few all-women's orchestras in the United States.

The Community Women’s Orchestra (CWO) was founded as a community adjunct to the professional Women’s Philharmonic. Although the Women’s Philharmonic disbanded in 2004, the CWO continues to grow and flourish as an independent organization.

In the past 40 years, CWO has grown from the original six-member ensemble to more than sixty members. We have performed more than 100 concerts. We collaborated with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, including multiple performances at Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, Brava Theater, touring to Santa Rosa and Miami, Florida, and CD and DVD recordings.

CWO takes special pride in nurturing and celebrating women composers across the ages. We have been responsible for numerous regional, national, and world premieres of modern works by female composers, including Juliette Folville, Ethel Smyth, Martha Stoddard, Hilary Tann, and Mary Watkins. We have also featured women composers in CWO concerts such as Jennifer Higdon, Gwyneth Walker, Cyndi McTee, Dione Tan, Clara Wieck Schumann, and Fanny Mendelssohn, to name but a few.

Musicians

Current members of CWO are: business owners, grad students, physicians, retirees, college professors, artists, stay-at-home moms, engineers, attorneys, music teachers, and more!

We all share a passion for promoting women in music.