International Stars and Kennedy Center Musicians Come Together For An Inclusive Weekend of Music With WoCo Fest 2026: Transcend
Boulanger Initiative’s 8th Annual Women Composers Festival brings together past and present trailblazers, gives internationally renowned performers and Kennedy Center musicians a safe platform for performance, and shares a transcendent weekend of music with the community.
TAKOMA PARK, Md. (Mar. 23, 2026) — WoCo Fest 2026: Transcend, presented by Boulanger Initiative and co-presented by Strathmore, returns April 24 and 25 to the Mansion at Strathmore in North Bethesda, for a festival celebrating music by women and gender-marginalized composers.
The festival opens with a concert featuring artists from the National Symphony Orchestra and members of the newly renamed Washington National Opera Orchestra, bringing together some of the region’s most accomplished performers. The program includes the string quartet Bluestone Strings, a wind trio, and a flute/harp duo, performing works by Giddens, Musgrave, and Madeleine Dring.
The evening closes with New York Philharmonic violinist Audrey Wright’s Luminous Being, which combines a wearable, responsive light sculpture designed by visual artist/technologist Geoff Robertson.
WoCo Fest continues on Saturday, April 25 with a full day of performances, workshops, and interactive experiences. The Mansion’s music room will host intimate concerts starting with MacArthur Fellow and the first flutist to receive the Avery Fisher Prize, Claire Chase, at 4:00 p.m., followed by internationally renowned Scottish harper and composer, Maeve Gilchrist, at 6:00 p.m., and closing with Argus Quartet at 8:00 p.m.
Interwoven with the performances are hands-on composer workshops led by Erin Snedecor (cello) and Sandy Choi (violin), giving attendees the opportunity to view the hands-on experience of workshopping new music. These workshop sessions run from 3:10 p.m. to 7:50 p.m., highlighting contemporary composition and collaborative creative processes.
This festival promises musical performances, community exhibitions, and thought-provoking conversations exploring creativity, collaboration, and the process of creating art that transcends boundaries.
“WoCo Fest 2026: Transcend is about breaking through limits: of expectation, of tradition, of who gets to be heard. This festival is our outpouring of love and celebration for the women and gender-marginalized composers of the past and present whose music carries us beyond boundaries, inviting audiences to experience creativity, courage, and community in ways that transform and inspire.”—Boulanger Initiative Co-Founder and Executive & Artistic Director, Laura Colgate
Learn more about WoCo Fest 2026: Transcend and purchase tickets at boulangerinitiative.org/woco-fest-2026/about. View the full festival schedule below.
WoCo Fest 2026: Transcend Events
OPENING CONCERT
DATE & TIME: Friday, April 24, 7:30 p.m.
LOCATION: The Music Room at The Mansion at Strathmore
TICKETS: Free, with RSVP
The festival opens with a free evening concert featuring musicians from the National Symphony Orchestra and the newly renamed Washington National Opera Orchestra. These extraordinary artists gather at WoCo Fest as a sanctuary—providing these Kennedy Center musicians a place to make music freely and joyfully together. The program spans from the works of Hildegard von Bingen to Rhiannon Giddens’ profound work At the Purchaser’s Option. The evening concludes with Luminous Being, a transcendent project by New York Philharmonic violinist Audrey Wright, paired with responsive, wearable light sculpture by visual artist and technologist Geoff Robertson, embodying the renewal and spirit at the heart of Transcend.
Please join us for a reception following the performance.
April 25: ALL DAY AT THE MANSION AT STRATHMORE
DATE: Saturday, April 25, 3:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
LOCATION: The Mansion at Strathmore
TICKETS:Available Here
Fulfill your wanderlust with a day of musical discovery and community connection at the second day of WoCo Fest 2026: Transcend as the day unfolds with creative exploration, featuring composer workshops, pre-concert talks, and performances that challenge and expand the modern canon. Experience “the most important flutist of our time” (NY Times) Claire Chase, genre-defying Scottish harper-composer Maeve Gilchrist, and the acclaimed Argus Quartet, whose evening concert celebrates music’s power to move beyond limitation.
Concert: Claire Chase, flute
TIME: 4:00 p.m.
LOCATION: The Mansion at Strathmore
Described by The New York Times as “the North Star of her instrument’s ever-expanding universe,” flutist Claire Chase is a trailblazing advocate for contemporary music. A MacArthur Fellow and the first flutist to receive the Avery Fisher Prize, she has premiered hundreds of works and leads the 24-year commissioning project Density 2036, reimagining the solo flute repertoire for the 21st century. In this performance, Chase presents a curated program of innovative works, including Annea Lockwood’s Solo from Elwha!, Liza Lim’s Throat-song from Sex Magic, her own arrangements of Susie Ibarra’s Sunbird and Tania León’s Singsong, and Suzanne Farrin’s The Stimulus of Loss.
Pre‑Concert Talk: Bridging the Lochs with Maeve Gilchrist: A Harper’s Journey from the world of Celtic Folk into contemporary Composition
TIME: 5:15 p.m.
LOCATION: The Mansion at Strathmore
Join harper and composer Maeve Gilchrist as she shares the story of her artistic journey from her musical childhood in Scotland immersed in the oral tradition of Scottish music to pursuing an interest in improvisation within and out-with the traditional music world and ultimately to her work as a contemporary composer in New York. Learn how Maeve manifests elements of traditional music within her compositional and improvisational technique, transforming tradition into a living, evolving musical language.
Concert: Maeve Gilchrist, Scottish harper
TIME: 6:00 p.m.
LOCATION: The Mansion at Strathmore
Described as “a phenomenal harp player who can make her instrument ring with unparalleled purity,” Maeve Gilchrist has pushed the Celtic lever harp to exciting new heights. Born in Edinburgh and now based in New York City, Maeve’s innovative approach blends classical, folk, and contemporary improvisation. She performs internationally as a soloist, bandleader, and collaborator, including with the Grammy-winning Silkroad Ensemble and Arooj Aftab’s Night Rein Ensemble. In this performance, time is slowed through the process of careful observation and imagination, which features excerpts from her work 12 Dances, interweaving site-specific recordings, poetry, and visual stimulation.
Pre‑Concert Talk: Dr. Caiti Beth McKinney
TIME: 7:10 p.m.
LOCATION: The Mansion at Strathmore
Join Boulanger Initiative’s Research Manager Dr. Caiti Beth McKinney for a pre-concert talk exploring Germaine Tailleferre’s Quatuor à cordes and Fanny Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in E-flat Major. Dive into the rich and tumultuous worlds of two composers whose families actively worked against their music and accomplishments, and experience the joy of their compositional triumphs. We will explore the two works by these incredible composers performed by Argus Quartet at 8:00 p.m.
Live Composer Workshops with Sandy Choi and Erin Snedecor
TIME: 3:10-3:50 p.m.; 5:10-5:50 p.m.; 7:10-7:50 p.m.
LOCATION: The 2nd Floor Invitation Gallery at The Mansion at Strathmore
WoCo Fest 2026: Transcend day two features our Composer Workshops. Led by cellist Erin Snedecor and violinist Sandy Choi, these process-based, exploratory music workshops offer women and gender-marginalized composers the extraordinary opportunity to workshop their ideas in real time in front of a live audience and hear their works-in-progress. This is a safe space for composers to test ideas and take artistic risks leading them in exciting new directions. It's also a thrilling opportunity for the audience to witness the creative process at work that is so often behind the scenes.
About Erin Snedecor- Erin Snedecor is a cellist and collaborator based in Brentwood, MD who specializes in contemporary chamber music, improvisation, songwriting, and collaborative art. Whether she is playing with a rock band, a string quartet, or a dance troupe, Erin believes that new sounds and new artistic connections can fuel better people for a better world.
About Sandy Choi- Born and raised in Chicago, Sandy Choi has spent her professional career passionately supporting the power of the arts and arts education as a professional violinist, a creative visual artist, and as an arts administrator for the last twenty-five years. She also maintains an active music career as a freelance violinist. She is a graduate of MIT where she earned her Bachelor of Science degrees in Music and Economics, and is a graduate of Columbia University where she earned her Master of International Affairs.
Argus Quartet
TIME: 8:00 p.m.
LOCATION: The Mansion at Strathmore
Praised by The New Yorker as a “vivacious foursome,” the Argus Quartet brings a dynamic program that bridges past and present while reflecting this year’s theme, Transcend. Their WoCo Fest program traces a powerful arc across centuries of musical expression, featuring works by Shelley Washington, Molly Herron, Germaine Tailleferre, and Fanny Mendelssohn. From contemporary reflections on memory and identity to Mendelssohn’s sweeping String Quartet in E-flat Major and Washington’s Grammy-nominated work Middleground, the performance invites audiences to hear how marginalized voices across time transcend boundaries of genre, tradition, and expectation.
Giancarlo Latta, violin • Sam Parrini, violin • Maren Rothfritz, viola • Drake Driscoll, cello
Please join us for a reception following the final performance.
About Boulanger Initiative
Boulanger Initiative is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to promote music composed by women through performance, education, research, consulting and commissions. Boulanger Initiative advocates for women and all gender-marginalized composers. Learn more about Boulanger Initiative at boulangerinitiative.org.
Mission, Vision, and Values:
Boulanger Initiative advocates for women and all gender-marginalized composers. BI fosters inclusivity and representation to expand and enrich the collective understanding of what music is, has been, and can be. BI promotes music composed by women through performance, education, research, consulting, and commissions.
We envision a future in which Boulanger Initiative becomes obsolete when women and gender-marginalized composers no longer need our advocacy.
We believe in bringing communities together with respect. We focus on women and gender-marginalized composers not to create division but to build equity. Through active intersectional inclusivity, we work to end discrimination against composers, whether based on gender, race, ethnicity, age, or ability, by creating an artistic space where everyone is welcome, supported, and heard. We prioritize those with the least institutional power in all of our advocacy.
You can find out more about BI’s Mission, Vision, and Values here, or watch our trailer to learn more about us.