Seattle all-woman symphony orchestra debuts this summer
Bhavani Kotha has played in an all-woman symphony orchestra only once in her life.
That was last July, when she paid travel expenses out of pocket - including an over-$600 round trip between Seattle and Pennsylvania - to join the New Ground Orchestra Festival at the Penn State School of Music. During rehearsals, Kotha said she could freely interact with her peers. She felt no trace of anxiety in the room.
"There was this feeling of safety and an ability where we can play music without barriers or any other issues," said Kotha, 30, who served as principal oboe at the festival.
Coming home to Seattle, Kotha sought to foster a similar experience. In March, she helped launch Unbound Symphony, a nonprofit orchestra built by women and gender-marginalized performers, composers and arts leaders from the Pacific Northwest.
Unbound Symphony will host 58 mainly local musicians from around the region at its first Summer Festival from July 8-10 at Highline Performing Arts Center in Burien, said Kotha, the president and founder. Participants will rehearse orchestral works composed by women - including a double bass concerto by Seattle-based composer Sarah Bassingthwaighte - and engage in workshops and presentations, culminating in a public, all-ages performance July 10.
Unbound Symphony currently operates as an annual summer orchestra festival with year-round chamber music performances and artist talks, Kotha said. The organization grew out of a need to expand paid opportunities for women performers and composers in the industry. Each of the festival participants will receive an $800 stipend, which draws from $75,000 in funding, raised through a combination of ticket sales and donations from community members and corporations, Kotha said.
Women make up 47% of U.S. orchestral musicians and are more likely to work in smaller- to medium-budget orchestras than their male counterparts, according to 2023 data from the League of American Orchestras. The numbers narrow further in leadership positions: During the 2022-23 season, 11% of music directors across all orchestra budget levels were women. In 2025, when Xian Zhang became Seattle Symphony's music director, she was the first woman and person of color to hold that position since the organization's founding in 1903.
For the 2024-25 season, just under 10% of planned individual performances by the largest-budget ensembles in the U.S. featured works by women, according to the Women's Philharmonic Advocacy. At Unbound Symphony's inaugural performance, all five of its pieces will be by women composers. "Starburst" by violinist Jessie Montgomery blasts off with a joyful, cosmic rhythm, while "Spider Boots" by Bassingthwaighte and flutist Tessa Brinckman reminisces on the vibrant, more affordable old days of Seattle, re-creating the calls of Pacific Northwest birds and whistles of an Amtrak fleet leaving King Street Station.
The festival lineup feels unique and unusual, especially since much of Western classical music tradition is dominated by European white men composers, said Hsing-Hui Hsu, one of the festival's two conductors who is also the music director and co-founder of the Emerald City Chamber Orchestra.
"Really getting to showcase music that is more relevant to our times and modern experiences, I think, is really important," Hsu said. "And getting the opportunity to perform that with very strong, talented musicians is a real treat."
Outside of hosting performances, Unbound Symphony plans to partner with local organizations and develop educational programs. Unbound Symphony is working with the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center on a survey that records symphony orchestra performers' experiences with sexual harassment and gender discrimination, noting that "hierarchical training systems and intense career pressures can contribute to environments where misconduct is underreported," according to the organization. That survey will officially be open for responses at the festival, Kotha said.
"We're going to celebrate women, but we're still going to continue to advocate," Kotha said.
Unbound Symphony provides women musicians a supportive, empowering space between time spent caregiving, teaching, working and making music, said violinist and concertmaster Denise Dillenbeck. While in this community, Dillenbeck said, there's an inherent understanding of "how many hats we wear."
"It feels super timely to have an organization that is … highlighting the voices of women and people of color who have contributed to these movements and not always been given the successes when they should have," Dillenbeck said. "And until we live in a world where we can take equity for granted, this seems absolutely important."
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