Ashley Ertz is an oboist and arts administrator in the Chicago metropolitan area. Ertz is the Artistic Director and Founder of 5th Wave Collective and the Program Manager with the International Music Foundation. She also recently won the position of English Horn with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra and is on the Board of Directors for the Musicians Club of Women in addition to a healthy freelance career.

In March of 2018 Ashley saw a lack of performance space for womxn composers and thus started 5th Wave Collective, a Chicago based ensemble dedicated to the performance and promotion of music by womxn and gender non-conforming composers. They are now finishing off their fourth season with Ertz as Artistic Director, having had over 200 musicians perform with them and presenting over 100 womxn and gender non-conforming composers. 

This is so sorely needed. In the orchestral world our attempts to feature female composers look like a tone poem here, a concerto there - but rarely a symphony, never a full concert.  Big orchestras are stuck playing the classics that they assume the audience wants, and they don’t have the time or the social capital to research and program a wider diversity of works. Or so they would have you believe. But Ashley's research and advocacy are pointing the way forward. Look at her website, where HUNDREDS of works by women  are documented. Look at the performances she’s created. She’s not stopping. Nor should she. I know you will love hearing from this brilliant and energetic woman. 

Find out more at the 5th Wave Collective website, instagram, and facebook, and follow Ashley herself on instagram! 

Lisa Canning owns Lisa’s Clarinet Shop- a 41-year-old professional clarinet shop. Her company also teaches woodwind repair to educators, private lesson teachers and to those seeking an additional source of income. She also has a business called Sales Maven which helps small businesses align their digital assets to cohesively sell and market themselves and their businesses.  

Carolyn Nussbaum owns The Carolyn Nussbaum Music Company.  Founded in Dallas, Texas in 1996 as a one-woman repair shop, today, her internationally-established retail, repair, and distribution center supplies flutists with nearly everything they'll need in their musical life - whether it be instruments, music, direction, or knowledge. 

These two women are passionate about collaboration, about working together for the good of the MUSICAL COMMUNITY, and about training band directors and local teachers in the basics of instrument repair so that woodwind players at LOCAL levels can be supported and thriving. 

Find Lisa at her website

Find Carolyn at her website

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