Orange County Womens Chorus   

The Orange County Women’s Chorus, established in 1997 and led since 2000 by Eliza Rubenstein, has earned its reputation as one of the area’s leading choruses. The OCWC has performed at venues including the Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts, the Irvine Barclay Theatre, and Walt Disney Concert Hall’s REDCAT Theater. The OCWC made its Carnegie Hall debut in June 2022 with its own spotlight performance prior to a massed choir and orchestral performance of Haydn's "Lord Nelson Mass" under the baton of Artistic Director, Eliza Rubenstein. In March 2020, the OCWC performed at the Western Division conference of the American Choral Directors’ Association, for the third time in its history, as the OCWC was also selected to perform in 2012 and 2004. The chorus was named a 2014 Outstanding Arts Organization by Arts Orange County, won a prize at the 2015 International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales, and participated in the Carnegie Hall premiere of Kirke Mechem’s "Songs of the Slave" under the baton of Eliza Rubenstein in New York City in June 2017. The OCWC recently returned from a tour to Croatia in 2024, where the chorus collaborated with local folk choruses. The OCWC’s wide-ranging repertoire especially emphasizes contemporary and little-known works. The chorus is committed to exploring works by women composers of the past and the present, and has commissioned new works by Kirke Mechem, Ruth Huber, Angel Lam, Dale Trumbore, Sharon Farber, Ethan Sperry, and Joan Szymko. The ensemble’s website hosts a nationally-known database of choral works by women composers at http://ocwomenschorus.org/women-composers. The chorus’s members include teachers, professors, nurses, executives, students, artists, activists, mothers, and grandmothers.