Michigan Philharmonic
About Us
In 2025-2026 the Michigan Philharmonic – or ‘Michigan Phil’ – enters its 80th successful year bringing live professional symphonic music to concert-goers across the region. With an emphasis on the performance of innovative classical music, community engagement through geographic outreach and educational programming for people of all ages, the award-winning Michigan Phil has it all.
Our History
So many great things in life often start with a simple idea. This is nurtured and grows, flourishing and eventually becoming something truly grand that brings deep meaning, joy and even happiness to our lives.
As one of Michigan’s renowned cultural organizations, such is the history of the Michigan Philharmonic, known throughout much of its time as the Plymouth Symphony Orchestra (PSO), and which today celebrates more than 80 years of music, innovation, community engagement and education.
It first began in the spring of 1945 when a group of Plymouth area residents Evelyn and Carl Groschke invited friends to their home to join them playing instrumental music. A strings ensemble was formed, and Evelyn would perform with the new symphony for many years under the name of Evelyn Woods.
At the same time, Paul Wagner, director of the Plymouth High School music program, was working to organize a community orchestra. They joined forces and the Plymouth Symphony Orchestra (PSO) was born, giving its first live public performance on April 20, 1947.
The first concerts were performed in the auditorium at Plymouth High School (which became Central Middle School and today is known as PARC) and on the school lawn. By 1952 the symphony moved its performances to the new high school gym.
By the mid-1950s, the orchestra often performed summer outdoor concerts held at the Pino Farm (later known as Plymouth Colony Farms) in Plymouth Township. By this time Wayne Dunlap had become the conductor. He would serve for 28 years (1951-1979), the longest running symphony leader other than Nan Washburn who is now in her 27th year.
In the 1960s the symphony performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for the first time and performed in downtown Detroit at the Ford Auditorium for the first time.
In 2011 the PSO became the Michigan Philharmonic to better reflect its regional reach and approach to offering music throughout southeast Michigan.
Throughout its history the Philharmonic has been dedicated to developing students and young musicians through various “junior” and “youth” orchestras while also serving more than 5000 students in Western Wayne County school districts through education programs like CLASSical Music. Today, more than 75 students each year participate in the Michigan Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, performing both side by side with the full orchestra and a series of their own concerts.
The Philharmonic moved to the Plymouth Arts and Recreation Center (PARC) in 2015 and has been the recipient of six ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming by the League of American Orchestras – one of only 26 orchestras recognized nationally with such an award.
In 2025, The Michigan Phil and conductor Nan Washburn were awarded The American Prize 1st Place in Orchestral Performance – Professional Division
ORCHESTRATE THE EXTRAORDINARY
Mission & Inclusion
The Michigan Philharmonic is committed to presenting innovative and inclusive classical music concerts and youth musical education outreach. We Orchestrate the Extraordinary, for Everyone
Our Team
Leadership
Joan Walton – Executive Director
Nan Washburn – Music Director & Conductor
Artistic & Production
Chris Wheeler – Personnel Manager and Music Librarian
Michael Grabowski – Production
Rick Stanley – Production
Communications & Design
Julie Nyhus, Nyhus Designs
Box Office & Volunteers
Mary Tavana – Patron Services Coordinator
Lisa Kaberna – Volunteer Coordinator
Finance
Amy Fox – Business Manager
Youth Education
Nancy Davidson – Education Programs Coordinator
Nan Washburn – Advisor, MPYO
Hektor Qyteti – Conductor, MPYO
Kevin Naeve – Conductor, MPYO
Our Board
Executive Committee
Donald Soenen, Interim President – President PARC
Narendra Sheth, Vice President – Retired, Ford Motor Company
Kevin Nelson, Vice President – Shareholder, Tiffany & Bosco
Aaron Reeder, Treasurer – VP Commercial Lending, Bank of Ann Arbor
Kevin Ryan, Secretary – Economic Development Director, Cherry Hill Village
Chris Belcher, Past President – Retired Wealth Management Trust Officer
Board of Directors
Dr. Sam Barresi, Former Asst. Superintendent, Wayne Westland Schools
Steve Chrypinski, Retired, NPR, Michigan Radio
Marlene Donoghue, President, Creative Health Products
Rebecca Journigan, Administrator, Michigan Medicine
Dr. Michele Kelly, Chief Academic Officer, Schoolcraft College
Music Director & Conductor
Nan Washburn
Winner of The American Prize in Orchestral Conducting, professional division 2013 and 2025, the American Prize Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music, professional division, 2016, and 19 ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming from the League American Orchestras, Nan Washburn is one of the most innovative and dynamic conductors working in the U.S. today.
For her engaging performances and fresh approach to concert programming, critics have hailed her work as having “perspicacity, nerve, imagination and all-round savvy.”
She is in her 27th season as the Music Director and Conductor of the Michigan Philharmonic. Under her leadership, the orchestra has experienced unprecedented growth in artistic excellence and in the scope and diversity of its programs throughout Southeast Michigan. National recognition for the orchestra during Washburn’s tenure includes 6 ASCAP Awards, several prestigious grants from Knight Foundation and 2nd Place honors from The American Prize, professional orchestra division.
From 2009-2017 she also served as the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor for the Michigan Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, an ensemble that she founded in 2003. For five years she was the Artistic Director and Conductor of the West Hollywood Orchestra. She has also held the posts as Music Director of Orchestra Sonoma, the Camellia Symphony in Sacramento, Principal Conductor of the Channel Islands Symphony, the Acalanes Chamber Orchestra, the American Jazz Theater, and Director of the San Francisco State University Symphony Orchestra. She made her opera conducting debut in Los Angeles with the full production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel with the El Dorado Opera Company. Last year she returned to California to make her debut with the San Luis Obispo Symphony.
For her pioneering work, Washburn has been featured on National Public Radio, in WESTWAYS MAGAZINE, COASTLINES MAGAZINE, SAN FRANCISCO FOCUS MAGAZINE and the League of American Orchestra’s SYMPHONY MAGAZINE. She has worked with and performed works by many of the leading composers in the U.S. today, including Ned Rorem, Libby Larsen, Ellen Zwilich, Zhou Long, John Corigliano, Joan Tower, Frank Ticheli, Alvin Singleton, Chen Yi, Lou Harrison, Tobias Picker, Lowell Liebermann, Harold Farberman, Alice Gomez, Michael Daugherty, Jennifer Higdon, and Mary Watkins. Notable soloists include Sharon Robinson, Donald McInnes, Norman Fischer, Kaaren Erickson, Geraldine Walther, Judy Collins, Mark O’Conner, Mason Williams, Jason Graae, Jo Anne Worley, Bruce Vilanch, Ann Hampton Callaway, Jason Graae, Blair Underwood, John Walz and Sharon Isbin.
Born in Denver and raised in Southern California, Nan Washburn has conducted throughout the United States, including the symphony orchestras of Richmond, Sacramento, Wyoming, Eugene, Berkeley, Marin, Cheyenne, Dubuque, Perrysburg, Stockton and Napa Valley. Other guest appearances have been with Oregon Mozart Players, Women’s Philharmonic, Colorado and California All State Honor Orchestras, the University of Michigan Philharmonia and the Firelands Symphony in Sandusky, Ohio.
Washburn first came to national attention as a co-founder, the Artistic Director and Associate Conductor of the San Francisco-based Women’s Philharmonic from 1980 to 1990, during which time she became one of the leading authorities on and advocates for orchestral works of women composers. She researched and reconstructed historical scores, commissioned new works, and programmed and performed dozens of works by women. In addition, she created some of the orchestra’s most successful projects, such as their educational concerts and the New Music Reading Sessions and was also Musical Producer of their first CD.
Washburn earned her Bachelor’s of Music with highest honors from the University of California at Santa Barbara, receiving the Chancellor’s Scholar Award, and earned her Master’s degree in performance from New England Conservatory of Music. She received the Alan Marlowe Memorial Woodwind Award while attending the Music Academy of the West.
A professional flutist for a number of years, Washburn began her studies in conducting in 1984 working with Denis de Coteau at CSU Hayward, and continued studies with Harold Farberman for three years at the Conductors Institute, and at the Aspen Music Festival as a scholarship student of Paul Vermel. In addition, she has participated in several masterclasses, working with Daniel Lewis, Gustav Meier, Donald Thulean, and Lawrence Leighton Smith. During the summer of 2002, she was on the faculty at the Conductors Institute at Bard College in New York.
Washburn has been honored with the Distinguished Service Award from New York Women Composers, the Sonoma County Independent Indy Award, the Girl Scout Role Model Award, Outstanding Local Hero Award from KQED, San Francisco and the Women’s Foundation of California and has been recognized among “Women in Leadership” by the city of West Hollywood, honored as an Sigma Alpha Iota National Arts Associate and recently received Jeanine C. Rae Award for the Advancement of Women’s Culture.
As the second longest running conductor in the Philharmonic’s 80-year history, Nan Washburn remains an iconic leader of our cultural jewel.
For more information please visit: http://www.nanwashburn.com
