Women Composers  |  Officers & Directors  |  Audiences and Venues  |  Future Plans  |  Participating Artists |  Executive Board

The Aviva Players, an acclaimed chamber ensemble, was founded in 1975 by Artistic Director Mira J. Spektor to research, present and perform the rich repertoire of Chamber Music and Songs by Women Composers of the 12th to 21st Centuries.

The Aviva ensemble has been heard in concert halls, churches, temples and universities in New York City, the tri-state area and Palm Beach, FL, and has produced three half-hour TV documentaries on Women Composers—shown frequently on Cable TV, now available for VCR.

The Aviva Players, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization, includes the following distinguished patrons on its Board of Directors.

Mira J. Spektor, Founder/Artistic Director

Dr. Dorothy Indenbaum, Associate Artistic Director

Barbara G. Eubanks, Executive Director

Claudine Belmont, Secretary; Claude Delibes, Publicity; Binnette Lipper, Concert Manager (Westchester); Julie Mandel, Concert Manager (Long Island); Asya Meshberg, Concert Manager (Connecticut); Jeremy Nussbaum, Esq., Legal Council.

Barbara Bliss, Sonia Breindel, Lawrence Chelsi, Dr. Margherita Frankel, Beate Gordon, Susan Jolles, Elena Klionsky, Ursula Merkin, Paula Orek, Dr. Alice Singer, Patricia Thompson, Mara Waldman.

Nora London, Warren David Noakes, Robert Sherman

Concerts have been made possible with the help of Meet the Composer grants, the Kolker-Frash Foundation, and the Helena Rubinstein Foundation; and private donors including Claudine and Francis Belmont, Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Breindel, Cathy and Alan Greenberg, Ria and Emanuel Gruss, Dr. Dorothy Indenbaum, Philip & Masako Kasloff, Juanita Leff, Binnette Lipper, Mila and Joseph Nasser, Paula Oreck, Dr. Alice Singer, the late Eryk Spektor, Marvin Weissman, and many others.

A tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, The Aviva Players is seeking financial, volunteer and professional help—through corporate underwriting, foundation grants, and contributions from individuals.

If you would like to support The Aviva Players in promoting and presenting the works of gifted and accomplished women composers—as a patron, pro-bono professional, or volunteer, please call Mira J. Spektor (212) 362–2277; Dr. Dorothy Indenbaum (212) 988-9051; or Barbara Eubanks (212) 222-3738. The Aviva Players, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization, welcomes your continued support—financial and otherwise.

Membership in The Aviva Players has its rewards. For a tax-deductible contribution of $50 or more, you will receive a one-year membership; notification of all Aviva programs; and invitations to previews, benefits, and other special events.

As an important supporter, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that your contribution helps make the music of Women Composers accessible to wider audiences.

To become a member of Aviva, please send your tax- deductible contribution to:

The Aviva Players
c/o Spektor, 262 Central Park West - 14E
New York, NY 10024
For further information about the activities of Aviva, please call (212) 362-2277. Or visit our website at www.theavivaplayers.org

Chamber Music & Songs

Celebrating Women Composers
from the 12th-21st centuries

Founded in 1975, The Aviva Players is one of the first chamber ensembles to feature music of Women Composers. The goal of The Aviva Players is to research, present, promote and, above all, to perform the rich repertoire of chamber music and songs by Women Composers from the 12th to the 21st centuries.

Beth Anderson, Elizabeth Austin, Elizabeth Bell, Marilyn Bliss, Tamara Bliss, Victoria Bond, Alla Borzova, Linda Bouchard, Dawn Buckholtz, Laura Carnibucci, Eleanor Cory, Rebekah Driscoll, Nancy Ford, Sylvia Glickman, Frieda Gronewetter, Jacqueline Hairston, Doris Hayes, Katherine Hoover, Memrie Innerarity, Stephania de Kennessey, Jane Komarov, Roberta Kosse, Hye Kyung Lee, Jane Leslie, Binnette Lipper, Melissa Maier, Julie Mandel, Ursula Mamlok, Julie Mandel, Meredith Monk, Thea Musgrave, Jerica Oblak, Joyce Orenstein, Barberi Paull, Lou Rodgers, Patsy Rogers, Amy Rubin, Ruth Schontahl, Judith Shatin, Judith St. Croix, Naomi Shemer, Mira J. Spektor, Joyce Suskind, Elizabeth Swados, Joan Tower, Ludmilla Ulehla, Mara Waldman, Joelle Wallach, Judith Zaimont, Margarita Zelenaya, Ellen Zwillich and others.

Princess Amelia of Prussia, Mary Aufderheide, Amy Beach, Hildegard Von Bingen, Lili Boulanger, Nadia Boulanger, CÈcile Chaminade, Rebecca Clarke, Clara Edwards, Louise Farrenc, Vivian Fine, Idabelle Firestone, Miriam Gideon, Jane S. Hart, Mary Howe, Josephine Lang, Marcelle de Manziarly, Easthope Martin, Marguerite Melville, Fanny Mendelssohn, Maria Theresia Von Paradis, Clara Schumann, Alicia Ann Scott, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Adeleline Shepard, Jeanne Singer, Madeleine Laura DiSirmen, Julia Smith, Germaine Tailleferre, Louise Talma, Mana-Zucca, et al.

Aviva performances have been held in concert halls, universities, churches, synagogues, libraries, clubs, on radio and television, primarily in New York State.

Manhattan concerts: Carnegie Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, Christ & St. Stephen’s Church, St. Peter’s Church (Citicorp), Madison Ave. Presbyterian Church, Temple Rodeph Sholom, Nat’l Council of Jewish Women, NY Council House, Barnard College, La Maison FranÁaise (NYU), Mannes College of Music, Marymount Manhattan College, Lincoln Center Library, Donnell Library, Cosmopolitan Club, Kosciusko Fdn., Tenri Institute, Women’s Interart Center, West Side YMCA, Lexington Ave. YWCA.

Other venues: Manhattanville College (Purchase), Rutgers Univ., Sarah Lawrence College, Skidmore College, Queens Botanical Garden. Long Island: the Peninsula Library (Lawrence), the 5 Town Music & Arts Foundation (Woodmere), Guild Hall (East Hampton) and Southampton Cultural Center. Florida: Sunday at Three Concert Series at Four Seasons Ocean Grand (Palm Beach).

Featured on WQXR, WNYC, WNCN radio, Aviva has been part of the Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women. Three made-for-TV specials about Women Composers (1990), produced by Aviva, are available for network programs and in VCR format.

The Aviva Players continues to build awareness and appreciation of Chamber Music and Songs by Women Composers, now and in a historical context. We are also planning CDs, radio and TV programs, workshops and campus residencies, Women’s Studies programs, and concerts for students/seniors. With your continued help, The Aviva Players can bring the vast repertoire of music by Women Composers into the mainstream of musical studies and programming.  For further information click here to see The Mira J. Spektor website

Many accomplished musicians have performed with The Aviva Players including:RenÈe Jolles, Asya Meshberg, Mara Milkis, Yuval Waldman (violin); Sarah Cutler, Susan Jolles (harp); Eugenie Dengel, Kathleen Foster, Ruth Siegler, Leslie Tomkins (viola); Dorothy Lawson, Inbal Segev, Yari Bond, David Calhoun, Andrew Kim, (cello); Melanie Bradford (flute); Phillip Bashor, David Krakauer (clarinet); Barbara Ames, Gila Goldstein, Christopher Oldfather, Dr. Robert Sharon, Jenny Undercofler, Mara Waldman (piano); Robin Leigh Massey, Patricia Thompson, Claudia Wald, Helen Williams, Eddye Pierce Young (soprano); Constance Beavon, Lucy Sorlucco, Debra Stein (mezzo-soprano); Richard Holmes, Mark Peters (baritone); Lawrence Chelsi, Brandon Hall Garcia (bass-baritone); Meredith Monk, Theo Bleckmann (vocalist); Jeffrey Olmsted (guitar, keyboard); Mira J. Spektor, (composer/singer); Dr. Dorothy Indenbaum (musicologist/pianist).

Mira J. Spektor, Founder & Artistic Director
Composer/poet/singer Mira J. Spektor founded The Aviva Players in 1975. Born in Europe, Ms. Spektor graduated from Sarah Lawrence, and studied at Mannes and Juilliard. She has written chamber music and operas including The Passion of Lizzie Borden, Mary Shelley; songs and music for theater, film and TV; and recorded for Concert Hall, Westminster and Guilde International du Disque, Original Cast Records, Capstone and AirPlay. Music scores (Georgina Press, BMI, Hildegard) include feature film Double Edge (Faye Dunaway) and PBS documentaries, Art in Its Soul and Serious Comics. Her recent CDs include: The Housewives’ Cantata, Lady of the Castle, Mira Chante/French Love Songs, and Lullabies & Lovesongs. A member of The League of Professional Theater Women, BMI, Dramatist Guild, Ms. Spektor is a published poet—From Seaside Houses, and The Road to November, her newest poetry collection.  For further information see The Mira J. Spektor website

Dorothy Indenbaum, Associate Artistic Director
A pianist, musicologist and lecturer, Dr. Dorothy Indenbaum serves as chairman of the Dalcroze School of Music Board of Trustees, and was formerly on the faculties of Dalcroze School of Music and Hunter College. She was a contributor to Grove’s Dictionary of Women Composers, a Dalcroze clinician and workshop leader at Washington and Tulane Universities, Montclair, Wagner and Manhattanville Colleges. She received her License from The Dalcroze School of Music, B.A. from Brooklyn College, M.S. from Queens College, and Ph.D. from NYU.

Barbara G. Eubanks, Executive Director
Barbara Eubanks has taught at Manhattan School of Music and given master classes at the Vocal Arts Institute. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, she serves on the boards of Encompass New Opera Theatre, Center for Contemporary Opera, New York Singing Teachers’ Assn., and Serate Musicali. She also maintains an active New York voice studio. In 1984, Ms. Eubanks founded Associated Artistic Enterprises to present artists in concert at such venues as Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, and Carnegie Hall. For the past decade, she has been grants consultant to The Nathan Cummings Foundation, The Surdna Foundation, and Young Audiences, Inc.

For further information click here to see The Mira J. Spektor website