Emily Park
Executive Artistic Director and Principal Conductor
emilypark@interplayorchestra.org
Emily received Bachelor of Music Degrees in Percussion Performance and Music Education, with a certificate in Arts Leadership, from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. At Eastman she studied with Michael Burritt, world-renowned percussionist and educator, and as a Kennedy Center Fellow, she studied with Tony Ames, Principal Percussionist of the National Symphony Orchestra. She served as the Director of Instrumental Music at Maret School in Washington, D.C., where she conducted and taught twelve instrumental ensembles for 5th-12th grade students.
As an avid music educator, Emily has demonstrated her passion for teaching children and adults with cognitive and physical disabilities. Emily has been a volunteer with interPLAY Orchestra since 2009, and has held two internships in Music Therapy at the National Children’s Medical Center (Children’s Hospital) in Washington, D.C. and the Hochstein School of Music and Dance in Rochester, New York, where she specialized in creating adaptive instrument techniques for children and adults with disabilities. She also taught early childhood music at the Eastman Community Music School and the Levine School of Music. Emily has an active interest in music cognition and psychology, the neurological foundations of music, and the role music plays in therapeutic practices.
Emily has performed as a soloist and as a member of ensembles at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall and Millennium Stage, the Peabody Institute, and Kilbourn Hall and Kodak Hall in Rochester, New York. She performed as a member of the Eastman Percussion Ensemble at the Percussive Arts Society’s International Convention (PASIC) as the 2014 winner of their International Percussion Ensemble Competition, as a member of the sextet in the world premiere of Ivan Trevino’s Catching Shadows, and as the Principal Timpanist in the world premiere of Jeff Beal’s House of Cards Symphony. In her free time, Emily maintains a private teaching studio and actively performs in the DMV area.
Paula R. Moore
Founder
The interPLAY Orchestra was founded over 30 years ago by Paula R. Moore. Paula was named a Washingtonian of the Year in 1996.
A passionate advocate on behalf of people with disabilities, Paula R. Moore first developed a national nonprofit organization that gave children with IDD and non-impaired high school students the opportunity to co-publish school newspapers, written and color photographed by the young people themselves. This project was chosen to join the first international Very Special Arts Festival held in Washington that led the local newspaper staff to both the Kennedy Center and The White House, writing and shooting over 500 photos for a festival newspaper sent to VSA projects globally.
A performance musician herself, Paula discovered through research that everyone is born with the gene to make music; so, all of her personal expertise as a professional writer and director, designer, and communications and public relations consultant was channeled into creating a musical nonprofit project for adults with and without disabilities.
She served on the Montgomery County Maryland Commission for People with Disabilities, spoke on panels, and initiated an experimental participatory music experience class using professional instruments at the former Great Oaks Center, a Maryland State institution now closed, for adults with severe and profound mental and physical disabilities. The success of the original project led to the formation of The interPLAY Orchestra for cognitively disabled adults who are generally living and working independently and the sizeable group of musicians you see today.
Paula Moore’s work has earned her many honors throughout the years, as well as invitations to start similar programs in other countries.
Susan Park
Orchestra Manager
Susan first joined the interPLAY Board in 2010, after experiencing the joy of a performance by the interPLAY musicians at Strathmore. She was so taken with the mission of the organization, that in 2011 she became a volunteer Bandaide attending weekly rehearsals, and in 2013 joined the staff as the Orchestra Manager.
Susan has strong connections to the disabilities community, starting as a volunteer with the Arc of Pennsylvania (PARC) during high school and college. She volunteered at summer camps for children and at residential facilities for adults with disabilities. Her adult life later filled quickly with professional and personal endeavors, including graduate school and raising a family. But the opportunity to work with the interPLAY Orchestra has brought her interests full circle.
During college at Mount Holyoke in South Hadley, Massachusetts, Susan became passionate about studying the phenomenon of political corruption. She pursued this interest after graduation, as a Staff Assistant with the U. S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics, working on the ABSCAM investigation of Senator Harrison Williams. After graduating from law school at the University of Virginia, Susan spent a few years practicing at a private law firm before joining the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, where she spent two decades investigating and prosecuting corrupt public officials.
After her retirement from the federal government, Susan helped found and then became the Administrator of the Stone and Holt Weeks Foundation, a non-profit honoring two brothers, Stone and Holt Weeks. The Foundation holds creative fundraisers, primarily organized by peers of the brothers, and with the money raised makes grants to other non-profits. In addition to her work with the Foundation, Susan has served both as a member and as President of the Board of The Hammocks Association, a community Association in North Carolina serving 300 families.
Susan greatly enjoys her work with interPLAY, especially the rehearsals and performances, and the time she spends with the musicians and their families.
Board of Directors
Alan Lovell (President)
Gyr Turshen (Vice President)
Karen Lipsey (Treasurer)
Susan Park (Secretary)
LaTia Barrett
Darrell Capwell
Sarah Frederick
Nina Helwig
John Peter Illarramendi
Shri Khalpada
Gina Latcheran
Paula Moore
Bill Rutsch
