Steve Mutty
Executive Director
(202) 669-8340
steve@interplayorchestra.org
Steve comes to interPLAY Orchestra with extensive executive experience with non-profit organizations throughout the DMV area. He has a track record of leading organizations through transition periods, expanding networks and partnerships, while diversifying and growing revenues. Steve’s interest in persons with disabilities is evident from his volunteer experience starting the Northern Virginia chapter of Best Buddies. Inc. As well, he has an appreciation for music.
Steve plans on improving and expanding interPLAY’s musical programs for individuals with disabilities, as well as recruiting new orchestra members to participate in both in-person and virtual rehearsals. Your financial support made it possible for interPLAY to continue providing our orchestra members with hybrid rehearsals during the pandemic. We also produced amazing and inspiring music videos and concerts at The Music Center at Strathmore. With your continued support and Steve’s administrative and development expertise, interPLAY will be able to continue its mission of providing musical experiences and performance opportunities for adults with disabilities involving professional and amateur musicians.
Steve is eager to meet with you to discuss interPLAY’s ongoing musical programs for individuals with disabilities, allowing them to showcase their abilities. We continue to be grateful, not only for your financial support, but also for your recognition of the importance of our mission and the benefits our orchestra members receive from their experiences at interPLAY.
Emily Park
Artistic Director/Principal Conductor
emily@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 is currently the Director of Instrumental Music at Maret School in Washington, D.C., where she conducts and teaches 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/Director
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
Patrice Curtis Adams
Choral/Vocal Director
Sandy Helm
Personal Performance Coordinator
Board of Directors
Alan Lovell, Chairperson
Gyr Turshen, Vice Chairperson
Karen Lipsey, Treasurer
Joe Yang, Secretary
Darrell Capwell
Nina Helwig
JP Illarramendi
Gina Latcheran
Paula Moore, Founder (Non-Voting)
Bill Rutsch
Advisory Board
Susan Park, Chair
Evelyn Glennie
Coleman O’Donaghue
Michael F. Toperzer
David Eisner
In Memoriam
Norman Scribner
Fred Begun
Dr. Billy Taylor
Printing Partner
DigiPrint Connection, Silver Spring, Maryland
