{{short description|African American conductor}} {{infobox musical artist | name = Marsha Mabrey | image = Marsha_Mabrey_2020.jpg | image_size = 250px | landscape = no | alt = | caption = Marsha Mabrey in 2020 | background = | birth_name = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|11|7}} | birth_place = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | origin = | death_date = <!-- {{death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date 1st) --> | death_place = | genre = Classical | occupations = Conductor, music educator | instruments = | years_active = <!-- YYYY–YYYY (or –present) --> | label = | associated_acts = Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> }} '''Marsha Eve Mabrey''' (born November 7, 1949) is an African American conductor and educator. She was the first African American woman to be appointed and serve as the conductor of the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra.

==Early life and education== Marsha Mabrey was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 7, 1949. Her parents were Theodore Mabrey, an aerospace design engineer, and Ella Jones Mabrey, a homemaker.

Marsha began kindergarten in Niagara Falls, New York, and started the first grade in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Mabrey began her musical studies in fourth grade on violin. By the time she reached the seventh grade, Mabrey decided to become an orchestra conductor, "one who shapes the total picture rather than one who is only one element of the symphonic whole."<ref name="Handy">{{cite book |last1=Handy |first1=Antoinette D. |title=Black Conductors |date=1995 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |location=Methuchen, NJ |isbn=0810829304 |pages=353–357 }}</ref> She received a bachelor's and a master's degree from the University of Michigan<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Guinn|first=John|date=1992-02-16|title=Marsha Mabrey Unites Forum of Black Musicians and New Ideas|pages=67|work=Detroit Free Press|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55872652/detroit-free-press/|access-date=2020-07-22|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> (BMus 1971, MMus 1972) where she studied with conductor/violinist Elizabeth A.H. Green and {{ill|Theo Alcantara|it}}. She also studied viola at Michigan with Francis Bundra and violin with Ángel Reyes. Mabrey finished coursework toward a DMA in orchestral conducting at the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music.

==Career== Mabrey was always interested in teaching as well as conducting. She was on the faculty and served as conductor of several university symphonies: Winona State University, Winona, Minnesota<ref>{{Cite news|last=Masyga|first=Jean|date=1978-12-07|title=WSU Orchestra Wins Praise|pages=22|work=The Winona Daily News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55873068/the-winona-daily-news/|access-date=2020-07-22|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> (1978–80); Grand Valley State College (now Grand Valley State University), Allendale, Michigan (1980–82);<ref name="Lanthorn">{{cite web |last1=Sanisberry III |first1=Thomas L. I. |title=Orchestra concert features challenging compositions |url=http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/lanthorn_vol15 |website=ScholarWorks@GSVU |publisher=Grand Valley State University |access-date=21 July 2020}}</ref> University of Oregon School of Music, Eugene, Oregon (1982–89),<ref name="UO">{{cite web |title=UO Catalog 1986-87 |url=https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/11121/browse |website=University of Oregon Scholar's Bank |publisher=University of Oregon |access-date=21 July 2020}}</ref> and Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, Washington (1998). She served as Assistant Conductor of the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids, Michigan (1980–81). She has been Guest Conductor of many orchestras in the US and Germany including Sinfonietta Frankfurt (Concert tour: Frankfurt, Offenbach, Hanau and Schwalbach, Germany), the Oregon Symphony, the Savannah Symphony, The Women's Philharmonic of San Francisco, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.<ref name=Handy/>

She served as vice president for Educational Affairs for the Detroit Symphony in Detroit<ref name=":0" /> from 1991 to 1993, during which time she managed and facilitated the Ford Motor Company Youth Docent Program, Civic Orchestra, Educational Concert Series, DSOH Fellowship Program and the Unisys African-American Composers Forum and Symposium.

In 1996, she became the first African-American woman music director and Conductor of the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra, Seattle, WA. In Seattle, she distinguished herself as both an advocate for community outreach and for programming lesser-known American composers such as Bern Herbolsheimer, Regina Harris Baiocchi, Joseph Curiale, and June Kirlin.<ref name="Grove">{{cite journal |last1=Galván |first1=Gary |title=Mabrey, Marsha |journal=Grove Music Online |year=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2288994 }}</ref>

In Seattle, Mabrey also served as a string specialist in the Bellevue School District, teaching at Newport High School and Chinook Middle School. In Bellevue, the students receive music instruction every day. Her expectations were high, and her students thrived under her direction.<ref name="SeattleTimes">{{cite news |last1=Bargreen |first1=Melinda |title=Conducting, Connecting - Marsha Mabrey's Goal is to be a first rate Orchestra Leader and Teacher |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19970513&slug=2538832 |access-date=20 July 2020 |publisher=Seattle Times |date=May 13, 1997}}</ref> She retired from the Bellevue School District in 2013.

Mabrey has been a board member of the Conductors Guild and a member of the League of American Orchestras and the Music Educators National Conference.<ref name="Gale">{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Jessie Carney |title=Notable Black American Women |publisher=Gale |year=2002 |isbn=0-8103-9177-5 |edition=MLA 8th |location=Detroit |language=en}}</ref>

==Creative artistic projects== During her term as assistant professor of music at the University of Oregon School of Music, Eugene, where she was conductor and director of the University Symphony, Mabrey developed and directed the West Coast Women Conductors and Composers in Performance Symposium (February 1985) and American Women Conductors and Composers in Performance Symposium (February 21–23, 1986).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Larsen |first1=Libby |title=The Influence of Women in American Classical Music |url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/influence-women-american-classical-music/ |access-date=18 July 2020 |publisher=NYPR Archives & Preservation |date=March 1, 1987}}</ref> These two significant symposia during the mid-80s and were supported by University of Oregon Center for the Study of Women in Society. The West Coast Symposium featured a panel of women composers including Elinor Armer, Emma Lou Diemer, Beverly Grigsby, Nancy Van de Vate, and Ann Hankinson. Participating conductors included Karen Keltner, Marsha Mabrey, Madeline Schatz, and Frances Steiner. The final evening of the symposium featured the presentation of women's orchestral works, including world premieres of works by Emma Lou Diemer and Nancy Van de Vate and a concert reading of a work by Ann Hankinson.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Farwell|first=Marilyn|date=April 1985|title=Women Conductors/Composers Symposium|journal=The Center Review|publisher=The Center for the Study of Women in Society [University of Oregon]|pages=1–2}}</ref> The American Symposium expanded to the national scene and featured composers and conductors such as Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Tania León, Libby Larsen, and Pauline Oliveros.<ref name=Grove/> Composer and pianist Elinor Armer gave the keynote address at the American Symposium, which featured chamber recitals and orchestral works by women as well as panel discussions, lectures and workshops.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=DuPriest|first=Karen|date=May 1986|title=American Women Conductor/Composer Symposium|journal=The Center Review|publisher=The Center for the Study of Women in Society [University of Oregon]|pages=1–2}}</ref>

From 1991 to 1993, during her tenure as vice-president for Education Affairs at the Detroit Symphony, Mabrey was developer and director of the African-American Composers Forum and Symposium, which was supported by a grant from Unisys.<ref name="NYT94">{{cite news |last1=Rothstein |first1=Edward |title=Black Composers of Classical Music: Striving for More |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/14/arts/black-composers-of-classical-music-striving-for-more.html |access-date=19 July 2020 |publisher=NY Times |date=April 14, 1994}}</ref><ref name="BalSun91">{{cite news |last1=Wigler |first1=Stephen |title='Live, Gifted and Black': BSO concert to showcase African-Americans' works |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1991-11-03-1991307089-story.html |access-date=19 July 2020 |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=Nov 3, 1991}}</ref>

==Personal life== Mabrey met her life partner Stephanie Wittman in 1976. Wittman is a social worker and psychotherapist. Wittman retired in 2014. Mabrey and Wittman married in 2013.<ref name="marriagecertificate">{{cite web |title=Marriage Certificate |url=https://recordsearch.kingcounty.gov/LandmarkWeb/search/index?theme=.blue&section=searchCriteriaInstrumentNumber&quickSearchSelection= |website=King County Official Records Search |publisher=King County |access-date=23 July 2020}}</ref>

==References== <references />

==External links== * [http://seattlephil.org/about/ Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra History]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mabrey, Marsha}} Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:American women conductors (music) Category:20th-century American women musicians Category:21st-century American women musicians Category:American lesbian musicians Category:Musicians from Ann Arbor, Michigan Category:Classical musicians from Michigan Category:American women music educators Category:University of Michigan alumni Category:African-American classical musicians Category:African-American conductors (music) Category:African-American LGBTQ people Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people Category:African-American women musicians Category:20th-century African-American women Category:20th-century African-American musicians Category:21st-century African-American women Category:21st-century African-American musicians