Unbound Symphony

If you're feeling overwhelmed seeing stories about sexual violence in the news or social media, you are not alone.

Whether you need help now, or just want someone to hear your story, we’re here to help — or just listen.

Whenever you're ready, call 1.888.998.6423.

🎻 Musicians, we need your voice.

The heartbreaking details of the Cornell University lawsuit and investigation are making headlines. The case has brought urgent questions that extend far beyond one campus or one industry: What happens when someone reports harm? What keeps people (or witnesses) from reporting? And what happens afterward?

Those questions belong in our industry, too.

Unbound Symphony, in partnership with the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC), has launched A National Survey of Orchestra Musician Safety and Culture.

🔗 https://www.unboundsymphony.org/survey

Research has shown that harassment and discrimination are widespread in orchestras, that freelancers and students can be particularly vulnerable, and that many incidents are never reported. But we don't have a clear picture of what happens next.

🔎 What will this survey measure?

📊 How common it is: How many musicians experience or witness harassment, discrimination, or retaliation, and what forms it takes.

📊 The reporting gap: How many people don't report, why they don't, and what happens to those who do report; including support, dismissal, or retaliation.

📊 Where and how harm happens: Rehearsals, performances, travel, social settings, etc; whether musicians have turned down work to stay safe; the effects of NDAs and informal silencing; bystander behavior; and awareness of legal rights.

📊 Who is most affected: Differences across freelance/salaried status, career stage, gender, and role.

📊 Power dynamics and organizational gaps: Who the behavior involves, whether musicians know about codes of conduct, reporting processes, training, and union recourse, and whether they've received formal training.

📊 Which solutions musicians identify as most helpful.

🎼 .....Who should take it?

Anyone who currently works, or has ever worked, as a pre-professional or professional musician: performers, soloists, educators, conductors, administrators, students, freelancers, and salaried players.

Witnessing something matters, too.

🪉 Why does this matter?

For the students entering this field. For the culture we're handing them. And because we can't change what we haven't measured.

📣 Please take the survey and share it with the musicians in your life. The survey takes 8–10 minutes, is anonymous and voluntary:

🔗 https://www.unboundsymphony.org/survey

Some questions may bring up difficult feelings.

Free, confidential support is available 24/7...

King County/Seattle Metro: https://www.kcsarc.org/en/get-help-now/

National Hotline: https://rainn.org/help-and-healing/hotline/

We'd love to invite all our friends to join us this Sunday for a special Unbound Symphony gathering! 💜

We’re celebrating what we’ve accomplished so far and sharing where we’re headed next.

Come meet our founding Board members, see highlights from our inaugural performance, and hear about some exciting plans for the future, including a new commissioning project.

It’s been incredibly meaningful to help build Unbound Symphony from the ground up, and we'd love to have you join us for this next chapter. 🎶

Sunday, September 13 | 11:00am–12:00pm PT | Online - ZOOM

The event is free to attend, with a suggested donation of $100 or more. Every contribution helps us continue creating paid opportunities, programming, commissioning new work, and bringing more women and gender-marginalized voices to the concert stage. 🤲💕

Please RSVP by tomorrow, September 10:
https://www.unboundsymphony.org/sept-13-zoom-fundraising-gathering

If you’d like to support Unbound Symphony directly, you can also donate here:
https://www.unboundsymphony.org/donate

We hope you’ll join us! And please feel free to share this with anyone who might be interested. 🎻🙏

Sept 13: Zoom Fundraising Gathering — Unbound Symphony We’re celebrating what we’ve accomplished so far and sharing where we’re headed next. Come meet our founding Board members, see highlights from our inaugural performance, and hear about some exciting plans for the future, including a new commissioning project that will create opportunities for...

✨ What an incredible day for Unbound Symphony! ✨

This past Friday, August 28, Erika & the Wolf, a woodwind quintet, had the incredible opportunity to represent Unbound Symphony live on Classical KING FM 98.1’s Northwest Focus LIVE in Seattle! 🎶📻

Host Dr. Quinton Morris interviewed members of Erika & the Wolf, including Unbound Symphony Vice President & Secretary Katie A. Berglof, about Unbound Symphony’s mission, vision, and hopes for the future: creating more paid performance opportunities, visibility, and community for women and gender-marginalized musicians.

And, of course, the music!

🐺 Erika & the Wolf is a refreshing take on the classic Peter & the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev (arr. Cramer), featuring:

🎤Live narration by Erika Fiebig
🪈 Brook Rundle — Flute
🎵 Bhavani Kotha — Oboe
🎼Beverly Setzer — Clarinet
🎶Dr. Kate MacKenzie — Bassoon
📯Carey LaMothe — French Horn

Also performed, selections from Aesop's Fables for wind quintet — Breadon Jr. narration (2017), Wind Quintet by Hedwige Chrétien (1887), and Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (arr. Bhavani Kotha). We were absolutely thrilled when a listener requested Flight of the Bumble Bee AGAIN as an encore.
🔥🐝🔥

Moments like this remind us why we’re doing this. We want Erika & the Wolf and the musicians of Unbound Symphony to reach more schools, festivals, community events, concert series, and audiences — anywhere we can share great music while opening doors for more women and gender-marginalized artists. 💕

Want a group of musicians from Unbound Symphony like Erika & the Wolf at your school, festival, event, or community program? We’d love to hear from you! 🙏

https://www.unboundsymphony.org

Thank you to Classical KING FM 98.1 and Dr. Quinton Morris for giving us the opportunity to share our music and our mission. 🪉🎵

Unbound Symphony: Creating opportunities. Amplifying voices. Unleashing music.

Unbound Symphony will be cross-promoted tomorrow during this event! Tune in and listen! 🎵✨

This Friday at 7pm, a classic musical story gets a woodwind quintet makeover on Northwest Focus Live. 🎶

Erika and the Wolf brings storytelling and chamber music together with Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, introducing the instruments and their characters before the beloved story unfolds. The family-friendly program also features Aesop’s Fables by Thomas Breadon Jr., music by Hedwige Chrétien, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee.

Host Dr. Quinton Morris will guide you through an imaginative evening for listeners of all ages.

Unbound Symphony

Photos from our Unbound Symphony chamber music pop-up event on Wednesday! We enjoyed the opportunity to play music by women composers at the Met Tract Summer Sounds Series. Special thanks to artist Katherine Faubion for coming and bringing painted instruments!

Reed trio performers (8/5)
Jenny Ziefel, clarinet
Samantha Epp Yun, bassoon
Bhavani Kotha, oboe

The program included music by Nicole Buetti, Jenni Brandon, Claude Arrieu (pen name for Louise-Marie Simon), and Tatiana Stankovych

Thanks to everyone who came out!✨