Meet the Maestra
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Music Director and CEO Mary Woodmansee Green has been conducting professional, community and school orchestras and choruses for nearly 50 years. Whatever the ensemble or genre – symphonic, choral, opera, pops or ballet – she is dedicated to crafting an entire experience with her programming, performing the finest music accompanied by informative and entertaining commentary to engage and stretch both her performers and audience. She served for 13 seasons as Music Director and Conductor of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra and 25 seasons with the Kennett Symphony Orchestra in suburban Philadelphia.
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“Green has galvanized her musicians into a vibrant, energized whole, commanding brilliant playing, getting everything she wanted by way of interpretation. The concert pulsated with wall-to-wall excitement, surrounding the audience with the sort of compelling, finely tuned playing that has not been heard in these parts for many a year. At the heart of Green's success is programming of uncommon scope and variety. ... Green's podium style is vigorous, with crystal-clear stick-work and expressive body language. ... Green punctuated the concert with cogent commentary. She outlined salient points, providing the listener with a mini road map.” (Island Packet)
Ms. Green has also conducted the Delaware County Symphony, European Symposium for Choral Masterworks with members of the Vienna Philharmonic, members of the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras, the Fairbanks Symphony, Independence Sinfonia, Kingston Symphony Orchestra, Lansdowne Symphony, Newark Symphony, Ocean City Pops, Old York Road Symphony, Orchestre de Ste. Louis en l’Île, Orchestra Society of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Orchestra, Valdosta Symphony Orchestra, Westfield Symphony Orchestra, West London Sinfonia, Wilmington Orchestra, professional, community and festival orchestras and choruses in Europe, the United Kingdom and the Middle East, at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music and Mann Music Center, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Washington’s Kennedy Center and Wilmington’s Grand Opera House, working with such outstanding conductors as Eugene Ormandy, Zubin Mehta, Sergiu Comissiona, William Smith and Peter Nero.
“Mary Woodmansee Green conducting the Kennett Symphony Orchestra and the Mary Green Singers knocked 'em dead with the Symphony's...performance in Longwood Garden's Open Air Amphitheatre Saturday night...Kennett Symphony's show was classy, stylish and pleasing.” (Chester County Press)
An active and dynamic speaker and advocate for orchestral music and music education, Ms. Green is also a seasoned accompanist, appearing with professional singers and instrumentalists.
Ms. Green founded The Mary Green Singers in 1986 with performances of Carmina Burana with the Pennsylvania Ballet at the Academy of Music and Mann Music Center. Over its 30+ years of activities, they performed with the Kennett Symphony at Longwood Gardens, Ocean City Pops, NJ and in public service concerts throughout the Greater Philadelphia area. Abroad, they have sung with many orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta in Tel Aviv and Haifa, and under Ms. Green's direction with the West London Sinfonia in Rome, l'Orchestre de Ste. Louis en l'ile in Paris and the Kingston Symphony, in Ontario, Canada. The Singers, who were from the tri-state area, made seven Cultural Exchange and Performance Tours to Promote Peace and International Goodwill to Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy and Scotland with Mayoral Greetings and gifts from the City of Philadelphia.
Ms. Green founded The Mary Green Singers in 1986 with performances of Carmina Burana with the Pennsylvania Ballet at the Academy of Music and Mann Music Center. Over its 30+ years of activities, they performed with the Kennett Symphony at Longwood Gardens, Ocean City Pops, NJ and in public service concerts throughout the Greater Philadelphia area. Abroad, they have sung with many orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta in Tel Aviv and Haifa, and under Ms. Green's direction with the West London Sinfonia in Rome, l'Orchestre de Ste. Louis en l'ile in Paris and the Kingston Symphony, in Ontario, Canada. The Singers, who were from the tri-state area, made seven Cultural Exchange and Performance Tours to Promote Peace and International Goodwill to Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy and Scotland with Mayoral Greetings and gifts from the City of Philadelphia.
"Making beautiful music is [this] conductor's mission...Mary Woodmansee Green conducts her life and her orchestra with confidence and poise." (The Jewish Times), Philadelphia
In 2006, Ms. Green founded the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus and conducted performances of Brahms’ A German Requiem; Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture; Mozart’s Grand Mass in G minor; Holst’s The Planets; opera selections from Aida, Die Fledermaus, A Midsummer Night's Dream; Falstaff and Macbeth; as well as numerous other works by Orff, Bach, Berlioz, Verdi, Copland, Handel and Mendelssohn.
Having brought The Mary Green Singers to Hilton Head to perform with the HHSO, and founding and directing the HHSO Chorus, it was a natural extension to continue her conducting activities with The Mary Green Chorale. Ms. Green is now happily living full time in Hilton Head and is proud to give back to her community.
