Although most of you know our “new” Accompanist, Erin Busch, I realized some of you may not. Erin is a composer and cellist residing in Philadelphia, where she is currently pursuing a Ph.D in composition at the University of Pennsylvania. She served as our Accompanist for about four years while she was studying composition and cello, and teaching, at Temple. During this time, she also developed concerts with different musical groups at UUCWC. She is the daughter of Sue and Bob Busch and grew up attending UUCWC.

Erin is the founder and Artistic Director of the Young Women Composers Camp, a two-week music composition festival for students who identify as female or nonbinary. She has been commissioned by and performed with the Albany (NY) Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra String Quartet, the TAK Ensemble, the Philadelphia Charter – A String Theory School, Matthew Levy of the PRISM Quartet, and Network for New Music. Recent projects include a string quartet commission from cellist Yumi Kendall of the Philadelphia Orchestra, a new work for the 2021 Composers Conference as a Fromm Foundation Composer Fellow, and a percussion quartet for Sō Percussion. She maintains a freelance career as a cellist, and performs with local ensembles such as the Arcana New Music Ensemble and the Philly Pops.

I am thrilled to be able to work with Erin again, making music with the choir and providing music for Sunday services, for the next six months until my retirement. I know you’ll join me in welcoming Erin back!