On Friday, January 29, the Ohio Women's Ensemble (OWE) had the honor of performing at the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) Professional Development Conference. The conference took place at the Hyatt Regency ABC Ballroom in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Ohio Music Education Association serves as a professional gathering of music educators from all across the state of Ohio. According to omea-ohio.org, OMEA "is one of the largest of the 52 federated state affiliates of NAfME, The National Association for Music Education. OMEA members are involved at all levels of music education, serving more than 1.7 million public school students in 613 public school districts and 108 colleges and universities in Ohio."

OWE were invited to perform at the conference back in August of last year. Under the direction of Dr. Paul Mayhew with the accompaniment of Holly Kessis, the ensemble consists of 107 talented women of various grade levels and majors at Ohio University.

Dr. Paul Mayhew began directing the ensemble, formerly known as Ohio University's Women's Chorale, in 2013. Since then, the ensemble has nearly doubled in its original size and has created a much stronger, more solid foundation and database within the music community at Ohio University, as well as communities across the state.

Over the past few years, OWE has been working to be unique, create their own sound, and to become a sisterhood which embraces diversity and female empowerment.

Since their invitation to perform at the conference last fall, OWE focused attentively on preparing for the performance by working on a repertoire of seven challenging pieces for a nearly 30-minute set. This performance at the conference presented the ensemble with the opportunity to sing for music educators from all across Ohio, including friends, family, and possible former educators of their own. It also gave OWE the chance to present all of the hard work they have done since the beginning of the fall semester, as well as represent the strength, diversity, and ambition that an all-female group can possess.

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