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Press Releases
WPAS appoints Murray Horwitz as Director of Development
After a long and thorough search, Washington Performing Arts Society is pleased to announce the appointment of Murray Horwitz to the position of Director of Development. “I believe that Murray will make a great leader of our very gifted and dedicated development team and will be a wonderful member of the senior team,” says WPAS President and CEO Neale Perl.
“Excellence is what matters. WPAS has a terrific record of bringing first-rate artists to the Washington area, so I didn't hesitate at the chance to join them,” says Horwitz, adding “Neale Perl has carried on the admirable tradition of Patrick Hayes and Doug Wheeler, and WPAS is a strong organization. Raising money for the arts is always a challenge, but we're well positioned to tackle it and succeed.” Horwitz starts work at WPAS on May 14.
Horwitz comes to WPAS with fundraising experience as Major Gifts Officer at the Washington National Opera and Director and Chief Operating Officer at the American Film Institute Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland where he, opened and operated a $25 million entertainment center and oversaw fundraising. Prior to that, he was Vice President for Cultural Programming and Director of Jazz, Classical Music and Entertainment Programming at NPR.
Horwitz is also a distinguished writer. He co-authored Aint Misbehavin’, the Tony Award-winning musical based on the music and comedy of Fats Waller. Aint Misbehavin’ also won Emmy, Grammy, Obie, and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards. Horwitz has won numerous ASCAP awards and was the song lyricist for John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby at the Metropolitan Opera. Horwitz has won three Peabody Awards: for co-writing with Wynton Marsalis the series Wynton Marsalis: Making the Music and as originator and executive producer of The NPR 100 and NPR’s Jazz Profiles series. He also serves as Creative Consultant to the annual Mark Twain Prize and started the popular NPR comedy quiz show, Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me.
Horwitz is a graduate of Kenyon College in Ohio, which awarded him a Doctor of Fine Arts in 1992. He has served as a Kenyon trustee and on numerous boards, including the U.S. Commission for UNESCO, Young Playwrights, Inc. (NYC), Yiddish of Greater Washington and the Writers Center.
Washington Performing Arts Society is a non-profit organization founded in 1965 by impresario Patrick Hayes (1909-1998). Led since September 2002 by its President and C.E.O., Neale Perl, WPAS is one of the nation’s leading presenters of live performances. WPAS serves the D.C. metropolitan area in a variety of venues, presenting a wide spectrum of performances of the highest quality, including classical music, jazz, gospel, contemporary dance, international music and other art forms.
WPAS also nurtures and supports young musicians by presenting up-and-coming performers on main stages in WPAS’ Hayes Piano Series and Virtuoso Series and by commissioning new works.
WPAS demonstrates its commitment to providing life-long learning opportunities through arts education, youth involvement and community partnerships through broad-ranging educational programs in the schools, including the Capitol Jazz Project®, Concerts In Schools and the Embassy Adoption Program; dynamic community programs including the WPAS Children of the Gospel Choir and Men and Women of the Gospel Choir; and adult programs such as What Makes It Great? ™ with Rob Kapilow.
Funded in part by the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by National Endowment for the Arts. WPAS is committed to making every event accessible for persons with disabilities. Please call the WPAS Ticket Services Office for more information on accessibility to the various theaters in which our performances are held. Services offered vary from venue to venue and may require advance notice. Washington Performing Arts Society has created profound opportunities for connecting the community to artists, in both education and performance. Through live events in venues that criss-cross the landscape of the D.C. metropolitan area, the careers of emerging artists are guided, and established artists who have bonded with the local audience are invited to return. In this way, the space between artists and audiences is eliminated, so that all may share life-long opportunities to deepen their cultural knowledge, enrich their lives, and expand their understanding and compassion of the world through the universal language of the arts.
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“Excellence is what matters. WPAS has a terrific record of bringing first-rate artists to the Washington area, so I didn't hesitate at the chance to join them,” says Horwitz, adding “Neale Perl has carried on the admirable tradition of Patrick Hayes and Doug Wheeler, and WPAS is a strong organization. Raising money for the arts is always a challenge, but we're well positioned to tackle it and succeed.” Horwitz starts work at WPAS on May 14.
Horwitz comes to WPAS with fundraising experience as Major Gifts Officer at the Washington National Opera and Director and Chief Operating Officer at the American Film Institute Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland where he, opened and operated a $25 million entertainment center and oversaw fundraising. Prior to that, he was Vice President for Cultural Programming and Director of Jazz, Classical Music and Entertainment Programming at NPR.
Horwitz is also a distinguished writer. He co-authored Aint Misbehavin’, the Tony Award-winning musical based on the music and comedy of Fats Waller. Aint Misbehavin’ also won Emmy, Grammy, Obie, and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards. Horwitz has won numerous ASCAP awards and was the song lyricist for John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby at the Metropolitan Opera. Horwitz has won three Peabody Awards: for co-writing with Wynton Marsalis the series Wynton Marsalis: Making the Music and as originator and executive producer of The NPR 100 and NPR’s Jazz Profiles series. He also serves as Creative Consultant to the annual Mark Twain Prize and started the popular NPR comedy quiz show, Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me.
Horwitz is a graduate of Kenyon College in Ohio, which awarded him a Doctor of Fine Arts in 1992. He has served as a Kenyon trustee and on numerous boards, including the U.S. Commission for UNESCO, Young Playwrights, Inc. (NYC), Yiddish of Greater Washington and the Writers Center.
Washington Performing Arts Society is a non-profit organization founded in 1965 by impresario Patrick Hayes (1909-1998). Led since September 2002 by its President and C.E.O., Neale Perl, WPAS is one of the nation’s leading presenters of live performances. WPAS serves the D.C. metropolitan area in a variety of venues, presenting a wide spectrum of performances of the highest quality, including classical music, jazz, gospel, contemporary dance, international music and other art forms.
WPAS also nurtures and supports young musicians by presenting up-and-coming performers on main stages in WPAS’ Hayes Piano Series and Virtuoso Series and by commissioning new works.
WPAS demonstrates its commitment to providing life-long learning opportunities through arts education, youth involvement and community partnerships through broad-ranging educational programs in the schools, including the Capitol Jazz Project®, Concerts In Schools and the Embassy Adoption Program; dynamic community programs including the WPAS Children of the Gospel Choir and Men and Women of the Gospel Choir; and adult programs such as What Makes It Great? ™ with Rob Kapilow.
Funded in part by the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by National Endowment for the Arts. WPAS is committed to making every event accessible for persons with disabilities. Please call the WPAS Ticket Services Office for more information on accessibility to the various theaters in which our performances are held. Services offered vary from venue to venue and may require advance notice. Washington Performing Arts Society has created profound opportunities for connecting the community to artists, in both education and performance. Through live events in venues that criss-cross the landscape of the D.C. metropolitan area, the careers of emerging artists are guided, and established artists who have bonded with the local audience are invited to return. In this way, the space between artists and audiences is eliminated, so that all may share life-long opportunities to deepen their cultural knowledge, enrich their lives, and expand their understanding and compassion of the world through the universal language of the arts.
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