I have been a huge fan of In Mulieribus since I first heard about them years ago; their unique abilities, lights-out level of talent, and imaginative repertoire under Dr. Anna Song’s leadership offer an opportunity to hear music unlike that afforded by any other area choir, even in this city of so many great choirs. 

After reading a press release about In Mulieribus hiring Jessica Blau as the new Managing Director, I was very curious about two things, specifically: arts management, and what it is, but also how flamenco dancing might potentially be related to that. (Some context might be helpful here: among her many talents, Blau is a flamenco dancer.)

I had the opportunity to ask her a few questions, and she gave some very enlightening answers on her background, as well as some philosophical musings on the arts.

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In Mulieribus opens their 2025-26 ‘Murmurs of the Muse’ season on October 18 and 19 at St. Philip Neri Church with a concert entitled ‘All Shall Be Well.’ It features Gustav Holst’s The Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, as well as works by Steve Reich and Carol Jones.

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This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and flow.

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Oregon ArtsWatch: It must be an interesting road to become the Managing Director of a unique organization like In Mulieribus. Can you share something of what led you to this turn, in terms of background, training and aptitude? 

Jessica Blau: I never saw myself heading towards administrative work, but I think this evolution makes a lot of sense for me. I have always been a performer and after many years as a freelance artist, my frustration with the classical music industry seemed to grow every year as I saw very limited opportunities for myself within that landscape. This lack of opportunity moved me to start creating the art that I wanted to see in the world and to just go for it. After self-producing a couple shows, I knew I wanted to help contribute to the evolution of classical music and it seemed like the way forward was to be part of a leadership team that helps make these important decisions within the industry.

As far as my training and aptitude for such work, before I was a singer, I worked in community organizing and I helped lead grassroots fundraising campaigns for groups, such as the Sierra Club and Human Rights Campaign, with The Fund for Public Interest Research. This forced me to juggle administrative work with leadership responsibilities while constantly interfacing with people in the community to help identify their needs and desires. I think this laid the foundation for my interest in community engagement, which is a core component of In Mulieribus’ mission.

OAW: For those (like me) who have a fuzzy notion as to what arts management entails, can you explain how you see it?

Blau: It can look different depending on the size of the organization and the organization itself, but I think arts management is simply doing whatever it takes behind the scenes to make the art happen. It’s organization, fostering and maintaining relationships, fundraising, ensuring that we stay true to our mission statement, marketing, thinking both short and long-term, and even social media. In arts management, we look at our product and figure out what is unique and special about it and what purpose it serves in the community. From there we must puzzle together the pieces to ensure that it not only gets made, but that it’s accessible and people know about it. The arts have been consistently undervalued within institutions and are always struggling to find the funding that they need despite the fact that without them, none of us would have anything to work and live for. The pandemic really put into perspective how much we rely on the arts to feel good in the world and to feel a connection to other people. Whether it’s streaming movies on the couch or listening to music on your drive to work or seeing a beautiful mural where there once was a blank wall, the arts make us feel things and when we feel, we connect with our own humanity. 

OAW: Folks love Musica Mixta, but in some ways it seems very different from an organization like IM that often performs ancient, very traditional music. I’m curious as to how the experience with one dovetails with the other, or if it’s an ‘opposites attract’ situation. 

Blau: I created Musica Mixta to be a platform for the mixing of genres and disciplines, so within that framework there are infinite possibilities. There really is no such thing as “pure art” because inspiration comes from many sources, whether consciously or not. Even traditional music was at one time new and radical. While IM specializes in what we call “early music” in the classical world, it also champions new works and highlights the contributions of female composers who have been largely overlooked in the Western music canon. It also celebrates women’s voices in a way that I find inspiring and unique, particularly within this type of repertoire. I don’t think of them as opposites at all, but merely different branches of the same tree. 

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OAW: One of the things I found intriguing about your background was that you are a flamenco dancer. Ever since I read that, I’ve been wondering if there’s anything specific to that medium that informs your approach to arts management?

Blau: That is a very intriguing question that I have never considered. I think that it has indirectly affected me in a very deep way. After singing opera for over a decade, I felt like I had the individuality squashed out of me in pursuit of perfection. In flamenco, individuality is celebrated, and the art form itself is almost a lifestyle in which community can play a central role. The Portland flamenco community has embraced me so warmly and was a major factor in my decision to move to Portland. I want to foster that kind of feeling in everything that I do with IM. I want people to feel like they are part of something when they come to an IM show; that they get to see their friends and deepen relationships with one another in addition to experiencing wonderful music.

OAW: Can you expound on your relationship to early music, and to the type of modern music that IM performs? 

Blau: I think early music is ripe for a renaissance (pun intended), and some of the most exciting and radical modern performances that I have seen in recent years have been early music productions. A wildly entertaining, staged production of Handel’s oratorio Saul by Houston Grand Opera, and Juana: First (I) Dream, an A’lante Flamenco and Texas Early Music Project collaboration about the Mexican nun and scholar Juana Inéz de la Cruz come to mind. There is a universality to a lot of the themes in early music which lend themselves well to modernity, collaboration, and the ability to see ourselves within those themes. 

One of the things I greatly admire about IM is its dedication to not only reintroducing early music in new and exciting ways, but to commissioning and championing new works. Creating space for the new alongside the old is what will continue to allow the older music to live on, while creating a space in the canon for new composers. This season, we will be featuring a new work composed specially for us by Charles Rose in our Spring show Whispers of Desire, a concert based on the feminist writings of the Greek poet Sappho, who is a hugely important figure within the queer community. I find that theme to be at once provocative, exciting and relevant. What could be more relevant today than queer female desire oppressed for centuries by the patriarchy? So you see, I think they go hand in hand, one generation passing on its torch to the next generation, but the next generation never forgetting where it came from.