This is the sixth in a series of profiles of our 15th Annual Orange County Arts Awards honorees.

Now in its 16th Season, the Orange County Women's Chorus started with eight enterprising women in a living room and has blossomed into one of the top amateur choruses in the region: a 40-voice ensemble performing diverse, challenging, and enjoyable music from all eras and cultures. Founded in 1997 under the baton of Dr. Raymond Egan, and directed by Eliza Rubenstein since 2000, the OCWC has performed in some of our best local venues and with some of our finest local artists. Recent performances have taken us to the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Disney Hall's REDCAT Theater, the Irvine Barclay Theatre, and the 2012 western-division convention of the American Choral Directors' Association (one of only 14 choirs invited!). OCWC has collaborated with ensembles such as Men Alive, the Wooden Floor, the South Coast Symphony, the Agape Voices of Praise, the All-American Boys' Chorus, and Men in Blaque. OCWC's wide-ranging repertoire has included medieval chants, multicultural folk songs, classical masterworks, protest songs, gospel tunes, and more. OCWC is especially proud of its commitment to new music and up-and-coming musicians, regularly commissioning new works for women's voices, and its conducting internship program, designed to encourage young women entering the field of choral conducting, has been a model for other choruses around the nation. Eliza Rubenstein, the OCWC's Artistic Director, is also the Director of Choral and Vocal Activities and Chair of the Music Department at Orange Coast College, and the Artistic Director of the Long Beach Chorale and Chamber Orchestra. She currently serves on the Board of the California chapter of the American Choral Directors' Association as chair of women's choir repertoire and standards. She studied choral conducting at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music before moving to California to earn her master's degree at UC-Irvine.