Founding Director Emerita
Celebrating Dr. Susan McMane
Founding Director Emerita
December 20, 2025—with gratitude for all that she achieved and set in motion—the Young Women’s Choral Projects bestows on Dr. Susan McMane the honorary title of Founding Director Emerita.
The world-renowned choral conductor, Dr. Susan McMane, has dedicated nearly twenty five years to transforming the lives of young women through music in San Francisco and the Bay Area. In 2012, she launched the Young Women’s Choral Projects as artistic director and conductor of Young Women’s Chorus, YWCP’s leading ensemble. With Dr. McMane at the helm, YWCP grew to more than 100 young women, ages 4 to 18.
From 2001-2012, Dr. McMane was the Artistic Director of the San Francisco Girls Chorus where she achieved national and international acclaim for its concert, recording, and touring chorus. She has served on college music faculties of Saint Louis University, the University of North Dakota and San Francisco State, and was Founding Artistic Director and Conductor of the St. Louis Women’s Chorale.
Dr. McMane has won many awards for her work including three GRAMMY® Awards with the San Francisco Symphony and the 2007 “Symphony of Excellence Arts Award” from the Pacific Musical Society. In addition she won honors at the International Eisteddfod competition in Llangollen, Wales, in 1998 and that year was also named the “Music Educator of the Year” by the St. Louis Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
To promote and advance choral music for treble voices, Dr. McMane is responsible for commissioning over 20 new works from prominent composers such as Chen Yi, Tania Leon, Augusta Read Thomas, Frank La Rocca, David Conte, Alberto Grau, and many more. She is a two-time recipient of the ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. She earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from the Conservatory of Music, University of Missouri-Kansas City, and holds two degrees in Vocal Performance.
