Join us for a virtual workshop about the business of being a performer. This workshop will focus on understanding the financial realities for musicians and offer tools and strategies for financial sustainability. This event is co-presented in collaboration with the Washington Music Pathways Initiative. Please RSVP here.
This workshop will take place on Zoom on Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 at 7:00-8:30pm. A Zoom link will be sent out a week before the workshop date.
Najib Wong (he/him) is the Director of the Philadelphia Music Alliance for Youth (PMAY) Artists’ Initiative, a city-wide collaborative music pathways program involving multiple Philadelphia organizations that supports students from diverse backgrounds in classical music. A product of a state-funded national youth orchestra program in Singapore, he uses his experience to inform his work as an arts administrator specifically serving traditionally marginalized communities and takes advantage of his tech background to build personalized data tracking systems. The PMAY Artists’ Initiative consistently positions students to be accepted into top college music programs.
As a champion of collaborative impact, DEI initiatives and education, he has been part of multiple committees and presented on these topics at national and international events such as the Asian Artists in Discussion, Equity Arc, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, the League of American Orchestras Conference, Orchestras Canada National Conference and Sphinxconnect. He also serves as Board Chair of Network for New Music.
Najib received his Diploma in Information Technology from Temasek Polytechnic, his BM in Trumpet Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and his MM and DMA from Temple University. He was on faculty at Settlement Music School and Temple University Music Prep, and Lead Teaching Artist and Orchestra Conductor at Play On Philly. His research in trumpet music has led to a publication in the International Trumpet Guild Journal entitled Honegger's Intrada. He was also the recipient of the Armanda Ghitalla Fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Festival.
Hailed for her “delightful and warm performance…all played with immediacy and conviction” by Washington Post’s Anne Midgette, Dr. Jamila Tekalli Hanner has enjoyed a career as a solo and chamber musician, educator, and arts advocate. Born in Tripoli to Japanese and Libyan parents, Jamila is passionate about connecting the world through the language of music.
As Artistic Director of the Washington Musical Pathways Initiative, Jamila leads efforts to increase diversity in classical music, supporting young musicians from historically excluded communities. As a performing artist, she has performed with musicians of the National Symphony Orchestra, Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, and Colorado Symphony and in residencies at the Banff Centre, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Keyboard Institute at Mannes, and Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute. As part of a sibling duo with her brother and violinist Suliman Tekalli, she has performed throughout the U.S. and Mexico and served as a U.S. Cultural Ambassador, promoting music and cultural exchange in Libya.
Jamila holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Masters in Performance from University of Central Florida and a Doctor of Musical Arts from University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. She has studied privately with Evelyne Brancart, Arnaldo Cohen, Tian Ying, and Santiago Rodriguez and in coaching and workshops with members of the Brentano String Quartet, Tokyo String Quartet, Robert McDonald, Gilbert Kalish, and Dawn Upshaw. As an educator, Jamila was Lecturer in Music at Barry University, and director of piano and adjudicator of the 2007 Concurso Internacional de Música Clásica "Jóvenes Talentos" in Cuenca, Ecuador. Jamila currently serves as a member of the piano faculty at Levine Music in Washington, D.C. Beyond her musical pursuits, Jamila is also an avid tennis and pickleball player and enjoys discovering new cuisines and attending live performances.