Meet the Lecturer

Jessica Zweig

Executive Director, Play on Philly

Clarinetist and educator Jessica Zweig believes that all children deserve the opportunity to benefit from the highest quality music education. Prior to being selected as Executive Director in July of 2023, she served as POP’s Director of Education Programming where she oversaw all aspects of the music education experience for close to 400 young people in West Philadelphia. An educator and community builder at heart, Jessica has crafted engaging curriculum, led professional development for talented teaching artists, and cultivates partnerships with local, national and international artists to ensure young musicians learn from the best of the best. Jessica is equally committed to teacher training within POP and across the country and served as the founding Director of Programming for the Teaching Artist Training Institute, created to prepare a new generation of El Sistema-inspired educators.

Jessica formerly served a multitude of roles at POP since joining in 2016, including running our Music Center at St. Francis de Sales School. Prior to POP, Jessica served as Program Manager at Harmony Program in New York City. As a Board Member of El Sistema USA, Jessica served as the chair of the 2018 Symposium focused on collective impact and racial equity and currently chairs the Membership and Engagement committee.

As a trained, professional clarinetist, Jessica has performed extensively throughout the Washington, DC area as well as in Perigord, France and Vienna, Austria. As the Founder and Artistic Director of All Points West chamber music collective, she collaborated with notable institutions such as the Woodrow Wilson House, the Sackler Gallery, the Atlas Performing Arts Center and the National Trust for Historic Preservation to create innovative classical music programming in unusual spaces. As an educator, Jessica taught elementary school music at the Sheridan School (Washington, DC) and served as clarinet faculty at Suitland High School for the Performing Arts. Jessica received her B.M. and M.M in Clarinet Performance from the University of Maryland, School of Music.