Rehearsal is serious business for the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra.

Ashley Windle, a violinist, is one of the professional musicians. When she’s not playing, she volunteers as the orchestra’s executive director.

“There’s some spots we’re going to work on,” Windle said. “I think overall, the big picture: things are going to be great.”

Windle started playing the violin when she was just 5 years old.

“I have never put down the violin,” she said. “I knew what I wanted from day one, and I love it.”

Windle jumped at the chance to join a professional orchestra in her neighborhood in 2016.

“I was absolutely blown away by the level and the enthusiasm and the energy on stage,” she said.

It kept growing from there. Windle added the volunteer roles of assistant concertmaster and librarian over time. When the orchestra’s founder stepped down in 2022, Windle filled the executive director role.

“I didn’t quite know how much work is going to be,” Windle said. “But, like, I knew that it was something that I could do and that it would be well worth it.”

When she’s not playing, Windle spends her time writing grant applications, finding funding and organizing the musicians.

She empowered the artists by transforming the orchestra into a conductorless ensemble. 

“We are equally important in terms of making musical decisions, leading the shape of the music,” she said.

“Every group, kind of, like, to succeed, it needs a core bedrock,” Pedro Vizzaro Vallejos, a violist with the orchestra, said. “It needs something that has a clear identity that can guide it through rough and tough. And Ashley is that bedrock.”

Other than their large concerts, the orchestra holds smaller pop-ups to make music more accessible to the community.

“No one has to leave home to go to Lincoln Center or go to Carnegie Hall,” Windle said. “They can walk down the street and access the exact same quality of music.”

For bringing harmony to Washington Heights, Ashley Windle is our New Yorker of the Week.