The Arts

By Mary Fairchild & Sarah Taft

Painting Adventures in Palenville

Beginning on Sunday, November 11, the Rip Van Winkle Country Club in Palenville will host an exhibit of landscape paintings by Michelle Moran, Patti Ferrara, Angela Gaffney-Smith and Nancy Campbell. The exhibit, entitled Painting Adventures With… showcases recent work, some of which was completed on site in various locations: the artists painting alone, together or with other painting partners.

The landscape surrounding the beautiful club house/restaurant at the Rip Van Winkle provides a fitting backdrop for the works, all of which are inspired by the artists’ favorite places in the Catskill Mountains. Moran and Ferrara follow, literally at times, in the footsteps of the founders of the first American school of painting, the Hudson River School, as members of the Thomas Cole Hiking Club (an “unofficial” group of like-minded artists and hikers who revel in the beauty of the mountains). Both Moran and Ferrara have honed their classic technique during their recent studies with modern Hudson River School painter Thomas Locker.

Gaffney-Smith, known for her linocuts and monotypes, has returned to watercolor in this exhibit. The vibrant colors, strong composition and a mighty talent for drawing evident in Angela’s paintings belie the challenges of watercolor. The medium is difficult to master, but when a painter does master it, as Gaffney-Smith does, the results are outstanding.

Nancy Campbell is known locally for the series of paintings of Saugerties in which she has captured the “home town” 1950’s feeling of the village, the atmosphere which old-timers are proud of and to which newcomers are drawn. Campbell’s oils, whether of village or of the surrounding countryside, show the artist’s appreciation of the landforms or man-made forms which inspire them, and of the ambient light which transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Painting Adventures With… Nancy Campbell, Angela Gaffney-Smith, Patti Ferrara and Michelle Moran, opens with a meet-the-artists reception on Sunday, November 11 from 2 to 4 pm at the Rip Van Winkle Country Club, Route 23A, Palenville. The show will remain through the winter. The Rip Van Winkle Country Club Restaurant is open for dinner Thursday through Saturday from 5 to 9 pm and Sunday brunch all year from 10 am to 3 pm. For more information call 518 678 9779.

Recent Works by Inverna Lockpez and Fawn Potash in Andes

The Chace-Randall Gallery proudly presents Recent Works: Inverna Lockpez and Fawn Potash through November 25. The exhibition is comprised of mixed media paintings by Ms. Lockpez and photographic-based encaustics by Ms. Potash.

Best known for her famed Noble Barn series of 2002, Inverna Lockpez returns to the Catskill Mountain barn as subject matter for one last time. “I have come to understand the profound connections between the forests that envelop these mountains, the valleys that meet them at the forest edges, and the sunlit fields and barns designed to serve our needs. The Noble Barn commemorates the mutually beneficial co-existence between nature and the work of human hands revealed through this artistic journey,” says the artist, adding that his new body of work utilizes the “voluptuous Catskill landscape to counterpoint the barns’ submission to nature which allows the quality of light to dramatize the architecture and fuse the barns with the natural world.”

Celebrating her first exhibition at Chace-Randall, the elemental themes of Fawn Potash’s work are barrenness and fertility, evoking the emotional sweep of the landscape. Ms. Potash uses a 1970’s Polaroid camera with a film that renders both a negative and positive image. Working in winter, the film acts slowly in the cold and tends to develop only halfway, solarizing the lightest tones. “These landscapes come across as other worldly, more like drawings of a place where twilight holds day and night in an odd balance; the seasons exist simultaneously…. I am attracted to the inter-relatedness of it all, nature’s miracle of cooperation,” says the artist. The photographs are mounted on wood and then sealed in translucent encaustic. “I use etching tools to draw a response to the photograph, filling the etched lines with oil color. Several encaustic layers build an interpreted place, season and time of day. This process has obscured the work’s photographic origins, moving more toward the world of printmaking and drawing,” explains Potash.

The Chace-Randall Gallery is located at 49 Main Street in Andes. Autumn gallery hours are Friday through Sunday and Holiday Mondays from 11 am to 5 pm and by appointment. For more information please call 845 676 4901 or visit www.chacerandallgallery.com.

Scenes of the Season & Journey’s End in Windham

Autumn is a rewarding but a demanding subject for the landscape painter. In autumn the scenery around Windham, which is always spectacular, becomes electric with millions of trees that have traded summer green for yellows, oranges and reds. Through November 19 Windham Fine Arts will pay homage to fall foliage with Scenes of the Season, featuring the work of seven of the gallery’s most popular artists: James Coe, Christine Debrosky, Malcolm Scott DuBois, Tom Key, Mara Lehmann, Chris Magadini and Eric Tobin.

On November 24, Windham Fine Arts marks the return of Jeanne Staples, Robert Trondsen and celebrates the Windham debut of Thomas Paquette in a show entitled Journey’s End, featuring their most recent work.

Thomas Paquette relishes the unexpected twists a painting might take when it is not a predetermined product: “It is like waking up in Italy after deciding just the day before you should take a little vacation.”

Jeanne Staples has always been drawn to the rough, dramatic shorelines and vernacular architecture of her native New England. Staples’ work evokes visual and emotional memories of places without romanticizing them. At the same time she often invites the viewer to observe the scene from the rear of a building or from a neighbor’s yard, giving them the little guilty pleasure in trespassing on the private side of places.

Robert Trondsen’s luminous landscapes, painted in the tradition of the Hudson Valley School but with a more contemporary style, border on the ethereal mood of the tonalists. Every scene, no matter how seemingly unspectacular at the moment he turns into a drama of light and atmosphere on the canvas.

Journey’s End runs through January 2. Windham Fine Arts is located at 5380 Main Street in Windham. Gallery hours are Thursday through Monday from 11 am to 5 pm. For more information, call Windham Fine Arts at 518 734 6850 or check the Web site at www.windhamfinearts.com.

The Heart of the Landscape: Photographs by Hardie Truesdale in New Paltz

If you have ever hiked through the secluded woods, through the mists, the dramatic talluses and serene lakes of the Hudson Valley, you may feel that you have entered the heart of the landscape. In this enchanted place is where you may happen upon Hardie Truesdale with his camera. The Heart of the Landscape will run through November 28, 2007.

We are so fortunate to claim Mr. Truesdale as a denizen of our region. Nationally acclaimed, he has no equal for his masterful and sublime use of light and texture as he captures the majesty that surrounds us. Whether he is climbing a mountain in the Adirondacks or finding a cozy forest interior in the Shawangunk range, rich and compelling local favorite scenes—as New Paltz’s familiar Mohonk vista—mix with his photos of adventurous vistas from around the world—from Patagonia, Chile to the Cotswold in England. This photographer goes where others can only dream of going. A skilled climber, Mr. Truesdale’s daring shots and angles are truly one of a kind.

Mr. Truesdale is the co-author of two books. His first explores the Hudson Valley from source to ocean outlet. His second opens the Adirondack Mountains to his camera and his extraordinary vision. Both are available at the gallery.

Mr. Truesdale uses a variety of cameras to photograph his subjects. His archival digital prints are created in several formats.

The Mark Gruber Gallery is located in the New Paltz Plaza in New Paltz. Gallery hours are Monday from 11 am to 5:30 pm; Tuesday through Friday from 10 am to 5:30 pm; Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm, and Sunday from 12 to 4 pm. For more information, please contact Mark Gruber at 845 255 1241.

Holiday in the Mountains in Windham

Each year Greene County Council on the Arts presents Holiday in the Mountains, its annual exhibition and sale of fine crafts at the GCCA Mountaintop Gallery in Windham, NY. Handmade pottery, jewelry, quilts, toys, knits and ornaments crafted by local and regional artisans fill the gallery with holiday spirit in time for creative gift giving. Holiday in the Mountains opens on Saturday, November 10 and continues through January 6, 2008.

The GCCA Mountaintop Gallery is located at 5348 Main Street in Windham, NY. The gallery is open Friday through Monday from 10 am to 5 pm. For more information, contact the gallery at 518 734 3104 or visit the Greene County Council on the Arts’ Web site at www.greenearts.org.

Photographs by Laura Gail Tyler in Hudson

The Nicole Fiacco Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of photographs by the American artist Laura Gail Tyler. The exhibition will include black and white silver gelatin prints from the “Houses and Castles” series.

Tyler’s staged photographs address associations we have with architectural icons such as houses, towers, castles and bridges. Tyler photographs model structures made from unlikely materials which have included pumpkins, gingerbread, sand, playing cards and paper. The artist introduces water, fire and natural decomposition to create tension between these idealized structures and the impermanent materials from which they are constructed.

The artist states, “I am not interested in describing another world, and I do not simply wish viewers to enter into the spaces I have created. Instead, I want the pictures to offer some degree of resistance and to question limitations. ”

An opening reception will be held on Saturday, November 3 from 6 to 8 pm. The Nicole Fiacco Gallery is located at 506 Warren Street in Hudson. For more information, call 518 828 5090 or visit the gallery’s Web site at www.nicolefiaccogallery.com.

At UPAC in Kingston and the Bardavon in Poughkeepsie

On Friday November 2 at 8:00 pm, The Ulster Performing Arts Center presents “Zappa plays Zappa,” the music of the late Frank Zappa performed by a band led by Zappa’s son Dweezil. Concertgoers and music fans who never had the opportunity to experience Frank Zappa’s music will finally get their chance. UPAC is at 601 Broadway in Kingston. Call 845 339 6088 for information.

The Bardavon is pleased to present Clint Black at the Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston (UPAC) on Sunday, November 4 at 7 pm. NXP is the sponsor for this concert. This performance is also supported by the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

If allowed only one word to describe Clint Black, “profound” would cover a lot of bases. The artist has had a profound effect on the music industry, not only through his own recordings, but also through the establishment of his brainchild, Equity Music Group, a record company he co-founded in 2003. He is a profound, not to mention prolific, songwriter. To date, he has written, recorded and released more than 100 songs, a benchmark in any artist’s career. An astounding one third of the songs eligible for single release achieved hit song status at Country Radio. As a musician, he profoundly astounds—he is an accomplished guitarist, and humbly describes himself as proficient on drums, harmonica, bass guitar and any assortment of percussion instruments.

The Hudson Valley Philharmonic performs at the Bardavon in Poughkeepsie on November 17 at 8:00 pm. Music director Randall Craig Fleischer conducts, violinist Elmar Oliveira is the soloist, and the program, titled “Czechmates,” will include Maurice Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, Karel Husa’s “Music for Prague 1968,” and Antonin Dvorak’s violin concerto.

Other Bardavon performances in November include a Big Band Tribute on November 8, the film The Searchers on November 9, Gilbert & Sullivan’s Candide on November 23 and 24, the Dark Star Orchestra on November 25, the Celebration of Lights Parade and Fireworks followed by the film The Sound of Music on November 30, and a performance of A Christmas Carol on December 2. Other performances at UPAC in November include Peter Pan on November 10 and Youssou N’Dour on November 18.

Tickets for all Bardavon and UPAC performances are available at the UPAC Box Office, 845 339 6088, 601 Broadway in Kingston, the Bardavon Box Office, 845 473 2072, 35 Market Street in Poughkeepsie, and through Ticketmaster, 845 454 3388 or www.ticketmaster.com. For further information, please visit www.bardavon.org or www.upac.org.

Lobby Café Concerts at the Shadowland Theatre in Ellenville

The Shadowland Theatre in Ellenville is announcing their next series of Lobby Café Concerts beginning on Saturday, November 17 at 8:00 pm with singer/songwriters Meghan Cary (www.meghancary.com) and Rosanne Raneri (www.rosanneraneri.com) returning to Shadowland for an encore performance. Raneri is featured in the book, SOLO: Women Singer-Songwriters In Their Own Words by Dell Publishing, a collection of interviews and photos of 20 premier women singer-songwriters, along with Sarah McLachlan, Jewel, Sheryl Crow, Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ani DiFranco, Cassandra Wilson and Lucinda Williams. Cary, formerly an actress at Shadowland, was a Billboard magazine’s Critic’s Choice for Best Newcomer in 1998.

Shadowland Theatre is the leading professional nonprofit Actors’ Equity company in the Lower Hudson Valley/Catskill Mountain Region. Located 90 miles from New York City in Ellenville, NY, Shadowland was named “Best Theatre” in 2004 and 2005 in the “Best of the Valley” award program by Hudson Valley Magazine; “2006 Cultural Business of the Year” by Ulster Development Corporation and Ulster County Chamber of Commerce; “Best Theatre 2006” by the Times Herald Record, and “Best Drama of the Year” by The Daily Record in NJ for The Good German. Founded in 1984, Shadowland performs in a restored 1920’s Art Deco vaudeville/movie house converted to a 148-seat theatre. For more information, visit www.shadowlandtheatre.org.

At Bard

There will be several of free performances at Bard College in November, including free chamber music concerts in Olin Hall on Friday, November 2 at 8 pm and Sunday, November 11 at 3 pm. Both concerts are sponsored by the Bard Conservatory.

The Colorado Quartet, quartet in residence at Bard since fall 2000, offers an all-Beethoven concert on Saturday, November 3. Free and open to the public, the program is presented by The Bard Center and begins at 3 pm in Olin Hall. No reservations are necessary; seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Colorado Quartet, “a first-class ensemble that rises with panache to meet every challenge in the music” (Washington Post), will perform Beethoven’s Quartet in A Major, Op. 18, No. 5; Quartet in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3, and Quartet in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131.

Recognized on four continents as one of the finest string quartets on the international scene, the Colorado Quartet’s members are Julie Rosenfeld and Lydia Redding, violins; Marka Gustavsson, viola, and Diane Chaplin, cello. Winners of both the Banff International String Quartet Competition and Naumburg Chamber Music Award, their performances are noted for their musical integrity, impassioned playing, and lyrical finesse.

Highlights of past years include tours of more than 20 countries and performances in major cities across the globe. New York appearances have included the Mostly Mozart Festival, where they performed 20 Haydn quartets over a two-year period, and concerts at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. The group regularly performs the complete Beethoven quartets, most recently in Berlin, making them the first female quartet to have performed the Beethoven cycle in both North America and Europe. The Colorado Quartet commemorated the 50th anniversary of Béla Bartók's death in 1995 with the first complete performance in Philadelphia of the Bartók string quartets, and has since performed the Bartók cycle several times.

The Colorado Quartet continues its tenure as quartet in residence at Bard College, coaching chamber music ensembles and enabling Bard students to study throughout the academic year in private lessons with the quartet's individual members, as well as with the group as a whole, in classes on the literature of the string quartet. The quartet's inspiring style combines a deep scholarly knowledge of the quartet literature with energy, passion, and a focus on fine details. Its critically acclaimed recordings of Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, and contemporary composers can be found on Parnassus, Mode, and Albany Records. The Colorado Quartet commemorated its 20th anniversary in 2003 with a release of the first in a complete set of Beethoven quartet recordings. The Quartet marks its 25th anniversary in 2007, with plans to release all the late quartets of Beethoven on the Parnassus label.

This concert is made possible, in part, through the generosity of the Homeland Foundation and the Leon Levy Endowment at Bard College. For further information about the program, call The Bard Center at 845-758-7425.

The Mannes College orchestra, David Hayes conducting, will perform Anton Bruckner’s 9th Symphony on Saturday, November 3 at 8 pm in the Fisher Center on the Bard Campus. This concert is also free.

On Sunday, November 4 at 3 pm, vocalist Libby Shapiro and pianist Jed Distler will perform a program of songs of Weimar in Olin Hall. Call 845 758 7425 for more information about this free concert, which is presented by The Bard Center and the German and Jewish Studies.

Composer Joan Tower will host a concert of music by Aaron Copland, Alfred Schnittke and George Tsontakis on Wednesday, November 7 at 7:30 pm in Bard Hall. The program will also include Tower’s own music and a world premiere of a work by Conor Brown. The concert is free.

Also at the Fisher Center, Bard Theater presents two one-act plays, Harold Pinter’s Party Time and Bertolt Brecht’s The Jewish Wife, from Thursday, November 15 through Sunday, November 18 in the Resnick Theater Studio. Party Time, which premiered in 1991, is set in smart, fashionable London. A suave power-broker is throwing a party at which his guests prattle of exclusive health-clubs, idyllic island retreats and past romantic liaisons. Meanwhile, in the streets outside there is a violent disorder which is being savagely suppressed. The Jewish Wife is set in Germany in the mid-1930s, and the Jewish wife of an Aryan surgeon has good reason to try to get out of town while she still can.

The Bard Conservatory Concerto Competition preliminary and final rounds are free and open to the public on November 18 at 10 am and on November 19 at 7 pm in the Fisher Center.

For concerts in Olin Hall or Bard Hall, call 845 758 7196 for details. For performances at the Fisher Center, call 845 758 7900 for more information.

Carolina Chocolate Drops in East Meredith

The West Kortright Centre concludes its 2007 season with a concert by the African-American Piedmont string band Carolina Chocolate Drops. Featuring fiddle, banjo, harmonica, snare, jug, and vocals, the Chocolate Drops are leading the revival of little-known music that belongs to an era when music was not something to be sold but something from the soul. The concert is on Saturday, November 10 at 7:30 pm. Call 607 278 5454 for information.

American-British Panto in Ghent

The Pantaloon’s eighth annual American-British Panto, Hair Loom: Rapunzel and Rumplestiltskin in Distress, at the Ghent Playhouse, November 23 through December 9. This production merges two Grimm’s fairy tales, with the usual gender bending, craziness, and fun for the whole family. One of the region’s oldest and most popular community theaters, the Playhouse is in the hamlet of Ghent, just off Route 66 across from the fire station. For more information, call the box office at 518 392 6264.

Duo Pianists in West Shokan

The Trail Mix Concert Series at the Olive Free Library continues on Sunday, November 18, with a 2:30 concert by duo pianists Arianna Goldina and Remy Loumbrozo. The program will include works by Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Rachmaninoff and Copland. The exceptional musicianship of this Franco-American-French team has brought them consistent praise from critics and audiences alike and international recognition as one of today’s leading duo pianists. The Olive Free Library is located at 4033 Route 28A, three and a half miles from the Boiceville turnoff from Route 28.

At the Catskill Mountain Foundation (map)…
In the Gallery
Local Color: Contemporary Landscapes
Through November 11
Catskill Mountain Foundation (map) Gallery
at Hunter Village Square
Main Street, Hunter
Today, the scenery of the Catskill Mountains remains as dramatic a subject for contemporary landscape artists as it did for 19th century visionaries Thomas Cole and Asher Durand. In our ongoing efforts to pay tribute to the natural beauty of the region and to promote the talent of its painters, this exhibition will feature well-known regional landscape artists Scott Balfe, James Cramer, Gracia Dayton, Linda Gordetsky, Susan Mangam and more.

Let It Snow:
Fourth Annual Holiday Show
November 17, 2007–February 17, 2008
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 17, 4-6 pm
Catskill Mountain Foundation (map) Gallery
at Hunter Village Square
Main Street, Hunter
In the shadow of Hunter Mountain is a veritable avalanche of artwork, hand crafted by local and regional artists for you and your home. Visit Let it Snow, the annual winter season exhibit at the Catskill Mountain Foundation (map)’s Fine Crafts & Art Gallery in Hunter Village Square. Amidst our wide selection of jewelry, textiles, ceramics, fine art and furnishings, you will find a one of a kind gift for that special someone. Don’t forget to warm yourself with a treat from the Farm Market/Cafe, and browse our Bookstore. Hunter Village Square will be decked out in its holiday finest, so be sure to make a visit part of your plans this season.

New York Philomusica
Saturday, November 10, 8:00 pm
Doctorow Center for the Arts, Main Street, Hunter
Praised by critics worldwide, New York Philomusica’s range of programming includes its 1993 world premiere of Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale, with new text by Kurt Vonnegut, to numerous collaborations with their present composer-in-residence, Michael Berkeley, whose Secret Garden was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra at Barbican Hall, and whose Jane Eyre received its American premiere by the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Through its Featured Composer Initiative, New York Philomusica continues to champion the work of modern composers such as Iain Hamilton, Jacob Druckman, John Harbison and renowned jazz pianist Sir Roland Hanna.

This performance will include works by Haydn, Hindemith, Humperdinck and Berg.
This event is made possible, in part, by the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation.

Catskill Mountain Chamber Orchestra
Saturday, November 24, 8:00 pm
Doctorow Center for the Arts, Main Street, Hunter
Witness the world premiere of a newly commissioned work by Robert Manno in honor of the Doctorow Center for the Arts. Works by Rachmaninoff, Boyce, Shostakovich Mozart and Chopin will round out this special performance.
This event is made possible, in part, by the
Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation.

Catskill Puppet Theater
Saturday, December 8, 3:30 pm
Doctorow Center for the Arts, Main Street, Hunter
As winter bears down on the Mountain Top, Catskill Puppet Theater brings us a magical performance based on a Russian folktale, Ivan’s Three Wishes. When Baba Yaga sends Ivan on a quest to the North to find his wishes, he is guided across the Siberian ice fields by a magic wolf. Little does Ivan know that the Ice Wolf has been put under a spell and only the shimmering lights of the Aurora can transform her into her true shape…the beautiful daughter of Tsar Nikolas of the North!

Call 518 263 2063 or visit www.catskillmtn.org for information about Catskill Mountain Foundation (map) events.

In Rhinebeck…

The Rhinebeck Chamber Music Society’s season continues on November 18 with a 4 pm concert by the Ariel Quartet at the Church of the Messiah on Route 9 in Rhinebeck, The concert will include string quartets by Haydn, Brahms and Bartok. There will be an informal talk half an hour before the concert. Call 845 876 2870 for tickets and information.

The Center for the Performing Arts at Rhinebeck presents Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer prize-winning drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November 2 through November 4. This modern classic, which also won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, explores love, greed, and deception in a dysfunctional Mississippi family.

Also at the Rhinebeck Center, is I Love My Wife from November 9 through November 16. This Tony award-winning Broadway musical comedy was written by Michael Stewart and Cy Coleman, and it takes a humorous look at the sexual revolution of the 1970s.

On Thanksgiving weekend, celebrate magic, mystery and mayhem with the off-beat creative genius of Derrin Berger, the magic and comedy of Carlo DeBlasio, and classic magic with a modern touch by special guest Gulamerian at the Rhinebeck Center’s annual Magicpalooza, presented this year on Saturday, November 24, at 8 pm. That same weekend, Peter Muir returns to Rhinebeck with the Diamond Jubilators Jazz Band and a fantastical, musical journey through ragtime, blues and jazz. It’s perfect entertainment for the whole family on Sunday, November 25 at 3 pm. The Center for the Performing Arts is on Route 308 just east of the village of Rhinebeck. Call 845 876 3080 for information about any of the center’s events.

Jazz Great Laurel Massé in Saugerties

Jazz and Swing vocalist Laurel Massé, with special guest Wendy Lane Bailey, will perform on Sunday, November 18 at 3 pm in the third concert of the Saugerties Pro Musica 2007/8 season. This founding member of Grammy Award-winning Manhattan Transfer will apply her unique style and beautiful voice to the jazz and swing standards she is well known for.

Very few artists can claim to have started their career in music at the top, but as a founding member of the universally-acclaimed Manhattan Transfer, that is exactly what Laurel Massé did. With her lush, expressive voice, absolute pitch, flawless diction and ready wit, the statuesque redhead left her indelible mark on the group. “I have never forgotten what I learned in my years with Manhattan Transfer,” says Laurel, “and I will always cherish the thrill of being part of that wonderful sound.” She toured internationally with the Transfer for seven years, recording four albums.

As a studio singer, Laurel has appeared on CDs by artists of many genres including Tony Trischka, Barry Manilow, percussionist Layne Redmond, songwriter Carol Hall and former Manhattan Transfer cohort Janis Siegel. She appears frequently on television and radio, and was the creator and host of The Laurel Massé Jazz Show which ran for two years on WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

In 1997, Laurel was invited to join the staff of Jay Ungar and Molly Mason’s Ashokan Fiddle and Dance Camp as vocal coach in jazz, western and swing styles, a position she continues to enjoy. In 2004 she also joined the faculty of The Cabaret Conference at Yale as a master instructor of jazz and cabaret. As part of her commitment to supporting and collaborating with other singers at all levels of experience, she teaches master classes in song interpretation and improvisation for professionals and amateurs, and comprehensive performance master classes with singer and director Wendy Lane Bailey. In 2004 she was recognized for her contribution to music when she, along with the four current members of the Manhattan Transfer, received the prized “MAC” (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) Lifetime Achievement Award. She has been nominated Major Jazz Artist of 2006 by that same association.

The Saugerties Pro Musica concert following that will be on Sunday, December 9, when baritone Robert Edwin will be featured. These are two exciting and diverse concerts to round out the year.

All concerts are at 3 pm in the Saugerties United Methodist Church, on the corner of Washington Avenue and Post Street in the village of Saugerties. A reception to meet the performers follows each concert. A book of five tickets, good for any concert, is $40.00. General admission is $12 for adults and $10 for seniors. Students and children are always free. For more information, visit www.saugertiespromusica.org or call 845 246 5021.