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Pianist Ruthanne
Schempf holds
a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in piano from the Manhattan School of Music,
where she studied with Marc Silverman.
She earned her Master’s Degree from the same school, studying under
Robert Goldsand and Constance Keene.
She earned Bachelor’s Degrees in piano and music literature at Michigan State University, where her teacher was the 1962 Van Cliburn
Competition winner, Ralph Votapek. She
is on the faculties of SUNY-New Paltz and Marist College in Poughkeepsie. She teaches
piano, music history, and theory. She
is also a co-founder of the Hudson Valley Society for Music which produces an
annual BachFest weekend and Potluck chamber music concerts during the
year. She teaches few private students
and endeavors to find time for gardening, skiing, pursuing genealogical
research, and drinking coffee!
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Kent
Smith, a native of Parkersburg, WV, is
known for a varied musical career.
Smith has appeared in a wide variety of roles in opera, operetta,
musical theatre, and on the concert stage with companies such as Opera Festival
of New Jersey, Lyric Opera Cleveland, Cleveland Opera on Tour, Opera at
Florham, American Music Theatre Festival, Natchez Opera Festival, The
National Opera Company, New York City Opera, Stamford Symphony Orchestra,
Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony and the Brooklyn
Philharmonic. He was part of the
acclaimed national tour of the Tony Award Winning Play , Master Class, as well
as performing the same play with TheatreWorks in the Bay Area, both of which
he was Musical Director as well. Mr.
Smith’s vocal master classes are presented throughout the country, and he
maintains his private vocal studio in New
York City. Mr. Smith was on the faculty of University
at Buffalo,
where he was also Director of the Opera Studio, and he is Assistant Professor
of Voice at SUNY-New Paltz. Mr. Smith
has also taught for five years in Italy at
Centro Studi Italiani and in Pennsylvania at
the Performing Arts Institute of Wyoming Seminary. Recent performances have included
appearances with the New York Vocal Artists, West Side Opera, Pro Arte, North
River Music and the Cleveland Opera. Mr. Smith will appear with Musica Sacra
in works of Mozart and Bach at New
York City’s Carnegie Hall in March of
2005.
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Karen
Lubeck attracts attention as a promising artist with a
beautiful voice, intelligent musicianship, and thoughtful
interpretation. She made her Carnegie
Hall debut in January 2002, sharing the stage with trumpeter Arturo Sandoval.
She recently sang Frasquita in Carmen
with the Duluth-Superior Symphony and appeared as a guest soloist with the
New York Choral Society in Orff’s Carmina
Burana. She was also featured as a soloist with the Brooklyn Philharmonic
as part of the Interfaith Committee of Remembrance’s concert. Ms. Lubeck has
appeared with Opera Illinois as Despina in Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte, and as soloist in numerous performances
throughout the United States and Europe. She
appeared as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte
with Opera Illinois and was a soloist at the American Symphony Orchestra
League’s convention in Washington, D.C.
Highlights of recent seasons include a gala
performance of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with the Keene Chamber Symphony, and
Mozart concert arias for the Westchester Symphony’s 10th anniversary
concert. Her engagements included
Fauré’s La Bonne Chanson at the Apple Hill Center for
Chamber Music, a song recital at the Norfolk Library in Connecticut, and
concerts throughout the United
States.
Ms. Lubeck participated in a Gershwin celebration
at the Tilles Center in Long
Island and appeared at the Berkshire Opera in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. She also took part in the National Symphony
Orchestra’s Mozart Festival with a concert at the Austrian Ambassador’s
residence. Switzerland’s Verbier Academy
invited her to its summer workshop with Gundula Janowitz and Brigitte
Fassbaender. She attended the European Mozart Academy,
where she studied with Benita Valente, Eva Blahova, and Kerstin Meyer, most
notably, and was a featured soloist in concerts in Poland, the
Czech Republic and Slovakia. She made her European operatic debut as
Silvia in Haydn’s L’isola disabitata
at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival in Germany.
Ms. Lubeck recently completed a recital tour of France,
including an appearance at Les Junies Music Festival. Upcoming performances include the World
Premiere of Michelle Ekizian’s work The
Place of Beginnings: Songs of Light and Peace with the Brooklyn
Philharmonic, as well as return engagements at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber
Music, and a series of solo recitals.
She has studied voice with Virginia Grasso,
Lorraine Nubar, and Richard Barrett, coached with Steven Blier, Joan
Dornemann and Nico Castel, and participated in Master Classes with Licia
Albanese, Gérard Souzay, William Christie, and Edward Zambara.
She received her Master’s of Music from The
Mannes College of Music and also attended Vassar College,
where she holds a BA in French with additional studies in German and Music.
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