Music in Central Valley series to feature chamber music program this Sunday

CENTRAL VALLEY — On Sunday, March 18, at 3 p.m., Music in Central Valley will feature oboist Joel Evans, violist Valentina Charlap-Evans and pianist Ruthanne Schempf in a program of chamber music by Bach, Britten, Loeffler, Amy Beach and Kauper.

The performers are among the outstanding musicians in the Hudson Valley:

Joel Evans Evans is oboist and solo English hornist in the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and oboist with the Pone Ensemble for New Music. He has performed with the American Symphony Orchestra and the Albany Symphony as principal oboist from 1982 to 1985, and has appeared as soloist at Lincoln Center, at the Saratoga Performing Arts Series, and at Tanglewood, among other venues. He has performed with such notables as Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, and Mstislav Rostropovich.

Currently he is assistant professor of music at SUNY New Paltz, where he directs the Symphonic Band and Collegium Musicum. He holds degrees from the University of Maine, Columbia University and the City University of New York.

Valentina Charlap-Evans Charlap-Evans, principal violist of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and violist of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Quartet, is a fellowship alumnus of the Tanglewood Music Center and has spent several summers at the Festival Casals in Puerto Rico. She has played with the Calgary Philharmonic and the Canadian Broadcasting Orchestra, with the Boston Pops, the American Ballet Theater Orchestra, and the Philharmonia Virtuosi, among others. Currently she is also a member of the Pone Ensemble and the Baroque Ensemble La Grande Ecurie. She has recorded for Albany and MCA Records.

Ruthanne Schempf A pianist, Schempf holds a doctor of musical arts degree in piano from the Manhattan School of Music. Active as soloist and chamber musician, she serves as pianist for the West Point Glee Club.

She is on the faculty of SUNY New Paltz, where she teaches piano, music history, and theory, and during the summers, at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, where she teaches piano. Her CD entitled, “An American Mirage: Exotic Solo Piano Images by American Composers,” was recently released and features music by Charles Griffes, Amy Beach, Arthur Foote,and Aaron Copland.

She is co-founder of the Hudson Valley Society of Music, which produces Potluck Concerts and the summer BachFest.

Essential information The concert takes place at Central Valley United Methodist Church, 12 Smith Clove Road, and is open to the public free of charge with a suggested donation at the door. The church is handicapped accessible. For further information phone the church Office at 928-6570.