A benefit recital for Stone Valley Arts will be presented on Monday, July 11, 2022, at 7:00pm at Stone Valley Arts, 145 East Main Street, Poultney, VT 05764.  The suggested donation is $10 (more if you can, less if you can’t).

The evening’s performers are Lyndon Moors, principal oboist of the Sage City Symphony, Diane Bargiel, principal clarinetist of the Sage City Symphony, and Sandra Nikolayevs, principal bassoonist of the Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra.  The trio will perform works for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon by Mozart, Jacques Ibert, and George Gershwin, and also solo unaccompanied pieces by Malcolm Arnold, Benjamin Britten, and Willson Osborne.

Born and raised in central Massachusetts, Sandra Nikolajevs (bassoon) began her formal musical education at the Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music in Ohio and received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School in New York City. She furthered her education at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, as the first American in the German Bassoon Studio of acclaimed solo bassoonist Pascal Gallois. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Nikolajevs has performed chamber music in Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Ms. Nikolajevs is currently Principal Bassoonist of the Savannah Philharmonic and has held the same position with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, South Carolina Philharmonic and Augusta Symphony. During the summers she teaches and performs at the Luzerne Music Center at Lake Luzerne, NY. She also spends as much time as possible visiting Poultney, VT, to enjoy time at the home she inherited from her late mother, Ruth Botsford Nikolajevs. Ms. Nikolajevs is Founder, President and Artistic Director of Chamber Music Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina.

Lyndon Moors studied oboe with Ralph Gomberg and John Holmes at Boston University while earning a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education. He earned a Master’s degree in Education from Southern New Hampshire University and taught music in the Mt. Greylock Regional School District in Williamstown for 29 years. Lyndon performs regularly throughout western Massachusetts, southern Vermont, and the Albany New York area including appearances with the Berkshire Symphony, Manchester Music Festival, Williams Chamber Players, Williamstown Theater Festival, Barrington Stage Company, Berkshire Theater Group, Massachusetts Wind Orchestra, Berkshire Lyric, the Battenkill Chorale, and the Bennington County Choral Society. Lyndon was the principal oboe of the Bangor Symphony under Werner Torkanowsky, having begun his career teaching and performing in northern Maine. Lyndon performed the Strauss Concerto for Oboe with the Sage City Symphony of Bennington. He is a past President of the Board of Directors for the Berkshire Music School and is a former Music Director of the Eagles Band of Pittsfield, MA.

Diane Bargiel received her Bachelor of Music degree in clarinet from the Dana School of Music, a Master of Music in clarinet from Michigan State University, Certification in Music Education from Carnegie Mellon University, and a certificate in Arts Administration from New York University.  In 2021, she retired from SUNY Adirondack as the last Humanities division chair and Associate Professor of Music.  In 2015, Prof. Bargiel received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities and in 1995 while at Susquehanna University, was presented the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.  Several professional highlights included having been president of the New York Association of College Music Programs, president of Pennsylvania Presenters, a board member of Arts Presenters of Northern New England, the Pennsylvania state chair of the College Band Director’s National Association, a member of the first Creative Communities Council of Windham County (VT), a planning committee member for the first Performing Arts Exchange that covered the entire East Coast, and was also a conductor and panelist at the 2000 CBDNA Eastern Regional Conference at Yale University, among numerous other roles and volunteer involvement.  A Poultney resident, Diane had served on the first Poultney 2020 planning committee, is a past board member of the Killington section of the Green Mountain Club, and is currently on the board of Stone Valley Arts.