Meeting House Concert: Music For A Spring Afternoon

The Board of Trustees of the Heritage Preservation Trust, Inc., which operates and maintains Newtown Meeting House, will sponsor a special concert on Sunday, June 3.

“Music for a Spring Afternoon” will offer performances by Concert Pianist Margarita Nuller, Lyric Soprano Elizabeth Norton Lasley, Mezzo Soprano Ann Martindale, Dramatic Soprano Gwynne E. Wittmann, and Accompanist Susan Anthony Klein.

The concert will present five artists in a classical concert of music celebrating spring.

The concert will begin at 3 pm at the meeting house, 31 Main Street. Tickets are $15 in advance, or $18 at the door.

The concert will raise funds to benefit the trust’s Handicapped Entry Fund. A generous gift from long-time Newtown resident and author Mary Mitchell has recently been received. Mrs Mitchell has specifically requested that her gift be used to begin fund-raising for construction of a handicapped entry to the Meeting House Sanctuary. The concert celebrates Mrs Mitchell’s gift, and proceeds will contribute to that ongoing effort.

The Meeting House is the geographical and historical center of Newtown and offers a venue for many kinds of community and social events. Handicapped accessibility is a pressing need and one the trustees hope others will find worthy of their charitable contributions. At the conclusion of the program, concert-goers are invited to a reception where they can meet Mary Mitchell and our guest artists.

The Performers

Margarita Nuller was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. She received both her Bachelors and Masters degrees from the St. Petersburg Conservatory.

Since her arrival in the United States in 1990, she has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician in the New York metropolitan area and New England. Ms Nuller made her debut at Carnegie Hall in 2000, as winner of the Artists’ International Auditions.

She was an artist-in-residence at Shandellee Festival in the Catskill Mountains, Kent-Silver Bay Festival in Kent (Conn.) and Conde de Gondomar in Bayona, Spain. Previously, Ms Nuller was on the faculty at Hartt College/University of Hartford, and Mussorgsky College of Music in Russia.

Currently she is on the faculty of the Kent School, a member of Ridgefield Symphony and teaches privately. Her most recent performances include solos with the North Arkansas Symphony and the Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico.

Elizabeth Norton Lasley studied voice for many years in the Washington, D.C., area, where she sang with the National Cathedral Choral Society, Potomac Valley Opera Company, and Opera Americana.

In Connecticut, Ms Lasley has sung with the St John’s Chorale in Washington, and in 2006 she was a soloist with the St Rose Festival Chorus in Newtown, for a 9/11 Commemorative Concert. 

Ms Lasley is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and works as a science writer. She lives in Woodbury with her family and is currently a vocal student of Pamela Hoffman.

Ann Martindale is a founding member of the Saint John’s Chorale in Washington, and has been a member of the choir of Saint John’s Church since 1993.

Ms Martindale sang with choirs and choruses through high school and college and also with the Saint Cecilia Society in Boston. She is a vocal student of Pamela Hoffman and previously studied with Mark R. Scholtz.

Ms Martindale is also managing partner of the law firm of Moots, Pellegrini, Mannion, Martindale & Dratch in New Milford. She is a graduate of UConn Law School, received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and Masters degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

Gwynne E. Wittmann is now in her 11th year as choral director at New Fairfield High School and Middle School, where she directs choruses for grades six through twelve and teaches high school music theory.

For six years, Ms Wittman was the soprano soloist at St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Norwalk. She has also appeared as a soloist with the Middletown Chorale, Newtown Choral Society and the Fountain Music Series at the First Congregational Church in Ridgefield.

Ms Wittman graduated magna cum laude from Bucknell University with a Bachelor of Music in music education and a concentration in vocal performance. While a student at Bucknell, she appeared on several compact disc recording and was featured as a soloist in the 1996 Emmy-nominated PBS production, A Bucknell Candlelight Christmas.

Susan Anthony Klein performed with the St Cecilia Chorus at Carnegie Hall for five years. She has toured nationally with the Norman Luboff Choir and the Robert DeCormier Singers. Susan has also been an accompanist and piano instructor at Western Connecticut State University and is currently Director of Music at the Salem Covenant Church in New Preston.