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Barbara Pickhardt has an extensive chamber music background. She was one of the founding members of the Woodstock Chamber Players with whom she toured the northeast as the ensemble's pianist and harpsichordist. In 1996 she toured Germany and Austria with the Linden Piano Trio based in Pittsfield, Mass. Pickhardt has been the harpsichordist with the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra for whom she has performed most of J.S. Bach's harpsichord concerti.
Barbara Pickhardt taught public school instrumental and choral music in Southern California before moving to New York in 1969. In the 1990's she taught applied piano at SUNY Ulster and conducted the college chorus and chamber ensemble. In 2000 Barbara Pickhardt teamed with lyricist Johanna Hall to write the first of two operas commissioned for the Woodstock Cycle. In addition to accompanying, conducting and writing, Barbara Pickhardt maintains an active piano studio in her home in Woodstock, NY.
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Barbara Pickhardt has had a multi-faceted career for over three decades in the Hudson Valley: teaching, conducting, composing, arranging and performing as a pianist and harpsichordist. She earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in music with honors from both the University of Minnesota and Westminster Choir College (Princeton), where she received the Ruth and Raymond Young Award in composition. She has been the musical director and conductor of Ars Choralis since 1976; leading the chorus in traditional as well as out of the ordinary choral performances such as time honored Messengers of Peace.
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Pickhardt founded the Hudson Valley Youth Chorale in 1995 to offer talented children the opportunity to discover the joy of singing in a unique choral setting. She has led the group in three European tours, as well as performances at national monuments: Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. While on tour in Vienna, 2003, the chorus was honored to visit the Vienna Boys choir and sing with them during rehearsal at their home campus in the Vienna.
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