The popular Concerts in the Village series continues at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 26th with the first musical program to be presented in the main exhibition space of The School, Jack Shainman’s recent, wonderfully imaginative transformation of the former Martin Van Buren School at 25 Broad Street in Kinderhook. Richly textured vocal and instrumental works from late 19th and 20th century Britain have been specifically selected to take advantage of the special sonic properties of The School’s main exhibition space.

This will be CITV’s 13th concert since its founding in 2010. Conceived by CITV Artistic Director David Smith, this concert will feature works for women’s voices in ensemble, as well as for solo soprano, harp, oboe, violins, cello and piano, in diverse combinations and as soloists.

The culmination will be a rare performance of the Second and Third Groups of Gustav Holst’s magical Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda (1909-1910). According to Smith, “In presenting the Rig Veda pieces CITV is once again offering listeners a chance to experience a neglected masterpiece by a major composer. This music is exotic and unusually textured – a remarkably transporting early 20th c. meeting of West and East. In this case the meeting is not in France or Russia, as one might expect, but in Britain!”

Among the distinguished artists for this program and making her CITV debut is harpist Grace Cloutier, who has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East, both as a soloist and under the batons of some of the world’s most distinguished conductors. She has participated in the Tanglewood and Aspen music festivals, and concertized in many of the most important musical venues, including Carnegie Hall. Miss Cloutier also performs on Broadway, and has given solo concerts for celebrities Oprah Winfrey and Donald Trump, and for the President and First Lady. She has appeared on NBC, CNN, and CBS, and the national television networks of France, Germany, and the Ukraine, and is on the faculty of the Hartt School of Music. www.gracecloutier.com

Other guest artists for this concert include well-known soprano Amanda Boyd-Grout and Karen Hosmer, principal oboist of the Albany Symphony Orchestra, as well as ASO violinists Mitsuko Suzuki and Jamecyn Morey, cellist Jay Shulman and pianist Noah Palmer.

Critical reception of past CITV offerings has been very positive: “In a short time Concerts in the Village has taken on a major musical role in the Upper Hudson Valley,” and “brought musical gold to Kinderhook.” (John Paul Keeler, Register-Star) This concert is made possible with public funds from the Decentralizaton Program of the NYS Council on the Arts, administered in Columbia County by the Greene County Council on the Arts through the Community Arts Grants Fund. Generous funding has also been received from the Hudson River Bank & Trust Co. Foundation, and Stewart’s Holiday Match, as well as from CITV’s many individual and business supporters.