MUSICIANS

Sheila is a freelance chamber, orchestral and solo performer. She performs regularly in varied chamber settings including the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra and the Bard Conservatory’s Graduate Orchestral conducting program under Harold Farberman. Ms. Hamilton began her classical music training at age five in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, and sprang into professional performing as a teenager. She was a double music scholarship recipient (flute and piano) and holds degrees from Eberhardt-Karls Universität in Germany, and The State University of New York. On flute, she has been described as “…a silk smooth syrinx of a classical flutist.". In her performance with guitarist Jim Bacon, of Ibert’s Entr’acte, music critic and reviewer Kitty Montgomery wrote: "…inspired by Bacon's ebullient picking, Hamilton blew past perfect containment . . . to out-of-this-world . . . mastery". Ms. Hamilton studied with the legendary Julius Baker and Metropolitan Opera flutist Trudy Kane, both of the Julliard School. On piano, she has accompanied numerous vocalists and choruses including the West Point Glee Club and Marist Chamber Choir. In 2010 she appeared on piccolo with Nexus and So Percussion at Maverick Concert Hall, in the Reich’s seminal work Drumming. Ms. Hamilton currently serves on the music faculty at Marist College, where she coaches chamber ensembles and is a lecturer of World Music and American music history.


Sheila Hamilton, flute and piano

Sheila Hamilton

flute and piano
Liam Wood, Classical Guitar

Liam Wood

classical guitar
Liam is a classical guitar soloist, chamber musician, composer and teacher who earned his B. F. A. from the State University of New York, College at Purchase and his Masters in Music from Manhattan School of Music. Of his many accomplishments, Mr. Wood was winner of the Artist International 29th Annual Chamber Music Award. He was featured in an article called “Thinking outside the Box” (Classical Music Singer Magazine), for the New York City premiere of his performance withNew Music New York, a collaboration with Mezzo-Soprano singer Rita Litchfield, of Jonathan Kulp’s Five Poems of Emily Dickinson. Other recordings include an album of Mozart’s piano music and Spanish guitar style soundtrack for the iPhone app “Space Hunters”. Liam’s performance at Carnegie Hall with the Wood/Moran Duo, was sold out and reviewed enthusiastically by Guitar Review Magazine: “thrilling…the audience could not hold their applause until the end of the set”. Liam serves on the board of directors of the Mid-Hudson Valley Classical Guitar Society, originally conceived by the brilliant luthier Thomas Humphrey (1948 – 2008). The Society has brought countless world-renowned performers to the area, including Eliot Fisk and the Assad Brothers. Mr. Wood also performs regularly in a classical guitar duo with David Temple. His commitment to teaching has brought him to the Third Street Music Settlement School, the Kingston Conservatory of Music, and Bard College.


Jim Bacon

classical guitar
Jim studied under two of the top world-renowned classical guitarists, Benjamin Verdery and David Starobin at New York University and the Purchase College Conservatory of Music where, in 1986, he earned his B.F.A. in music performance. He has freelanced in the New York City and Hudson Valley areas as a solo musician and in various classical, jazz and blues groups. Among his many talents, Mr. Bacon has studied ballet and performed with the Ulster Ballet Company, is an avid swimmer and triathete, painter, and even holds a law degree. Currently Town Justice of New Paltz, Jim can also officiate your wedding as well as perform music!