Deirdre Brenner is a 2001 graduate id Dartmouth College, with a double major in engineering and music.

In 1998 she co-founded the Sfortz piano trio and appeared with the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra, Handel Society, Chamber Singers, World Music Percussion Ensemble, and in student-run ensembles.

She has attended the the Royal College of Music in London, where she studied with Simon Nicholls. And, with a grant from the Dickey Center for International Understanding, Deirdre went the Kingdom of Tonga, South Pacific, to teach music and math. Winner of the Gerald Tracy Memorial Piano Competition and MacDonald-Smith Prize for Performance, Deirdre was also honored as guest soloist with the Dartmouth Symphony in November, 2000 for a performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto in A major, K. 488.

From age eight to eighteen, Deirdre studied piano with Loretta Poto Sovak at the Cape Cod Conservatory. She attended Boston University's Tanglewood Institute in 1995 where she worked with Maria Clodes Jaguaribe. While at Dartmouth she studied primarily with Artist-In-Residence Sally Pinkas.

Deirdre's first love is chamber music. She is dividing this concert season between pursuing further pianistic study in London and auditioning for Masters degree programs in Collaborative Piano Performance here in the United States.

Clayton “Skip” Poole - President of the NHPO Board

A local business man, Skip is very active in the music arena, serving as both
conductor and performer. He has founded & conducted a number of diverse groups,
including The Northeast Big Band, The Play'rs Orchestra, The New England Wind
Symphony, The Northeast Symphony Orchestra, and The Paul Whiteman Tribute
Orchestra.

Skip has had the enviable pleasure of working with some musical greats: Mel Torme',
Rosemary Clooney, Robert Goulet, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Dionne Warwick, and
Cab Calloway, to name but a few.

Clayton sits on The Northern Stage Theater Board of Directors in Hanover, and was recently named President of The Board of Directors for the New Hampshire Philharmonic
Orchestra. His past Board experience has included White Pines College as a
member of the board of Trustees and The Granite State Symphony Orchestra. Skip is also
a member of the Capitol City Rotary and The Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce.

A graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Clayton has 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, having begun his career at Amoskeag Bank in 1979. He has been affiliated with Citizens Bank since 1996 and was recently named Vice President & Relationship Manager for the Trust and Investment Management Division.

Clayton is a native of New Hampshire and lives with his family in Bow.

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