A New Clarinetist in Our Midst

Barbara (Barb) Shaltis is our new C clarinet player (and accordionist as needed).  She retired as a clinical social worker from University of Michigan Medical Center and now lives in Webster, NH, on the Blackwater River. She lives there with her husband of almost 52 years, Larry, and their three furbabies: Chihuahua sisters, Faith and Hope, and cat, Agape. Barb and Larry moved to New Hampshire from Michigan in 2019 to live closer to their son’s family in Massachusetts and their other son, who plays timpani in the NH Music Festival summers in Plymouth, NH.  Barb enjoys the fun and wildlife of the Blackwater River, gardening, sewing and needle crafts, and genealogical research, in addition to music.

Barb plays a variety of instruments including most of the woodwinds, accordion, keyboard, hammer dulcimer, electric bass ,and some other strings. She’s constantly working on improving skills on these and other instruments. She taught private lessons for clarinet, flute, oboe, and saxophone for many years. Currently she also plays in the Hopkinton Town Band, the Kearsarge Community Band, and the NH Accordion Band. In church she sings in the choir and plays in the bell choir. She and her husband volunteer at the Concord Hospital, playing and singing music on the hospital’s closed circuit TV station.  In Michigan she played in various orchestras, symphony bands, clarinet choirs, other chamber ensembles, and in many theater orchestra pits.  She is excited about the opportunity to play Scottish music in this orchestra and hopes the clarinet adds a new enjoyable sound to the group. 

Just a few of the instruments that Barb plays.