Valerie Shondel - Director
Valerie Shondel is the Interim Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church in Caldwell. In her role at FPC, she conducts the Chancel Choir and the Chancel Bell Choir and is Organist and pianist for the church. Additionally, she is Director of Caldwell Broadway Arts.
Valerie Shondel has had a long and distinguished career as an organist, pianist and conductor in the New York City Area. She has brought her unique skills to her positions to build premier and highly successful organizations.
Ms. Shondel was Director of Music at the St Paul the Apostle in New York City and at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown. She continues to work as a freelance conductor, organist and pianist New York City and New Jersey. Most recently, she appeared in concert at Carnegie Hall.
Valerie Shondel earned degrees in Piano Performance and Musicology with a minor in harpsichord from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She continued with doctoral studies at New York University and organ studies with Harriet Dearden and Vincent Carr. Valerie has held faculty positions at Wake Forest University, Greensboro College and Eastern Music Festival. She was also involved in arts management with The International Society of Bassists, The Greensboro Symphony, Kindermusik and The Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. A highlight of her career was to perform as Organ Soloist at the Cathedral de Notre Dame in Paris, France. Valerie Shondel is a member of the New York City and Northern New Jersey Chapters of the American Guild of Organists.
Valerie leads a life filled with her passions both at work and at home. She is blessed with three married sons and 5 grandchildren. Her hobbies include cooking, gardening, time with family and yoga.
Sarah Solie - Artistic Director / Voice Instructor
Sarah Solie is a nine-time Broadway veteran, appearing in the original casts of Beauty and the Beast, Steel Pier, High Society, Anne Rice and Elton John’s Lestat, the First National Touring Company of Titanic and the 2012 revival of Annie, as well as in favorites such as Cats, Mary Poppins and South Pacific.
Her starring roles in theaters around the country include Kathy Selden in Singin In the Rain, The Beggar Woman in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, Anna Leonowens in The King and I and Muriel Eubanks in the comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
In the studio, Sarah has recorded multiple Disney soundtrack and original cast recordings and appeared twice at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops as a founding member of the vocal quartet Monday Off.
As a teacher, Sarah has maintained a private voice studio for the past 12 years, and has taught classes in voice and musical theatre for performing arts schools in the Central New Jersey area. Sarah is thrilled to be a co-founding director of Caldwell Broadway Arts.
Rachel Stern - Acting Instructor
Rachel Stern is a singer/songwriter from NYC. Rachel has been teaching voice coaching acting for over 15 years. She has been quoted as saying, "I believe you need a strong, technical foundation and a joy that won't leave."
Broadway credits include, Girl From The North Country, Shrek The Musical, High Fidelity, Tarzan.
T.V. CREDITS: The Deuce, Blacklist, Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, Louie, The Big C, Unforgettable, and lead singer in the movie My Depression.
A graduate of NYU Tisch (Lee Strasberg Studio,) and mentee of Elizabeth Swados, Rachel has voiced many characters in animation, video games, and commercials, plays guitar, is ok on drums, sings a ton of backup and fronts her own band. She’s proud member of AEA and SAG/AFTRA.
Rebecca Jo Loeb, Director
Rebecca Jo Loeb, lyric mezzo-soprano and director, has performed with leading opera houses and festivals worldwide.
As a director, she has led The Seven Deadly Sins at Manhattan School of Music, La Calisto at Montclair State University, The Magic Flute and Hänsel und Gretel in Kandersteg, Switzerland, Le Nozze di Figaro and The Crucible at Berlin Opera Academy, and a concert of Rodgers and Guettel at The Juilliard School. Upcoming directing engagements include Rent and Scenes from Into the Woods at William Paterson University and Opera Scenes at Montclair State University. She has given talks and masterclasses at Arizona State University, University of Tucson, Brown University, The Juilliard School, and New England Conservatory.
Recent performing highlights include Written on Skin in Stavanger, Norway, Greek at Deutsche Oper Berlin, the world premiere of Omar at the Spoleto Festival, and covering Fyodor in Boris Godunov at the Metropolitan Opera. A former ensemble member of Deutsche Oper Berlin and Hamburgische Staatsoper, she performed signature roles such as Cherubino, Rosina, Hänsel, and Orlofsky. At Deutsche Oper Berlin Rebecca performed roles such as Mercedes, The Fox in Cunning Little Vixen, Second Lady, Kate Pinkerton, Blumenmädchen, among many other. Other notable credits include the Metropolitan Opera (Flora), Oper Köln (The Fox), Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (Angel 2/Marie), Teatro Municipal São Paulo (p r i s m), Glimmerglass Opera, LA Opera, Teatro Regio di Torino, Theater Freiburg, Staatstheater Oldenburg, Oper Köln, Ravinia Festival, Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Carnegie Hall, and Boston Symphony Hall and the Tanglewood Music Center.
Loeb is a champion of contemporary works, premiering lead roles in Pulitzer Prize-winning operas p r i s m and Omar as well as performing the world premiere of the international sensation Written on Skin by George Benjamin. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and the University of Michigan, and a winner of the Lotte Lenya Competition First Prize.
Ginny Stephens - Accompanist
Ginny Stephens is a piano teacher, collaborative artist / vocal coach and choral accompanist. Most recently, she toured the UK with an award winning choir and performed in cathedrals in Scotland and England. She is an adjunct professor at Montclair State University where she accompanies and coaches musical theater and classical voice students. She performed The Beautiful Bridegroom by Dan Shore with the MSU opera last fall. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from Bob Jones University and a Master of Music Degree in piano performance from Colorado State University. Some of her other favorite musical experiences include working for the Virginia Opera as the opera chorus accompanist and performing art songs in concert with baritone, John Lueck.
Ginny lives in Wayne, NJ with her husband Karl. They have three adult daughters.