The Pianos Plus quartet will present a program of music for two pianos, eight hands, when Redlands’ Spinet music club meets 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 15, at the Contemporary Club.
The public is invited to the program, which is co-sponsored by A.K. Smiley Public Library.
Quartet members Mary Lou Jones, Sally Rehfeldt, Toni Spagnola and Nelda Stuck will play music by Johannes Brahms, Antonin Dvorak, Bedrich Smetana and Emmanuel Chabrier plus “I’ll Be Back” from “Hamilton,” Paul Desmond’s “Take Five” and “Pistol Pete’s Piano Posse Rides Again” by contemporary duo-piano composer Kevin Olson.
Pianos Plus began performing in Redlands 28 years ago wherever the group could find two pianos in one room — essentially a couple of churches, the Plymouth Village Lodge and the Contemporary Club. The quartet members are pleased that the women of the Contemporary Club approved funding recently for renovating both their 100-year-old grand pianos, keeping them in good repair for community use, according to a news release.
The current Pianos Plus members have lived in Redlands for 20 to 55 years, and Jones, Rehfeldt and Stuck are all past presidents of the Spinet. Spagnola is the newest member of the group, replacing Lorraine Jorgenson who retired from the quartet a few years ago.
Jones, who has taught piano, served as a church pianist and sung with choral groups, was executive director of the Redlands Symphony Association in its formative years. She also worked in community relations at Plymouth Village retirement community was community services coordinator for the Emergency Housing Consortium in San Jose.
Rehfeldt, who also teaches piano, has served as a church organist for decades, including more than 40 years with First Presbyterian Church of Redlands. She is now organist at First Baptist Church of Redlands and plays for weddings at the Edwards Mansion Chapel.
Spagnola, a former resident of Pasadena, has served as executive director of the Pasadena Pops Orchestra. In Redlands, she has accompanied choirs for the Redlands Unified School District and maintains a home studio teaching piano. She also accompanies ballet classes at Riverside Ballet Arts where she plays for master classes and she has been a musical director for several productions at the McCallum and Annenberg theaters, among others.
Stuck taught piano 30 years, including during 17 moves with her Air Force husband. She served as chapel organist and youth choir director at George Air Force Base and has rung handbells for 40 years and served as an accompanist at First Congregational Church of Redlands. She is retired from 22 years ascommunity and the arts editor of the Redlands Daily Facts and has volunteered 22 years to get the Museum of Redlands up and running.
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