The Moore County Music Society will present the last concert of the season at Bethesda Presbyterian Church in Aberdeen, at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, May 18.

The concert will feature Valerie Stancik, soprano, singing Samuel Barber's "Hermit Songs," Dr. Menno Pennink and Leon Edwards performing Ludwig van Beethoven's "Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major" ("Spring Sonata") and Ruth Sinclair and Dr. Larry Arnold playing a selection of organ and piano duets.

Valerie Stancik directed "West Side Story" as the opening production for the Robert E. Lee Auditorium at Pinecrest High School in 1991. In 1999, she presented her first piano and voice students in recital and continues with a studio of more than 60 students. More recently for Moore County audiences, she appeared as Miss Daisy, with Mitch Capel as Hoke, in "Driving Miss Daisy."

For several past years, Stancik has organized, administered and taught in summer ballet intensive workshops around the state. In 2005, she studied Celtic harp with Janet Harbison in Limerick, Ireland. In 2006, she won the National Scottish Harp Society Vocal Competition in Atlanta, going on to appear last summer in 2007 as a performer at the International Harp Festival in Orta San Giulio, Italy. Stancik continues to be active as a performer, teacher and adjudicator in dance, theater and music. Pianist MariJo Brown will accompany her.

MariJo Brown attended Mount St. Scholastica College as a piano performance major while still in high school in Atchison, Kansas. She made her debut at the age of 15 and performed as guest soloist with two symphonies before the age of 18. Brown serves as organist for the Congregational Church in Southern Pines, directs and accompanies the Note-A-Belles as well as accompanying the Moore County Music Society. She has been the pianist and/or music director for the Temple Theatre, North Carolina Stage Ensemble, Sandhills Little Theatre, Cape Fear Regional Theatre, Clinton Little Theater and dozens of productions throughout the county.

Violinist Dr. Menno Pennink is a retired neurosurgeon. He plays in the Fayetteville Symphony and is also an accomplished cellist. Born in Indonesia and reared in the Netherlands, he moved to Fayetteville following an internship in Montreal. He has formed his own chamber music group and counts repair of violins among his many interests and accomplishments.

Pennink's passion for music was instilled in him by his mother, a talented pianist and soprano, and by his father, who was also an accomplished violinist. Pennink is also an MRI and CT scanner developer, downtown Fayetteville renovator, Rotarian, gourmet cook, chess player and family man.

Leon Edwards is well known locally for his skill and versatility as a pianist from classical, jazz and popular, to sacred music. A native of Raleigh, he was a scholarship recipient at UNC-Chapel Hill and Indiana University. He has also studied at the Juilliard School of Music. For many years he was the resident pianist at the Carolina Hotel. He has accompanied several musicians from the Fayetteville Symphony and played with outstanding players from Europe while attending summer sessions of chamber music in Chapel Hill.

Edwards is organist and pianist at Eureka Presbyterian Church, accompanies the Sandhills Community College Jazz Band and performs regularly under the auspices of the Fayetteville Arts Council as soloist, accompanist and educator, both for the area and the Cumberland County Schools. He is a founding member of the Moore County Chamber Music Society (now the Moore County Music Society).

Ruth Sinclair has served on the board of the North Carolina Music Teachers' Association as piano contest director and college auditions coordinator and the Sandhills Chapter of the North Carolina Symphony Board. She holds the Teacher of Experience Certificate from NCMTA and professional certificate from MYNA. She has accompanied many soloists and groups in North Carolina, including the Moore County Choral Society and the St. Andrews Community Chorus. Her students have excelled in local and state competitions.

Sinclair has served as organist and choir director at many N.C. churches and is presently organist at Bethesda Presbyterian Church.

Dr. Larry Arnold is an associate professor of music at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and active in the region as a performer on bass, piano and guitar. At UNCP, Arnold directs the Jazz Choir, Ensemble and Combo, teaches jazz composition, jazz appreciation, music theory, double bass, music composition and electronic music. Since 1997, he has served as jazz studies coordinator. UNCP jazz groups have performed for many civic organizations, public schools and visitors to the campus and have received top ratings in state and national festivals. Arnold has received international recognition for his work with the UNCP Digital Academy.

The Moore County Music Society is an organization that features many highly regarded professional musicians of the area.

"All musiclovers are encouraged to attend the concerts, which are free and open to the public," says a spokesman.

For further information, call 692-7012 or 944-9595.