Diane and Dick Kniss Richard Kniss Affectionately referred to on stage as the 4th member of their trio, Richard Kniss, the bass viol player of the Peter, Paul and Mary folksinging group for 45 years, has had an active musical life since he first took up his instrument in the late 50's.  Born in Portland, Oregon in April of 1937, the adaptable Mister Kniss (he played almost eight years with John Denver, co-authoring John's hit "Sunshine On My Shoulders" and "The Season Suite") moved to San Francisco and, during his prolific 58 year career has enjoyed the musical companionship of jazz legends like Woody Herman, Herbie Hancock, Donald Byrd, Pepper Adams, Zoot Sims, Don Friedman, Teddy Charles, and Sal Salvador.  "Dick is continually re-inventing approaches to our songs", says Noel Paul Stookey of PP&M.  "Sometimes he's there at the beginning; helping to create the tone or mood of a piece while the trio's vocal parts are still evolving.  But personally", continues Stookey, "I think his greatest contributions come nightly!  I can't name another bass player who improvises so tastefully within the framework of folkmusic".

Paul Prestopino   Paul Prestopino has been playing  music almost all his life--there exists a home recording of him at age 3, sitting at the piano and singing "What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor" while playing an honest-to-goodness minor chord as accompaniment.  He got a harmonica at age 4, a guitar at age 9, a banjo at 11; and a mandolin, Dobro, recorder, tenor banjo, electric bass, electric lap steel, etc., have been added as they became needed.  Originally headed in the direction of Physics, or the accompanying technology, he suddenly found himself snatched from his job at the University of Wisconsin's High Energy Physics Lab by an offer from the Chad Mitchell Trio.  This was around 1961, and, seven years later, when the group disbanded, he fell into the recording business; the logical confluence of his technical and musical interests.  Today he is the technical third of the three-man team aboard the award-winning Record Plant Remote truck, a lot of which he designed and built.  He continues to play music , both professionally and avocationally, and particularly enjoys playing for Contra and English Country dances.  He has been a member of  the dance band Hold The Mustard since before it even had a name, and has performed and recorded with numerous folk and pop artists.

Louise & Bob De Cormier Robert De Cormier music director Robert De Cormier acted as music director of the New York Choral Society for seventeen years and under his leadership the group became renowned for its high standard of excellence in choral singing and unique variety of programming. As Music Director Emeritus he guest conducted a performance of the Verdi Requiem in 1990, the Berlioz Requiem at St. Paul's Cathedral, New York City in 1992 and the premiere of a commissioned work, the Missa lona in 1993 at St. Bartholomew's in New York City. During the 1995-96 season he conducted several performances of the operas, Brundibar and The Emperor of Atlantis in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and at Merkin Concert Hall in New York. Recently he conducted the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in performances of the Mozart C Minor Mass, Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and PDQ Bach's Bluegrass Cantata. In March of 2000 he will conduct the Buffalo Philharmonic and chorus in Arthur Honegger's King David. A graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, Mr. De Cormier's other conducting engagements have taken him from Broadway and opera to the Berkshire Choral Institute, the Zimriya World Assembly of Choirs in Israel and numerous concert tours throughout the United States and Canada with his own professional group, the Robert De Cormier Singers. He spent many years as conductor and arranger for Harry Belafonte and has been music director for the popular folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary for the past twenty years. In 1993 he helped found the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Chamber Chorus and as their director he both prepares and conducts performances with the symphony. He has written several works ranging from choral to ballet to Broadway scores. His cantata, The Jolly Beggars, based on the poetry of Robert Burns, premiered in New York to critical acclaim. His ballet score, Rainbow Round My Shoulder, is in the active repertoire of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. His choral works, Legacy, Four Sonnets to Orpheus, Shout For Joy and Under A Greenwood Tree were premiered at Carnegie Hall by the New York Choral Society. Spiritual Suite, commissioned by the West Village Chorale premiered in New York in 1991 Mr. De Cormier has also arranged extensively, from African-American spirituals to American and international folk songs. Recordings include three Christmas albums on the Arabesque label with the De Cormier Singers, the Kodaly Missa Brevis and Vaughan Williams' Mass in G Minor on Vox Turnabout with the New York Choral Society, Songs of Liberty for Book-of-theMonth Club with the Choral Society and the De Cormier Singers, as well as Carmina Burana for Newport Classics, Paul Alan Levi's Mark Twain Suite and De Cormier's Legacy and Four Sonnets to Orpheus for Centaur and an album of Christmas music with Jessye Norman for Philips. A recording of John Dowland's music, Awake, Sweet Love with Julianne Baird and the DeCormier Singers was released by Arabesque in 1992 and Noel We Sing with the Choral Society was a Musical Heritage release in 1994. Recent Arabesque releases include Oh, You Beautiful Doll, early twentieth century popular American songs, Children, Go Where I Send Thee, international Christmas songs, two operas from the Terezin concentration camp in Czechoslovakia; Brundibar, a children's opera by Hans Krasa and The Emperor of Atlantis, composed by Viktor Ullmann.. The Jolly Beggars, De Cormier's settings of Robert Burns poetry was released by Arabesque in May, 1998. Mr. De Cormier's television credits include a three part series of Choral Folk Songs for the BBC and an Emmy award winning special with Harry Belafonte. More recently for Thames TV he conducted Christmastide with Jessye Norman and for PBS A Holiday Concert, Peter, Paul and Mommy Too, and Lifelines all with Peter, Paul and Mary. Also for PBS Mr. De Cormier was the choral director for a combined concert, television special and recording starring Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle, conducted by James Levine, as well as Christmas at Carnegie with Kathleen Battle and Frederica Von Stade, conducted by Andre Previn. Mr. De Cormier has served on the New York State Council on the Arts and been a member of the Choral Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts.