It takes an ensemble
WCMS is all about the power of talented ensembles. That's just as true for us as an organization as it is for our concerts. We have never been led by professional musicians, rather, we have always been a proudly grassroots, audience-led enterprise. We invite you to get to know the dedicated volunteers who perform for us in ways that are just as impressive as the artists we feature. Try to envision yourself among them, and talk to us about joining our close-knit ensemble of volunteers.
Shelley Lotter
Board President
Briarcliff Manor
Since taking over from WCMS co-founder Caroline Bauman in 2014, Shelley has been the driving force behind our concert series, leading season planning, operations, and more.
Peter Schlactus
Co-Executive Director
Rye Brook
In December 2025, Peter and his wife, Jen, assumed the role of Co-Executive Directors after several years on the Board. He is an amateur cellist and enjoys singing and guitar as well.
Jennifer Schlactus
Co-Executive Director
Rye Brook
Over the past decade, attending live performances — especially concerts presented by the Westchester Chamber Music Society — has become one of Jen's greatest joys.
Our Board
The major responsibilities of the Board are to help set strategic direction, provide governance and oversight of our operations, and maintain the financial solvency of WCMS. We depend on these stellar volunteers on our Board to advance our mission and for their generous donation of time, energy, resources, and expertise.
William Bauman
New Rochelle
Since Billy's mom was Board President for decades he was literally born for this! A retired physician and Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai, he plays violin and piano. He also pursues projects that support women's reproductive health.
Joshua Berrett
Mount Kisco
Josh is a Columbia-trained musicologist, teacher and writer who plays 1st violin in the Excelsior Symphony Orchestra. He writes our program notes and heads our Music Committee and Youth Initiative. With his wife, Lynne, he also leads the "Ageless Mind Project"
John Falk
Scarsdale
John is a patron of the performing arts - particularly music and dance. As a Board member since 2024, he has focused on our youth initiative and facilitating sustainability via donation and sponsorships.
Lois Green
Cresskill, NJ
Lois is our long-time Treasurer. She admits that chamber music had never been a favorite pastime until one afternoon when she came to a WCMS concert. She was immediately taken by the delightful experience and soon began volunteering.
Nancy Mayers
Pleasantville
Nancy joined WCMS in the early 70's with her late husband, Dr. Les Mayers. After attending concerts elsewhere for a time they learned that the Tokyo would play one of their last concerts for WCMS. They came back and the rest is history!
Judy Oestreich
White Plains
Judy discovered WCMS in its infancy and has had the pleasure of watching it grow and attract the very best in chamber music: "As a lifelong lover of music, it is my honor to be part of this vibrant community and to serve on its board.
Peter Schlactus
Rye Brook
Peter is a retired insurance broker, avid skier, and amateur cellist and folk guitarist who discovered WCMS through a friend, joined the Board in 2022, and serves now as co-Executive Director along with his wife, Jennifer.
Lilian Sicular
Mamaroneck
Formerly a social worker helping victims of the Holocaust, Lilian is now a “Professional Volunteer”, splitting her time between WCMS and groups like the West Side Inter-Agency Council on Ageing and the Y’s Himan Brown Senior Program, among others.
AmBASSadors
Volunteers make up our "basso continuo", setting the tempo and providing the critical pulse for all we do. We are grateful for each and every one. Please talk to us about joining our close-knit volunteer ensemble.
Emily Gu, Concert Concierge, Rye Brook
Mark Harra, Concert Concierge, Rye Brook
Lois Larmle, Music Advisory Committee, White Plains
Harry W. Lipman, Esq. of Rottenberg Lipman Rich, P.C., Legal Services, Brooklyn
Naomi Lipman, Editor, Scarsdale
Maggie Miao, Concert Concierge, Rye Brook
Alice Model, Live Music for All , Rye
Hiroku Onoda, Music Advisory Committee, Waccabuc
John Pareja, Live Music for All , Sleepy Hollow
Darren Peister, Music Advisory Committee, New Rochelle
Michelle Tian, Concert Concierge, Rye Brook
Directors Emeritus
We are grateful to all our Emeriti Directors, who have provided WCMS with inspiration and support throughout our 75-year history. We especially acknowledge our dedicated former directors and officers whose leadership made possible the proud legacy of this organization. If you know of any names who should be added to this list, please contact us.
Lawrence Albert, DDS - 1st VP, Hartsdale
Caroline Bauman - President*, Rye
Peter Aupperle, Waccabuc
Kathy Biehl, New Rochelle
Marvin Bolotsky, Edgemont
Jackie Botwinick, Rye
Rabbi Howard Goldsmith, Rye
Hazel Holub - 2nd VP*, Scarsdale
Carol Kahn - Treasurer*, White Plains
John Kaufman, White Plains
Harriet Levine*, Hartsdale
Naomi Lipman, Scarsdale
Herbert Newman*, White Plains
Isobel Perry*, Rye
Gloria Rie, White Plains
Laura Saperstein, White Plains
Myron Wilson, Esq. - Legal Counsel*, Larchmont
* of blessed memory
Be a player. Join our all-volunteer ensemble. Experience the rewards of making the music happen.
Telephone: 1-877-209-5200
E-mail: info@westchesterchambermusic.org
or simply use the form below to inquire or offer your services.
WCMS is seeking:
- professional pro-bono services (legal, marketing, tax, etc.)
- volunteers to help usher in audiences on concert days
- committee members
- Directors with vision and passion for sustaining the arts in Westchester
Shelley Lotter, Board President, Briarcliff Manor
Shelley studied piano, voice, and oboe at the Westchester Music Academy. She studied at Yale, where she co-founded their first all-gender a capella group, and went on to Harvard's Chan School of Public Health. This led to a career spanning public health, senior living communities, and consulting. More recently, Shelley made a mid-life career change and became a psychotherapist for individuals, couples, and groups based with Family Services of Westchester. Meanwhile, she found time to serve on her local Planning Board, lead her collegiate alumni association, and take the reins at WCMS. Shelley is grateful to the late Dr. Caroline Bauman for her support and mentorship.
Peter Schlactus, Co-Executive Director, Rye Brook
Peter began attending Westchester Chamber Music Concerts ten years ago at the invitation of a dear friend and former Board Member (of blessed memory), Isobel Perry of Rye. Peter and his wife, Jen, were charmed and inspired by the virtuosity of the performers and the acoustics and intimacy of the venue. During the fall of 2021, he found himself on the WCMS Board after being effectively "voluntold" by Isobel, who was a force of nature well in tune with our group's tradition of strong female leaders. In December 2025, he and Jen assumed the role of Co-Executive Directors.
Despite aspiring to play Saxaphone as a young child, Peter began studying cello at age 8 and rose to the level of cellist in the New York All-State Orchestra and first cellist of the Harvard Bach Society Orchestra. His musical interests then shifted to choral, a capella, and folk guitar, but he periodically dusts off the cello and hopes to find time to play more. Peter still secretly harbors plans to do a Springstein-style Sax solo in concert someday.
After a 30-year career as an insurance broker focusing on the needs of the delivery industry, Peter now runs the non-profit Association for Delivery Drivers. He and his wife, Jen moved to Rye Brook in 2001 and raised two children who are now young adults. Peter enjoys travel, skiing, biking, running, swimming (and the occasional triathlon) and follows international relations and politics far too closely for comfort!
Jennifer Schlactus, Co-Executive Director, Rye Brook
Jen began her musical journey as a young violist before turning her focus to musical theater during her high school years. After setting aside artistic pursuits to build a career and raise a family, she has happily rediscovered creative outlets through activities such as singing with her congregational choir. Over the past decade, attending live performances — especially concerts presented by the Westchester Chamber Music Society — has become one of her greatest joys. Following some years as a dedicated volunteer with the organization, Jennifer joined her husband, Peter, as Co-Executive Director in December 2025.
Jennifer’s professional career spanned multiple levels of leadership within a Fortune 500 software company based on Long Island. After stepping away from corporate life and relocating to Rye Brook with Peter to raise their two children, she became deeply involved in the local school community. Her commitment to public education led her from PTA President to School Board member, and ultimately to President of the Blind Brook Board of Education.
In addition to her work with WCMS, Jennifer enjoys volunteering at the local food pantry, traveling, gardening, exercising, playing mah jongg and canasta and spending as much time as possible with family and friends.
William Bauman, Board of Directors, New Rochelle
I was literally born to become a WCMS Board member--there was no escape! Dr. Caroline Bauman, my mother, was President of the WCMS for several decades. If my memory serves me correctly, I have been on the Board since 2023.
As a rite of passage in our family, all three children were obligated to become proficient on violin and piano. In high school and into early in college, I spent summers as a professional violinist in the Orchestral Society of Westchester, under the baton of Stephen Simon. I am playing far more piano these days than violin, although far less competent at the keyboard than the fiddle.
I have retired as Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai as an internist-endocrinologist who established and directed the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center of Excellence for the Medical Consequences of Spinal Cord Injury. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, a major interest of mine has been writing, and soon to be pitching to streaming services, a TV series that addresses issues related to women's reproductive health in an effort to increase awareness of a woman's right to decide bodily autonomy and a physician's ability to render appropriate medical care.
Joshua Berrett, Board of Directors, Mount Kisco
My connection with WCMS dates back to August 2017. That was when Dr. Carolyn Bauman hired me to write our concert program notes. Since then my bond with the Society has only grown closer. Aside from serving on the Board, I have been involved in the Youth Initiative and have become Chair of the Music Committee, where I lead the process of lining up performing groups and setting our season concert calendar.
Music has been an essential part of my life since childhood in Cape Town, South Africa. One of my big sisters had a beautiful soprano voice, I became a member of the synagogue choir at a young age and began violin lessons. Another big family event was our acquiring a record player and starting a collection of 78’s.
My professional career in the US has involved advanced training in musicology—Columbia University and the University of Michigan—and further study at the Juilliard School and Tanglewood. Over the years, I have become internationally known for publications in such diverse areas as jazz and the history of the symphony.
For some time, my wife and I have been busy with our 501(c)3, the Ageless Mind Project, which helps people create a personalized approach to overall wellbeing.
Among my hobbies are household maintenance and repair, electrical work, and even putting up sheet rock. Mowing grass with my very recently acquired battery-powered equipment has proven surprisingly therapeutic.
Lois Green, Board of Directors, Cresskill, NJ
Lois is our long-time Treasurer. She admits that chamber music had never been a favorite until one afternoon when she came to a WCMS concert. She was immediately taken by the delightful experience and soon began volunteering.
Lois is active with a variety of organizations. She is a past president of Woodland Community Temple and was the Program director of the Shames JCC in Tarrytown. She is always looking for next challenge!
Nancy Mayers, Board of Directors, Pleasantville
Nancy earned her BA from NYU and a Masters of Education and EDD in Applied Phisiology from Columbia Teachers College. Beyond music, her passion is Luge racing. As an athlete she has completed in Masters events and Empire State Games. She even helped officiate at World Cup events and the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics.
"My connection to music is not as a musician but as a listener to my late husband, Les, on clarinet at home and with the Westchester Pops Orchestra at Kensico Dam where our 2 sons sat in front of the audience. When each turned 6, Les asked what instrument he wanted to play. Michael chose trumpet and the following year Matthew chose saxophone.
When both boys told their teachers they wanted to be professional musicians they were both told to pursue another profession and play music as an amateur. They wound up taking that advice - going into cosmetic dentistry and law - but both now perform with a variety of groups and still pick up their instruments EVERY DAY!"
Lilian Sicular, Board of Directors, Mamaroneck
Lilian is yet another example of the extraordinary people who have enabled this organization to flourish for 75 seasons. Born in Vienna, Lilian spent nearly 3 years of her youth as a refugee fleeing the Nazis and bouncing from Hungary to Switzerland, to Spain, Portugal, and Brazil before her family reestablished itself in New York.
She attended Vassar, married (a surgeon no less!), raised 4 children, then attended Columbia to become a Social Worker and made a career of working with victims of the Holocaust.
Since her retirement, Lilian has become what the 92nd St. Y termed a “Professional Volunteer”, splitting her time between the Chamber Music Society in Westchester and NYC, where she is active with the West Side Inter-Agency Council on Ageing and the Y’s Himan Brown Senior Program, among others.