Valerie Horst has an M.F.A. in Historical Performance from Sarah Lawrence College (studies in musicology with Richard Taruskin).  She is a longtime faculty member and Director Emerita of Amherst Early Music, a founding board member and former president of Early Music America, and former vice president of the American Recorder Society.  She has served for many years as music director of the Miami ARS chapter, and was a member of the Historical Performance faculty at the Mannes College of Music from 1982 to 2006.  A former member of Cappella Nova, she toured with the New York Chamber Soloists.

Valerie will be on faculty both weeks of the 2024 Amherst Early Music Festival.