Vermont Symphony Orchestra concert tent On a Wednesday in mid-May, I entered the Stowe Community Church to see the first live performance of classical music I had experienced in more than a year: Middlebury pianist Diana Fanning playing works by Maurice Ravel, Fédéric Chopin and Franz Schubert. The formidable entrance requirements included emailing an image of my COVID-19 vaccination card to Stowe Performing Arts, which hosted the concert. Audience members were led to seats spaced six feet apart. But the payoff was hearing those nuances of interpretation and volume that virtual mediums never quite capture. As masks fall away and the weather warms, classical musicians schedules are filling up with live gigs, and festivals are reviving their summer seasons. There s even a new concert series in a Jericho barn. With so many performances cropping up as the state lifts its pandemic restrictions, the following list is only a sample
Feb 19, 2021
Music Bldg A200 (Recital Hall)
We are thrilled to present four world-class classical artists who (luckily for us) have chosen to make their lives and homes in Vermont. Mary Bonhag, soprano, has performed throughout the world and thrills audiences with her marvelous versatility and supple, expressive voice (San Antonio News). She has put together an ensemble to perform a stunning program of seldom-heard music with true emotional impact designed to celebrate a new beginning. She will be joined by the masterful pianist and UVM Affiliate Artist Paul Orgel, violinist and Craftsbury Chamber Players founder Mary Rowell, and cellist and UVM Affiliate Artist Emily Taubl. The program will include the Prelude and Fugue in B Major, BWV 892, from the Well-Tempered Klavier, Book II, by J.S. Bach; Duo No. 2 for Violin and Cello, H.371, by Bohuslav Martin¿; songs by Armenian composer Komitas (Vartabed); and Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok, Op. 127, by Shostakovich. This
For the performing arts in Vermont, 2020 was the year that wasnât. Yet the COVID-19 pandemic revealed many arts organizationsâ ability to redefine themselves â and for others it meant a complete shutdown.
January began optimistically with a splendid performance by the Montpelier Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Anne Decker, of Menottiâs Christmas opera, âAmahl and the Night Visitorsâ at City Hall Arts Center. The Spice on Snow traditional music festival celebrated its 10th year, also in the capital.
Vermont Stage, the Burlington professional theater, mounted excellent productions of âRelativity,â by Mark St. Germain â in which Ron Crawford became Albert Einstein â and âMarie and Rosetta,â the rockinâ gospel of Sister Rosetta Tharpe.