"Orchestras Feeding America" Food Drive

Again this year, the VSO will collect food items at its concerts in Burlington, Rutland and Brattleboro as part of the national “Orchestras Feeding America” project.   


Audience members and the public may bring a non-perishable food item to the concert. The project is also accepting cash donations.  All food and cash contributions collected will be donated directly to the local branch of the Vermont Foodbank and donors will receive “Classical Cash,” good for a discount on a future VSO ticket purchase.

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March's Concert Theme: Paris in the Spring

Mozart's elegant "Paris" Symphony and Schumann's expressive "Spring" Symphony naturally suggest our March concert theme.  

The soloist for New Music Advisor David Ludwig's new bassoon concerto-- intriguingly titled "Pictures from the Floating World"--is one of the principal bassoonists of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (having won the position two years ago fresh out of music school). There is a French connection here as well: Ludwig's piece invokes the Japanese art prints that fascinated Debussy.

Performance Dates:

Saturday, March 14th at 8 pm
Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Burlington

Sunday, March 15th at 3 pm
Paramount Theatre, Rutland

Monday, March 16th at 7 pm
Latchis Theatre, Brattleboro

(photo source: http://www.latchis.com/gallery/)

Additionally, we are very excited to be back at the newly renovated Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro! Any southern Vermont fans should consider coming to the performance in this historic building.




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Introducing March's Guest Artist

Bassoonist William Short was recently appointed Principal Bassoon of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He previously served in the same capacity with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra and has also performed with the Houston Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra.

As a chamber musician, William has toured around the United States with Curtis on Tour and has traveled to Belize, Cuba, Guatemala, and Nicaragua with the Philadelphia-based wind quintet Liberty Winds. Additionally, he has performed chamber music with principal players from the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Vienna Philharmonic, as well as with musicians such as Joseph Silverstein and Ida Kavafian. William’s performances have been featured on NPR’s “Performance Today” and on WHYY’s “Onstage at Curtis.”

William has performed at the Mostly Mozart Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, Pacific Music Festival, and Verbier Festival. He received his Bachelor of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Daniel Matsukawa and Bernard Garfield, and his Master of Music at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied with Benjamin Kamins. Additional major teachers have included William Lewis and Kristin Wolfe Jensen.
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Masterworks in Review

Jaime Laredo, VSO Music Director

"The Vermont Symphony Orchestra just keeps on getting better," says Jim Lowe, Rutland Herald Reporter.

We couldn't agree more!

The January Masterworks concert series featured a stunning performance of Elgar's Violin Concerto in b Minor, Opus 61, by violinist Elena Urioste. Lowe's review read: "Urioste, with a warm and personal sound she used expressively, managed the full range of emotions from fiery virtuosity to intimate tenderness, with flair and depth. It was not only exciting, her playing in the slow movement brought many to tears." She was led by conductor, Jaime Laredo, whom is no stranger to the piece, having performed it himself.

The concerts also featured Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in b minor ("Unfinished") which Lowe stated "VSO played with a new found nuance, along with its continuing joy of music making."

The fans in attendance seemed impressed as well. While seated amongst the audience, hushed conversation could be overheard commending the orchestra for taking on "new" and "fresh" composers' works, which included Allen Shawn's "Vermont Fanfare" and Gabriela Lena Frank's 2000 "Elegina Andina."

After such a successful run, we are excited to see what the March series brings! Keep reading!