Music
The Department of Music provides a creative environment for the study and performance of music with a global perspective, and encourages students to develop skills, expand knowledge, and contribute actively to society as artists and citizens.
We offer a diverse curriculum that engages students in historical and cultural study, as well as analysis, creation, and performance of music.
Our emphasis on global perspective and experiential learning provides opportunities for each student to explore and develop their own musical passions, and to collaborate with peers and faculty in many ways, including through interdisciplinary work, ensemble participation, and independent projects.
Performance Opportunities
African Music and Dance
Chamber Music
College Choir
Community Chorus
College Orchestra
Collegium
Jazz
Musical Theater
All Music Department courses, ensembles, lessons, and other activities are equally available to nonmajors and majors alike. The curriculum for music majors offers a balance between thoroughness and flexibility, offering each student a chance to develop areas of strength in the context of a broad liberal arts education.
A wide range of lessons are available—including piano, voice, and most orchestral instruments.
Our Facilities
The MAC
The 100,000-square-foot Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts, known as the MAC, is a hub of arts activity on campus. It’s also home to the Music Department and includes practice rooms, lockers, an electronic music studio, and a 372-seat concert hall.
Explore the MACUpcoming Events
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Jazz Workshop
The Jazz Workshop provides a weekly opportunity for jazz students to study jazz history, repertoire development, jazz conventions, jazz idiom and theory, and a chance to practice strategies and tools, improvisation, and playing in small groups.
Mahaney Arts Center 221
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George Matthew, New England Chapter American Bell Association Carillon Concert
Join George Matthew Jr. on his 90th birthday as he plays a beautiful concert from Middlebury Chapel’s bell tower. The melodic sounds of the carillon bells will ring out across the campus. This concert, as part of the New England Chapter American Bell Association (NECABA), will feature works by Bach and Haydn as well as a mix of traditional Irish, Ukrainian, and Mexican songs. Free and open to the public.
Middlebury Chapel
Open to the Public
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College Choir Spring Concert
The College Choir presents a spring concert of powerful, playful, and pensive choral music by composers from Brazil, Mexico, Ukraine, England, and Italy, as well as Spiritual, folk, and new music from the USA. Choir and instrumentalists perform the Vermont premiere of selections from the new cantata, We Are Phoenix (2025), by Minnesota composer Timothy Takach, and Vermont musician Tom Mackenzie joins on hammered dulcimer for music of and inspired by folk traditions. Free admission.
Middlebury Chapel
Open to the Public