Vermont Symphony Orchestra: A Night at the Movies

An encore presentation from the 2022 Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival.  A Night at the Movies features a live, 22-piece VSO chamber orchestra accompanying seven documentary and animation films with Vermont ties. The program weaves through a breadth of musical styles and film stories, from two animated shopping carts searching for love to the story of Hansel and Gretel. Adventurous lemurs learn to fly, a little girl grows up in an undocumented farmworker family, and a director chronicles his path from prison to filmmaking.

This event shines a spotlight on many Middlebury College connections: the performance is conducted by Matt LaRocca ’02, VSO Artistic Advisor and Project Conductor; and it will feature appearances by two Middlebury faculty members whose work is represented: Assistant Professor of Music Matthew Evan Taylor and Animation Studio Producer Daniel Houghton ’06.

The films:

How We See Water by Robin Starbuck (music by Waterbury composer Matt LaRocca)

Two Balloons by Mark Smith (music by Peter Broderick)

The Greatest Night by Jeremy Lee MacKenzie (music by Middlebury College Asst. Professor of Music Dr. Matthew Evan Taylor)

Mate by and with music composed by Rusty Eveland

Breath by Marlboro-based Jesse Kreitzer (music by Brattleboro composer Paul Dedell)

Estrellita by Middlebury College Animation Studio and Producer Daniel Houghton (music by Jack DeBouter)

Gretel Hansel KinRumpelStilts by Burlington-based Chris Caswell (music by Burlington composer Patricia Julien)

Pre-show Talk with Matt LaRocca ’02, Matthew Evan Taylor, and Daniel Houghton ’06: 6:30 PM, MAC Room 125