Performing Arts Series

This festive occasion is a chance for members to gather and celebrate PASS, preview select performances from the upcoming 100th season, and vote on which event to support. A members only event. Membership information: 802-443-PASS (7277) or go.middlebury.edu/pass.

In 2003, Middlebury Performing Arts Series was the first American series to present world-renowned pianist and dear friend Paul Lewis. Fast-forward to now: this performance marks his 22nd appearance on our stage. Internationally acclaimed pianist Steven Osborne is also a friend, having won our hearts in three previous Middlebury recitals.

Our 100th anniversary season opens with a perennial Middlebury favorite, cellist Sophie Shao. Applauded by the New York Times for her “eloquent, powerful” interpretations, Shao has a gift for assembling impromptu chamber ensembles that are brimming with passion and talent. This season, she’s joined by violinists Jennifer Frautschi and Zachary DePue, violists Paul Neubauer and Che-Yen Chen, and cellist Fred Sherry for a program including Brahms’s Sextet No. 1 in B-flat Major and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht. A Nelson Fund event. Reserved seating.

American fiddler, violinist, and composer Jeremy Kittel draws from traditional roots, jazz, Celtic, classical, electronic, and more. He has worked with such artists as Abigail Washburn, Jars of Clay, Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, and the Turtle Island Quartet. For this performance, he plays alongside genre-bending guitarist Quinn Bachand, hammered dulcimer wizard Simon Chrisman, and phenom mandolinist Josh Pinkham, who wowed audiences here last April. Tickets: $22/16/10/6

This three-time Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble presents Breaking the Habit, a concert celebrating the unprecedented number of female rulers in the 16th century, from the powerful Medici women in Italy to the great Tudor queens of England. Many of these monarchs used their patronage to facilitate the production of exquisitely beautiful music by female composers. Through this fascinating program, Stile Antico shines a light on often-neglected repertoire, bringing women from the Renaissance to life through song. A Nelson Fund event, made possible with generous support from Olin C. Robison.

When the Washington Post titles a concert review “Jupiter String Quartet delivers on its name with an out-of-this-world performance,” you can begin to understand why this ensemble is a longtime Middlebury favorite. The quartet celebrates Debussy in this centenary year of his passing, with a program of Ravel and Debussy’s solitary string quartets, plus Dutilleux’s Ainsi la nuit. Pre-concert lecture by Professor of Music Larry Hamberlin, 6:30 PM, Room 221. A Nelson Series event. Reserved seating. Tickets: $28/22/10/6

The Grammy-winning Turtle Island Quartet makes its Middlebury debut in a collaborative concert with the series’ most frequent jazz artist, acclaimed pianist Cyrus Chestnut, to traverse countless colors of jazz in a program called Carry Me Home. The partnership is infused with the global reach of gospel and sacred music, ranging from the Appalachian Mountains to the spiritually defined musical landscape of J. S. Bach.

The French cello virtuoso performs some of J. S. Bach’s most beloved music: the six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello. “Queyras performs as he breathes.…His technical ease allows him to play with the music, to knead it, giving a particular character to each work…he brings the universe to the end of his bow.”—Le Devoir, Montréal. This special event includes a reception at intermission. A Nelson Series event, made possible with generous support from Olin C. Robison. Reserved seating. Tickets: $28/22/10/6

A perennial Middlebury favorite, cellist Sophie Shao has been praised by the World News for her “sensitive, stylistic playing, with great finesse, emotion, and gorgeous tone,” and has amassed an extensive collection of talented musical friends. She returns for her 11th consecutive season with an exciting new ensemble including violinists Zachary DePue and Arnaud Sussman, violist Matthew Lipman, and Nathan Farrington on double bass. Together they will perform selected duets by Mozart, Penderecki, and Meyer; plus rarely heard double-bass quintets including Dvorák’s Op.