Music

Come listen to students of varying levels showcase their talent on the Chinese zither, an instrument with over 2,500 years of history and one of the most popular Chinese instruments today. The repertoire will include both modern and traditional pieces. Sponsored by the Department of Music.

Two piano students of Diana Fanning’s – Gloria Breck and Junya Iwata come together in a piano performance celebrating works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Tan Dun, and others. Sponsored by the Department of Music. Free

Artistic director Laurel Ann Maurer and Middlebury College affiliate artist Anne Janson are joined by six other flutists to perform music by Bach, Holst, Gluck, Fucik, Chopin, Drake, and Vermont composers David Gunn and Derrik Jordon. Featuring Melissa Meilens, Heidi Baxter, Hilary Goldblatt, Robin Cameron Phillips, and Norman Thibodeau, who is featured as soloist on his contra bass flute. Sponsored by the Department of Music. Free

Fiona Sze-Lorrain is a poet, translator, editor, and classical guzheng musician who has performed worldwide at such prestigious venues as Merkin Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Maison des cultures du monde, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, and the Musée Cernuschi. In this presentation, she discusses the history of the guzheng and guzheng music, and plays representative pieces, joined for some of the session by Middlebury College students. In English and Chinese with translation.

Don’t miss our Field Guide for Music Majors! Take this opportunity to hear how music alumni have applied their major and learning in a diverse array of careers. Alumni will be on campus to share their paths and professional lives with students in order to help them think broadly about music, and to demonstrate what possibilities exist for current music majors.

Despard, affiliate artist of classical guitar, plays a concert celebrating contemporary solo and chamber music of Norway and America. Cellist Michael G. Ronstadt and accordionist Rocco Jerry join him to premiere new works by Norwegian composer Bjorn Bolstad Skjelbred, and American composer Conrad Kehn. The program includes additional pieces by Norwegian composers Magnar Am and Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen. Sponsored by the Department of Music. Free

An evening of sparkling, sophisticated mainstream jazz will be enhanced by a chance to look behind the curtain and see how jazz is created. The DFJG’s ballads, blues, bebop and swing are sure to set toes tapping. Long a favorite of Vermont audiences, the Jazz Group features Dick on piano, with some of New England’s finest musicians: Paul Asbell, guitar; Michael Zsoldos, sax; Jim Daggs, bass and Geza Carr, drums. Forman is the Music Department’s Director of Jazz Activities and an Affiliate Artist. Sponsored by the Department of Music. Free

A concert celebrating Diana Fanning’s 40 years of teaching piano at Middlebury College. Her program features Brahms’ monumental Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel. One of the outstanding piano works of the Romantic era, it is a dazzling masterpiece of imagination, virtuosity, and expressivity. Works by Beethoven, Debussy, and Janacek complete the program. ‘American pianist Diana Fanning transported her audience into a scenic paradise’—Suddeutsche Zeitung, Munich. Sponsored by the Department of Music. Free