Performing Arts Series

Perennial favorite cellist Sophie Shao returns to open our 105th season with an accomplished, all-female ensemble, performing a stunning program of sonatas and piano trios. Violinist Jennifer Frautschi and pianist Christina Dahl join Shao in an evening featuring Nadia Boulanger’s Three Pieces for Cello and Piano, Peteris Vasks’ Castillo Interior (The Interior Castle), Marguerite Canal’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, and Franz Schubert’s beloved Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat Major, D.898.

BALA BILA brings together two African master musicians—Balla Kouyate on balafon, calabash, bass guitar, and voice, and Matchume Zango on timbila, mbira, percussion, and voice—in an intimate, living-room style concert and intercultural musical conversation between two extraordinary artists. Kouyate hails from the West African country of Mali, and Zango calls the East African nation of Mozambique home. They are leading exponents of their respective principal instruments, BALAfon and timBILA—two world heritage instruments that will be played together in harmony.

So Percussion has redefined chamber music through their commitment to the creation and amplification of new work. The ensemble is celebrated for a dazzling range of activities: live performances, contributions to education and community, and the creation of opportunities and platforms for music and artists. In their Middlebury debut, they’ll collaborate with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, featuring songs and highlights from their latest co-composed album Rectangles and Circumstance. 

Celebrating its 30th season, the Jerusalem Quartet embodies the pinnacle of chamber music excellence, renowned worldwide for its passionate performances and impeccable precision. With a repertoire spanning the classical to contemporary, they captivate audiences with spellbinding interpretations, blending technical virtuosity with profound musical depth. The Jerusalem Quartet returns to Middlebury with a program of Haydn, Shostakovich, and Dvorák.

Sean Dorsey is an Emmy Award-winning choreographer, dancer, writer, educator, and activist. Long recognized as the U.S.’ first acclaimed transgender modern dance choreographer, Dorsey brings his newest work—and his explicitly trans-positive pedagogy—for his Performing Arts Series debut. The Lost Art of Dreaming is a full-evening fusion of full-throttle dance, intimate storytelling, intricate costuming, and exquisite queer partnering, all performed with Sean Dorsey Dance’s signature technical precision, guts, and deep humanity.

Sean Dorsey is an Emmy Award-winning choreographer, dancer, writer, educator, and activist. Long recognized as the U.S.’ first acclaimed transgender modern dance choreographer, Dorsey brings his newest work—and his explicitly trans-positive pedagogy—for his Performing Arts Series debut. The Lost Art of Dreaming is a full-evening fusion of full-throttle dance, intimate storytelling, intricate costuming, and exquisite queer partnering, all performed with Sean Dorsey Dance’s signature technical precision, guts, and deep humanity.

Making their Middlebury debut, the Isidore String Quartet are winners of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition.Their concert program “Unrequited” explores the intersection of treasured classics and contemporary perspectives, providing a winding path into the complicated labyrinth that is human compassion and love, featuring works by Mozart, Beethoven, and Billy Childs. Thanks to the Sunderman Family Concert Endowment Fund, this concert is free and open to all.

About tonight’s weather: as of this time, this show is planned to go on as scheduled. If that changes, we will post updates here.

Pianist Steven Osborne, OBE is one of Britain’s most treasured musicians. His performances exude an immense depth of musicality and exceptional refinement of expression across diverse repertoire, be it in Beethoven or Messiaen, Schubert or Ravel, Prokofiev, or jazz improvisations. His many honors include The Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year, two BBC Music Magazine Awards, and two Gramophone Awards.

We close our 105th season with the dynamic duo of violinist Alina Ibragimova and pianist Cédric Tiberghien. The two developed a tremendous rapport during their term as individual BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists, where their unique partnership was observed by The Times of London: “Both of these players have the potential to conquer the world.” During this Middlebury return, Ibragimova and Tiberghien will play Janácek, Enescu, Gerald Barry’s vivacious Triorchic Blues, and Beethoven’s iconic“Kreutzer” sonata.