Radio Arts Middlebury is a completely student-written and -produced radio program dedicated to reporting the events, people, and ideas that comprise the arts community at the College. In the fall of 2008, the show sprang fully-formed from the mind of Colin Foss ('10, LITS). Foss hosted RAM until the spring of 2009, when John Patrick Allen ('11, PSCI) took over during Foss's time abroad. RAM has interviewed Middlebury professors, visiting artists (including Girl Talk and Anaîs Mitchell), students, and staff -- people who find themselves creating or promoting art on campus. RAM's "Middlebury Story" is one of finding other stories.

Alison Maggart, Class of 2008, has been working as harpist with and assistant to the renowned Indian film composer A.R. Rahman. Rahman is known as the "John Williams of India" -- with "Slumdog Millionaire" just one of the recent films for which he has composed music. Maggart's duties include orchestrating, arranging and preparing Rahman's scores for his films.

The College Choir embarked on a highly successful tour of Connecticut, Boston and New York City over spring break, April 21-26, 2009. The tour included concerts at the phenomenal Trinity Church in the City of Boston, St. Michael's Church on 99th Street in Manhattan, and the New York Society for Ethical Culture on Central Park. The choir sang contemporary choral music, madrigals, and folk music, and a short choral drama featured several Middlebury student soloists. The trip also included a visit to an alum's high school chorus, and joint concerts with Saengerfest Men's Chorus in Boston, the United Nations International School Chamber Ensemble, and Philip Hamilton '82 and his a cappella project, Voices. The choir gave a home concert of the tour program on March 30 at Middlebury. 

2008-2009 marks the successful establishment of two new Music Department ensembles, the Men's and Women's Glee Clubs. The men's group offers a department ensemble singing group for men to learn vocal technique and a variety of repertoire, as well as ensemble singing. The women's group grew to 15 members this year and performed selections from "Gloria" by the 17th century master Antonio Vivaldi, with chamber orchestra, as well as several modern pieces and adaptations of international folk music. The Women's Glee Club is conducted by Jessica Allen. With the addition of the Glees, the Middlebury Music Department now has more students singing in ensembles than in the past several years, mostly students who have little or no contact with the department outside of those ensembles.

In May the College Choir performed five Ukrainian Romani songs, with several Middlebury student soloists and a student guitarist. The songs arrangements are the result of field research by Director of Choral Activities Jeffrey Buettner, who returns to Ukraine in June to share the recordings of the College Choir with Romani musicians there. Also on the program were three songs for chorus and piano by Johannes Brahms.

Seven graduating seniors in the Class of 2009 – Alex Benepe, Mary Chiles, Sonia Epstein, Pujan Gandhi, Kelsey Nelson, Ramona Richards, and Jennifer Yamane – recently concluded either their second or third year of participation in the Museum Assistants Program (MAP) at the Middlebury College Museum of Art.

As museum assistants, they volunteered for several hours a week, learning about behind-the-scenes operations of the museum, leading school tours, and assisting with family programs. In addition to their volunteer work, five of the assistants were museum interns and one worked as a museum receptionist. We hope that each of them will take skills that they learned from teaching in the galleries and working in the office to new opportunities.

Local artists are accustomed to painting on canvas or paper, but a new fund-raiser for the Addison County Parent/Child Center has them embellishing a different medium—Adirondack chairs.

Eighteen artists including painter Woody Jackson ’70 and woodcarver Gary Starr have donated their talents to the “Chairity for Children” live benefit auction that will take place Sunday, Feb. 1, at 4 p.m. in the McCullough Social Space at Middlebury College.