Student Composer Showcase

On Monday, VPR Classical is kicking off a new feature that celebrates student composers from the region. Each episode of the Student Composer Showcase will air three times during the first week of each month. The first edition will air April 1 at 4:05pm, April 3 at 8:05am and April 5 at 12:05pm. The series will also be archived at VPR.net.

The new series is the result of a collaboration with Music-COMP, a music composition mentoring program that matches aspiring students with accomplished composers and supports live performances of their work. Twice a year, a large number of student compositions are featured in public concerts performed by professional musicians at the Music-COMP Opus events. Other performances include collaborations with Vermont ensembles such as the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Vermont Youth Orchestra, Burlington Ensemble and more.

The first student composer is Justin Gates of Franklin, Vt., and a senior at Missisquoi Valley Union High School. His piece, written for string quartet, is called "What I Knew Would Come."  It was written last summer at a program for young composers called the String Quartet Project, run by Music-COMP and Vermont composer Erik Nielsen, Gate’s mentor for the piece, in conjunction with Burlington Ensemble. The piece was first performed in Burlington in September 2012. The recording of that performance will be included in the first edition of the Student Composer Showcase.

Gates is a talented young man who has already been accepted to Ithaca College and Berklee College of Music. He is also in the process of writing a piece for Vermont's professional vocal ensemble Counterpoint, and that piece will likely premiere in late April or May of this year.

The Student Composer Showcase is being launched in conjunction with Public Radio Music Month. During the month of April, VPR and VPR Classical will present special programs, conversations, and more to celebrate public radio's contributions to Vermont’s musical landscape.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra Comes To VPR Classical

VPR Classical will take you to Boston's Symphony Hall on Sunday afternoons. One of the world's great orchestras begins a new broadcast series and VPR Classical is one of only a handful of stations in the country to bring it to you.

Listen Sunday afternoon at one for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, followed at three by Performance Today Weekend.

Ron Della Chiesa is your host for the 60th Anniversary Season of the BSO from WGBH in Boston. Founded in 1881, the BSO is one of America’s “Big Five” orchestras, performing at Boston’s Symphony Hall and, during the summer months, at the Tanglewood Music Center.

Thanks to WGBH and Classical New England for partnering with Vermont Public Radio to bring these live performances to VPR Classical listeners. You’ll hear emerging and established guest conductors, extraordinary soloists and enduring repertoire.

Listen for the Boston Symphony Orchestra Sundays at 1 on VPR Classical. This week, Jonathan Biss is the soloist in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.4.

At 3 0'clock, hear Performance Today Weekend with Fred Child. Performance Today features performances from around the world as well as interviews and classical music news. Listen weekdays 1-3pm and now, Sundays at 3.

Poetic Pairings - 4/7/2011

Dorothy Parker is the featured poet today as VPR Classical's month-long celebration of National Poetry Month continues. I'm opening each show this month with a "poetic pairing": a poet reading their own work, followed by a piece of music that somehow fits the theme of the poem.

This morning we'll feature an unexpectedly introspective poem by the extroverted "grand dame" of the famed Algonquin Round Table group of writers and wits. Dorothy Parker's "Afternoon" finds the legendary wit in a rare reflective mood, considering what old age may be like. We'll follow the archival 1928 recording with Claude Debussy's languid "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun".

Listen for more poetic pairings this month, weekday mornings from 8-10am on VPR Classical. And you can find out more about Vermont's month-long celebration of poetry, "Poetry Alive!" here.

Poetic Pairings - 4/6/2011

VPR Classical's month-long celebration of National Poetry Month continues today with another "poetic pairing". I'm opening each show at 8am this month with a poet reading their own work, followed by a piece of music that somehow fits the theme of the poem.

For today's poet we look just over the state border - the Eastern border - to the man who was named the 2006 Poet Laureate of the United States. Donald Hall was born in 1928 in Connecticut, and he moved to New Hampshire in 1975. Since that time he's made his home at Eagle Pond Farm, finding unending inspiration in the years behind him and the landscape around him.

This morning's poetic pairing is actually more of a threesome. We'll hear Hall reading his early spring poem, "Love is Like Sounds", accompanied by Claude Debussy's "Snow is Dancing" from the Children's Corner Suite. Then it's a magical moment from Tchaikovsky's 'Nutcracker' ballet, with the "Waltz of the Snowflakes".

Listen for more poetic pairings this month, weekday mornings from 8-10am on VPR Classical. And you can find out more about Vermont's month-long celebration of poetry, "Poetry Alive!" here.

Poetic Pairings - 4/4/2011

It's National Poetry Month. I'm going to open each show this month with a poet reading their own work, followed by a piece of music that somehow fits the theme of the poem.

Our first poetic pairing features verse from someone who had deep Vermont roots. Hayden Carruth wasn't born here, but the three+ decades he spent on his farm in Johnson proved gritty inspiration for many of his most beloved and iconic poems, such as "Emergency Haying", "The Cows at Night", and this morning's selection: "Regarding Chainsaws".

After the poem we'll hear from Frank Nuyts' 1987 concerto for marimba and orchestra, "Woodnotes".

Listen for more poetic pairings this month, weekday mornings from 8-10am on VPR Classical. And you can find out more about Vermont's month-long celebration of poetry, "Poetry Alive!" here.

Come Learn More About VPR Classical In Central Vermont!

VPR Classical will soon be on the air in Central Vermont! VPR will be closing on the purchase of Randolph-based WCVR 102.1 FM this month, and VPR Classical will go on the air as WVXR in early July.


You’re invited to come learn more about this major expansion of VPR Classical at one of the two community gatherings we'll be holding this month. I’ll be at the Vermont Law School on Friday, June 18th at 4 p.m., in the Chase Community Center. And on Wednesday, June 30th at 10 a.m., I’ll be at the Chelsea Town Hall.

I hope you’ll bring your questions and comments about VPR Classical, VPR, and public radio in general! If you can’t make it, you’re always welcome to give me a call at 1-800-639-2192 or send an email. And stay tuned for details about the launch of VPR Classical’s newest station!


At left: VPR listeners and staff with young artists at Chandler Music Hall at a community gathering in May.

VPR Classical Is In Addison County!

VPR Classical 90.1 WOXM is now on the air in Addison County! At 9 a.m. this morning, the station went on the air with a broadcast from the Mahaney Center for the Arts at Middlebury College featuring a live performance by pianist Annemieke Spoelstra.

This new station brings VPR Classical to over 83,000 listeners in most of Addison County. Check out a coverage map for WOXM as well as for all of VPR Classical.

The growth of VPR Classical is made possible by the amazing support of our listeners - thank you for making this day possible. Enjoy the music!