In 1954, a widow named Nellie Lane approached the University of Vermont looking to make an endowment gift in honor of her husband, a UVM alumnus who graduated in the late 19th century.
She offered the school four options: a reading room in the library, a fully outfitted room for a long hospital stay, an organ for the Ira Allen chapel or a concert series.
The decision made history, and this year marks the 70th anniversary of the UVM Lane Series. The new season debuts tonight at the UVM Recital Hall.
Vermont Public's Jenn Jarecki sat down with Natalie Neuert, a senior lecturer in music and the director of the UVM Lane series, to talk about this year's lineup and the series' storied past. This interview was produced for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We’ve also provided a transcript, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Jenn Jarecki: The UVM Lane Series is known for booking some relatively unknown acts, artists who are maybe early in their careers, like Yo Yo Ma when he was in his 20s. And — do I have this right — a young Joan Baez for just 50 cents a ticket?
Natalie Neuert: We presented Joan Baez when she was also, I think, about 21. She did an evening concert on the Lane Series, which I think maybe the ticket was between $2 and $5, but they did a kids' matinee and the ticket was 50 cents. We know this because we have the poster. So that's been fun going through the ephemera. That's a great thing about working for a university, that stuff gets saved and it's all in Special Collections.
Jenn Jarecki: But not all performers are new to their careers necessarily. The UVM Lane Series has brought some very heavy hitters to our region over the years. Is that right?
Natalie Neuert: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, looking at the history of the Lane Series is very eye opening. It's quite extraordinary what we brought. You know, when you think about Lane Series bringing Ike and Tina Turner, the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, I mean, that's a big band on the stage.
Or, you think about the Lane Series bringing the London Symphony Orchestra. Those are things we can't do anymore. Large urban symphony orchestras really do not tour to places like Burlington, Vermont, anymore.
Jenn Jarecki: Yeah, I was seeing some huge names, Simon and Garfunkel, Mahalia Jackson, Ravi Shankar, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Harry Belafonte.
What can audiences expect from this anniversary season?
Natalie Neuert: The UVM Recital Hall, which was built in 1974-75, is an incredible space for vocal music. Sort of small ensembles sound really good in there, but I did focus quite a bit on vocal music. So, we'll see some incredible things in the spring, like the contemporary choral group Roomful of Teeth. The incredible composer Caroline Shaw has a new piece for them and is singing in the ensemble.
We have Ute Lemper singing Kurt Weill. She's probably the preeminent, you know, Olivier Award winner. And then I really wanted to focus on music from other countries. Each director of the Lane Series has put their stamp on the series in different ways. I have artists from Japan and Cuba, Germany and the Scandinavian countries. We have artists from Brazil.
That's important to me, to sort of show the music, the folkloric music, and the creative music of different places, to bring that here.
Jenn Jarecki: The UVM Lane series has only had four directors, which seems pretty rare for any organization.
Natalie Neuert: I think it is rare.
Jenn Jarecki: Why do you think there's been such consistent leadership at the UVM Lane Series?
Natalie Neuert: It's great job, no question. I feel like I'm a connector, which really feels true to who I am as a person. There's the artist and there's the audience, and I'm the person that tries to connect those two things.
And it's interesting in today's world, because, you know, a lot of the sort of gatekeeping of our business, the presenting arts business, it is coming down, and also the gatekeeping of the recording business. That's a good thing.
I feel like artists should be as empowered as they can, but to have this sort of precious organization that's been going on for a long, long time, with a very rich history and a very loyal audience, it's really important for me to try to match that audience and introduce them to new things, as well as sort of satisfy the need for what's familiar and that they love. To be able to travel for music and to connect audience to artists, and pay artists a fair wage, is a very satisfying job.
