Vermont Public Community Calendar

Burlington Baroque, directed by Eric Milnes, presents Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John’s Passion featuring the Burlington Baroque Festival Singers and with renowned soloists and period instrument ensemble L’Harmonie des saisons.

Bach presented at least four different versions of the St. John Passion during his lifetime. Burlington Baroque's performances will feature the rarely heard 1725 version in a regional premiere. Directed by Eric Milnes, the Burlington Baroque Festival Singers are joined by L'Harmonie des saisons, Montreal's Juno Award-winning period instrument orchestra, and internationally-acclaimed vocal soloists in presenting this stirring and profound musical journey through Christ’s final days. Bach’s work is a powerful, emotional gateway into the drama of Holy Week, offering a deeply moving experience through its arias, choruses, and chorales. This sacred masterpiece is a momentous journey for both new and returning audiences.

Burlington Baroque, directed by Eric Milnes, presents Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John’s Passion featuring the Burlington Baroque Festival Singers and with renowned soloists and period instrument ensemble L’Harmonie des saisons.

Bach presented at least four different versions of the St. John Passion during his lifetime. Burlington Baroque's performances will feature the rarely heard 1725 version in a regional premiere. Directed by Eric Milnes, the Burlington Baroque Festival Singers are joined by L'Harmonie des saisons, Montreal's Juno Award-winning period instrument orchestra, and internationally-acclaimed vocal soloists in presenting this stirring and profound musical journey through Christ’s final days. Bach’s work is a powerful, emotional gateway into the drama of Holy Week, offering a deeply moving experience through its arias, choruses, and chorales. This sacred masterpiece is a momentous journey for both new and returning audiences.

Please join us for a pre-concert introduction to the St. John Passion offered by music journalist Benjamin Pomerance at 3:30 p.m.

Hill and Hollow Music is proud to present 2TIME JUNO WINNER Kiran Ahluwalia and her band led by guitar virtuoso Rez Abbasi, live at the Historic Strand Theatre in downtown Plattsburgh. KIRAN AHLUWALIA is a modern exponent of the great vocal styles of India and Pakistan, which she honors intensely yet departs from in masterful, personal ways. With roots in Sufi, Qawalli, Ghazal, and Punjabi folk, she crafts her own contemporary songs that are equal parts reflective and groovy. She embodies the essence of Indian music while embracing influences from Mali and western blues, rock, R&B and jazz. With her 6-piece group of electric guitar, accordion, organ, tabla, bass and drum kit, Ahluwalia creates boundary-breaking songs that invite us to explore the human condition, creating a “transnational sound as fresh as tomorrow”. (Seattle Times),

Late works by Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms.

In this program, Pinkas explores the later fruits of three magnificent composers. Beethoven's Sonata Op. 110, Schumann's Gesänge der Frühe and Brahms Intermezzi Op. 118 are distillations of wisdom, experience, joy and perhaps sorrow: a celebration of a rich life lived in music.

Aristo Sham, age 29, of Hong Kong, is the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Gold Medalist, where he also took the Audience Award. A dapper, aristocratic figure on stage, Sham is an engaging presence with a drive to take on the great pieces of the piano repertoire and a natural, infectious spontaneity at the keyboard. You can’t really say he was catapulted to fame by the Cliburn win; Aristo was featured at the age of three in the 2009 documentary The World’s Greatest Musical Prodigies.

Violinist Laurie Smukler returns with New York City colleagues — violist Tal First, cellist Natasha Brofsky, and pianist Qing Jiang — for an all-Fauré evening. The program includes two chamber music masterpieces-both Piano Quartets, the radiant Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major, and the brilliant Fantaisie for flute and piano with flutist Karen Kevra.

Violinist Laurie Smukler returns with New York City colleagues — violist Tal First, cellist Natasha Brofsky, and pianist Qing Jiang — for an all-Fauré evening. The program includes two chamber music masterpieces-both Piano Quartets, the radiant Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major, and the brilliant Fantaisie for flute and piano with flutist Karen Kevra.

Applauded for his mastery of all styles of playing, Bowles, a Steinway Hall of Fame Artist, will treat us to a wide-ranging program.

Domenico Scarlatti — Three Sonatas
Franz Schubert — Impromptus, Op. posth. 142, D.935
Max Reger — Five Humoreskes for Piano, Op. 20
Franz Liszt — Venezia e Napoli, S.159

Celebrate America's 250th anniversary with an evening of powerful music.

To mark the occasion, the acclaimed Dover Quartet brings their signature blend of brilliance and heart to a program that reflects the complexity, spirit and evolving soundscape of America. Renowned for their glowing sound, the Dover Quartet has emerged as one of the most compelling chamber ensembles of their generation.

The evening features "Strum" by Jessie Montgomery and "Rattle Songs", an arrangement of traditional songs by Pura Fé, newly reimagined for string quartet by composer Jerod Tate. Tate's voice returns in a compelling new commission—music that speaks to Native identity, memory and continuity. The program culminates in Dvořák's "American" Quartet, written during the Czech composer's stay in the US in 1893. Infused with echoes of spirituals and folk songs, the program is a luminous reflection on the idea of America.

Don't miss a pre-show talk with the artists.

The two choirs join forces to present Mendelssohn's 'Elijah'—a sweeping oratorio that delves into faith, doubt and resilience through stirring choruses and deeply human storytelling.

Filippo Ciabatti, director

Baritone Igor Golovatenko stars as the title character opposite soprano Asmik Grigorian in Tchaikovsky's lyrical Pushkin adaptation.

Following her acclaimed 2024 Met debut in Puccini's "Madama Butterfly," soprano Asmik Grigorian stars as Tatiana, the lovestruck young heroine in this ardent operatic Pushkin adaptation. Baritone Igor Golovatenko reprises his portrayal of the urbane Onegin, who realizes his affection for her all too late.

Stephanie Blythe sings the role of Tatiana's nurse, with mezzo-soprano Maria Barakova playing Tatiana's sister Olga and baritone Satnislas de Barbeyrac portraying the ill-fated poet Lenski. The Met's evocative production set in nineteenth-century Russia, directed by Tony Award–winner Deborah Warner, "offers a beautifully detailed reading of … Tchaikovsky's lyrical romance" ("The Telegraph"). Timur Zangiev conducts.

A solo piano recital that bridges centuries and sensibilities.

Francesco Libetta, the Italian pianist and composer hailed for his poetic virtuosity, presents a mesmerizing exploration of music across time. In this singular recital, he juxtaposes a selection of Leopold Godowsky's famously intricate reimaginings of Chopin's Études with the original pieces. He performs on both a French 19th-century piano and a modern Steinway, drawing out the shifting voices of the instrument through history. The result is a revelatory dialogue between past and present.

The iconic work gets new wings in a mystical and technologically transformed experience uniting dance and orchestra.

Filippo Ciabatti, DSO director
John Heginbotham, DDE director

Famous for its rich rhythms, Russian folkloric melodies and dissonant strains, Stravinsky's 1910 work for the Ballet Russes broke boundaries. Now, two Hop Ensembles collaborate to reimagine the tale of rebirth as a pair of simulcast performances. The Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra will perform the entire "Firebird" in Spaulding Auditorium, enriched by a live projection of choreography by the Dartmouth Dance Ensemble. At the same moment (and on the other side of the Hop) audiences will be immersed in the reworked dance, accompanied in real-time by the dynamic orchestral score.

The Green Mountain Chamber Players will perform works for string and piano at the College Street Congregational Church in Burlington on Saturday, May 9 at 2:00pm. Featuring GMCMF Artist Faculty violinist Elizabeth Chang, violist Nardo Poy, cellists Emily Taubl and Caleb van der Swaagh, and pianist Hiromi Fukuda. The program includes Xenakis's Dhipli Zyia for violin and cello, Arensky's String Quartet No. 2 for violin, viola, and two cellos, and Dvořák's Piano Quartet No. 2 in E♭ major. Tickets are $45 general admission, $20 for music educators and under-20, and free for students. Visit gmcmf.org to purchase tickets.

The iconic work gets new wings in a mystical and technologically transformed experience uniting dance and orchestra.

Filippo Ciabatti, DSO director
John Heginbotham, DDE director

Famous for its rich rhythms, Russian folkloric melodies and dissonant strains, Stravinsky's 1910 work for the Ballet Russes broke boundaries. Now, two Hop Ensembles collaborate to reimagine the tale of rebirth as a pair of simulcast performances. The Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra will perform the entire "Firebird" in Spaulding Auditorium, enriched by a live projection of choreography by the Dartmouth Dance Ensemble. At the same moment (and on the other side of the Hop) audiences will be immersed in the reworked dance, accompanied in real-time by the dynamic orchestral score.

The Green Mountain Chamber Players will perform works for string and piano at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier on Sunday, May 10 at 3:00pm. Featuring GMCMF Artist Faculty violinist Elizabeth Chang, violist Nardo Poy, cellists Emily Taubl and Caleb van der Swaagh, and pianist Hiromi Fukuda. The program includes Xenakis's Dhipli Zyia for violin and cello, Arensky's String Quartet No. 2 for violin, viola, and two cellos, and Dvořák's Piano Quartet No. 2 in E♭ major. Tickets are $35 general admission, $20 for music educators and under-20, and free for students. Visit gmcmf.org to purchase tickets.

The choral singers round out the year with an uplifting performance.

Filippo Ciabatti, director

The program features works by long-time collaborators and composers Juan Pablo Contreras and Nubia Jaime Donjuan.

Brian Messier, director

Join us for an unforgettable evening featuring Danzón No. 3 "The Lone Pine" by Donjuan and a new piece by Latin Grammy-nominated Contreras—both commissioned by the Hop and performed for the very first time.

Part of the Mexican Repertoire Initiative—a Hop initiative to create, support and expand the reach of new repertoire by Mexican composer.

This vibrant Met premiere of Gabriela Lena Frank's magical-realist opera about Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera features a stunning libretto by playwright Nilo Cruz.

Fashioned as a reversal of the Orpheus and Euridice myth, the story depicts Frida Kahlo, sung by leading mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, leaving the underworld on the Day of the Dead and reuniting with Diego Rivera, portrayed by baritone Carlos Álvarez. The famously feuding pair briefly relive their tumultuous love, embracing both the passion and the pain before bidding the land of the living a final farewell. Countertenor Nils Wanderer as a young actor trapped in the underworld and soprano Gabriella Reyes as the Keeper of the Dead round out the cast.

The vibrant new production, taking enthusiastic inspiration from Frida and Diego's paintings, is directed and choreographed by Deborah Colker. Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the Met-premiere staging of Frank's opera, a "confident, richly imagined score" (The New Yorker) that "bursts with color and fresh individuality" (Los Angeles Times).