How did you spend last Saturday night? If you were with us and the Jukebox string quartet at ArtsRiot, you know what a great evening it was. To quote Vermont’s toughest music critic, “musically the concert was an undeniable success” (thank you Jim Lowe!). From compositions by Beethoven, Bach, and Shostakovich to Carlos Simon and the Talking Heads, Matt LaRocca curated a fantastic Vermont Symphony Orchestra evening in Burlington watched by people around the country.

Click here to read more of Jim Lowe’s review in the Rutland Herald.

We can’t wait to make more music across Vermont, so we’re pulling out our calendars and filling our days with educational programs on YouTube and virtual programs streaming to your living room. Here’s what the VSO team is working on:

• October 27: Release of our first Musical Chairs program on www.vso.org, an interactive, fun music class aimed at kids in K–6 grade. Filmed at Bixby Memorial Library in Vergennes and featuring the string family of instruments, this program – the first in a series of five – is a great way to add music to your virtual school day.
• October 30: Filming on the Ticonderoga Steamboat at the Shelburne Museum with our woodwind section for the next Musical Chairs program.
• November 5 & 6: Rehearsals and filming at the Elley Long Center in Colchester for our next streamed concert Music for Days Like This (release date: November 21).
• November 10: Next release of Musical Chairs featuring the brass family of instruments.
• November 11: Heading over to the Vermont Teddy Bear Company in Shelburne to film the percussion family for Musical Chairs
• November 12: Zoom chat with the South West Friends and guest VSO musicians.
• November 17: Next release of Musical Chairs featuring the woodwind family of instruments.
• November 21: First Music for Days Like This streamed concert at 7:30pm on www.vso.org and OurConcerts.Live. Tickets available now!
• November 24: Next release of Musical Chairs featuring the percussion family of instruments.
• December 3 & 4: Rehearsal and filming of the second Music For Days Like This concert – in a secret location!
• December 10: Zoom chat with North Country Friends and VSO musicians.
• December 19: Second Music for Days Like this streamed concert at 7:30pm on www.vso.org and OurConcerts.Live. Tickets available now!

So now it’s your turn! Circle November 21 and December 19 in your calendar for our Music for Days Like This concerts, featuring a string quintet and piano in November and cello quartet and percussion in December. These concerts are filmed in fascinating venues, hosted by VSO’s New Music Advisor and Chair of Composition at The Curtis Institute of Music, David Ludwig. We want to make sure you hear Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Elgar alongside music from Tony Award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-winning composers as well as high school composers from Vermont and New York, so get your tickets now! www.vso.org /events