With the support of the Vermont Arts Council, your VSO has joined forces with a group of aspiring composers learning to write new, original works at Monument Elementary in Bennington, Vermont. These young musicians have been learning staff notation and basic composition techniques from Matt LaRocca with Music-COMP (Music Composition Mentoring Program) while being introduced to the brass instrument family by the VSO’s Fanfare Brass Trio. The students and musicians meet regularly over Zoom and they are working towards an online musical premiere.

This program has been very successful. Principal Donna L. Cauley says of the partnership, “I am incredibly grateful for the partnership we have with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. The ongoing support, masterclasses, music composition, and opportunities our learners have engaged in are priceless. These are once in a lifetime experiences for learners, and I am proud to support the importance of arts in education at our school.”

We’re thrilled to expand this program to students at Rutland Intermediate School and at Woodbury Elementary School. The VSO will spend the next three months with groups of elementary school students exploring the basics of writing new music. We’re overjoyed to partner with Music-COMP, whose staff will provide instruction, while VSO is providing instruments and administration. We look forward to cheering these burgeoning new composers when their pieces are premiered in early 2021.