Education and community collaboration have always been an important part of the VSO’s statewide mission, and we are proud to offer programming geared towards students of all ages, from preschool through college. 

Our educational programs are made possible in part by VSO’s endowed funds, including, The Albert F. and Hilda Woodruff Gollnick Fund, The Frank Hensel Memorial Fund, The Susie Learmonth Upper Valley SymphonyKids Fund, The Lois H. McClure Musicians-in-the-Schools Fund, and the Kate Tamarkin Education Fund.

Generous support is also provided for VSO’s education activities by the George W. Mergens Foundation and individual donors who support VSO’s educational work on a project-by-project basis. We also thank the Doolittle Family Foundation, and to Pat Robins and Lisa Schamberg, for their generous support of VSO’s overall education department and initiatives this season.

For more information or to book a program, email Hannah Hansen, Education Coordinator or call (802) 864-5741 ext. 113.

 

Musicians-in-Schools Programs
October 2024 – May 2025

The VSO’s SymphonyKids Music Education programs offer a wide array of options for in-school visits and field trips, especially geared towards students in grades K-5. We’re kicking off the 2024-25 academic year with Musicians in Schools string instrument performances in Glover, Greensboro, Strafford, Tunbridge and look forward to exceeding our target of 2,565 students that we reached in 2023-24.

The Musicians-in-the-Schools brass, woodwind, and string ensemble concerts include a demonstration of instruments, a wide sampling of repertoire, audience participation, narration tying the music to STEM principles, and a good dose of zany humor. These groups can present up to three, 45-minute shows a day, which can be in three different schools if they are close enough geographically.  The cost is $300 per performance, with discounts for multiple performances in a single day. Subsidies are available for schools with limited resources.

“We love VSO! Thankful that they send musicians up this far North. We are small but the impact is great! By seeing the trio perform students will be inspired to play an instrument. We love bringing actual musicians into our school for the students.” -Dr. Kimberlee Strepka, Head of School UCA

 

Student Matinee Series at the Flynn
October 2024

The 65 musician-strong VSO joins the Flynn’s Student Matinee Series, exploring two iconic and powerful 20th century ballets: The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky and Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev. Multiple cameras capture the orchestra in close-ups on a large screen, accompanied by other visual elements, giving students an intimate view of virtuosic musicians as they tackle these demanding and thrilling scores. Music Director Andrew Crust leads an immersive discussion on the background and creation of these masterpieces, guiding the audience through the lives of the two composers, the story of the ballets, and how a large symphony orchestra makes these stories come to life through sound.

 

 

$10 Ticket Program
September 2024-May 2025

At seven concerts this season in Burlington and Rutland, VSO provides $10 tickets to orchestra concerts for students and music teachers – with no seating restriction, so they can experience the concert up close! Holiday Pops concerts also provide free tickets for ages 12 and under (with paid, accompanying adult). With these programs, we’ve seen an increase of over 300% attendance since 2019 by students and music teachers at VSO concerts.

 

STUDENT INSIDERS – RUTLAND
MARCH 2025 WITH GRACE POTTER

For middle and high school school students, our Student Insiders program invites students and chaperones to attend a VSO concert free of charge while they gain an inside perspective on the orchestra and the repertoire.

Participants and their families/teachers receive preparatory materials before the event, and are invited to a special meet-and-greet with the performers before the concert.

This season’s Student Insiders concert on March 21, 2025 is at the Paramount Theater in Rutland featuring Vermont-native singer/guitarist Grace Potter with the VSO. This program is fully funded by generous community members.

 

MasterClef Composition Competition
February 2025 with Sir Stephen Hough

For the fourth year, the VSO is sponsoring a competition for budding composers, arrangers, performers, producers, songwriters and musicians of all kinds, for Vermont students in grades 6-12.  Cash prizes will be awarded, and finalists are invited to Burlington for a masterclass and performance.

This season’s MasterClef competition will be in partnership with Sir Stephen Hough as he visits Burlington to perform the East Coast premiere of his concerto “The World of Yesterday” alongside Mendelssohn’s Concerto No. 1 for piano and orchestra.  Submissions for the MasterClef Competition will be due in January 2025.

 

Young Composers

October – December 2024

Each year the VSO partners with Music-COMP to provide composition instruction and mentorship with professional Vermont composers, on site in public schools across the state.  VSO musicians meet with student composers to demonstrate their instruments, play through draft compositions and perform final works in a public concert.  For the fall of 2024, VSO woodwind musicians will work with Mt. Mansfield Union High School students to help them learn composition techniques for clarinet, oboe, bassoon and more, culminating in a public concert of the students’ new compositions in December. (Photo: Middlebury Union High School Young Composers)

“The ongoing support, masterclasses, music composition, and opportunities our learners have engaged in [with the VSO] 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.” -Principal Donna L. Cauley, Monument Elementary School

 

STRING TECHNIQUES WORKSHOPS

Spring 2025

Each spring, VSO’s Artistic Advisor and Project Conductor Matt LaRocca works with Montpelier-based U32 High School music teacher and orchestra leader Anne Decker to teach string instrument students. Our first year featured guest electic violinist Tracey Silverman, who helped over 40 students explore strum bowing techniques, and last year’s workshop taught lessons in improvisation. We also visited Catamount Art’s EPIC Music program in St. Johnsbury in April 2024 to help young violinists and violists prepare for their annual concert. We look forward to planning more free string instrument workshops for Vermont students statewide in the winter and spring of 2025!

 

Vermont Youth Orchestra partnership
September & November 2024

Our Vermont Youth Orchestra (VYO) partnership started the 2024-25 season with three young instrumentalists (violinist Emma Zia, violist Asa Rousseau, and cellist Ariel Toohey) playing side-by-side with us and Béla Fleck at The Flynn in Burlington. A VYO woodwind quintet also performed in the lobby for the 1,100+ audience members before the concert, and the quintet joins us again Nov. 15 with VSO’s Jukebox concert at ArtsRiot in Burlington.  (Photo: VYO violinist Emmy Stapleton and cellist Ariel Toohey perform with the VSO).

“Our young musicians, embedded with the VSO, learned what it is like to play in a professional symphony orchestra. They saw how musicians move together for precision, learned the way professional string musicians pass information back through a specific chain of command and what they note on their sheet music, and experienced tackling a piece of music in a single weekend on a professional schedule.” – Mark Alpizar, Music Director, Vermont Youth Orchestra

 

 

Adult Education
Year-long

• Vermont’s music educators can earn professional development credits towards their licensure by participating in VSO’s Holiday Pops concert as a volunteer chorus member. This accreditation is made possible via a special partnership with Vermont State University Castleton’s music department.
• Open rehearsals are available for ticket-buyers to VSO at the Flynn concerts in September, October, February and May, providing an insightful and relaxed look at the rehearsal process with Music Director Andrew Crust. The September 2024 open rehearsal includes guest banjoist Bela Fleck, and the February 2025 open rehearsal includes pianist Sir Stephen Hough.