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PLEASE NOTE: Step it Down! class for 3-5 year olds has been postponed to October 30th.
In celebration of the 150th birthday of cellist, conductor, composer, and humanitarian Pablo Casals, the BMC will present a series of events, starting with a Musical Salon on Thursday, September 10 at 6:30 p.m.
The evening, hosted by Moby Pearson, will explore videos and recordings introducing the audience to the breadth of Casals’ musical legacy. Admission is by donation and refreshments will be served.
An extraordinary cellist, Casals was also a fine composer, conductor, and teacher. He spent 13 summers in Vermont at the Marlboro Music Festival, where his presence had a lasting impact, not only on scores of musicians, but on the festival itself. Famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma describes Casals as having “amazing passion, commitment, and dedication to shaping a phrase.”
Well beyond his remarkable musical legacy, Casals was also involved in a great many humanitarian causes. Over the course of the coming months, additional salons, panel conversations, and performances will honor a person widely recognized as not only an astonishing musician, but as a passionate and impactful humanitarian.
To reserve a space for the September 10 event, please contact the BMC at 802-257-4523 or email info@bmcvt.org.
BMC Chamber Series Features Con Moto September 12
Our Chamber Series features Con Moto in concert Saturday, September 12, at 7:30 p.m. at the BMC. Established in 2011, Con Moto, meaning “with motion,” has presented numerous concerts featuring a variety of groupings of instruments and extraordinary musicians performing a range of repertoire. In this concert, Con Moto appears as a string quartet, featuring musicians who are all part of the Marlboro Music Festival community.
In this second-ever Con Moto program of string quartets, Clara Neubauer and Masha Lakisova (violins), Zoë Martin-Doike (viola), and Judith Serkin (cello) will perform Mendelssohn’s Andante sostenuto Opus 81 in E Major; Haydn’s String Quartet in A Major, Opus 20 #6; Puccini’s Crisantemi, SC 65; selections from Dvorak’s Cypresses; and Haydn’s Op. 71 #2 in D Major.
BMC Announces Appointment of New Executive Director
Jessica Calandra has been named Executive Director of the BMC, bringing more than 20 years of experience as a musician, educator, and nonprofit founder and leading our next chapter of community-centered music education and performance.
“After a national search, the Board is thrilled to welcome Jessica to the BMC,” says Lisa Cox, President of the BMC Board of Trustees. “Her track record of building programs that bring people of all ages together around music, combined with her deep commitment to access and education, make her the right leader to build on our 74-year legacy.”
Calandra is dedicated to building community through the arts. In Florida, she founded and led two organizations: FloriMezzo, an intergenerational chamber music initiative that brought together musicians of all ages and experience levels to rehearse, perform, and learn from one another; and the Tampa Metropolitan Youth Orchestra, where she worked with educators, families, and community partners to expand access to high-quality music education and build pathways for young musicians to thrive.
Calandra’s leadership is rooted in a commitment to lifelong learning, community engagement, and educational excellence. As the BMC’s Executive Director, she aims to expand opportunities for musicians of all ages and backgrounds, fostering a vibrant community where music continues to create belonging and growth.
Sarasa Ensemble Performs Hidden Works September 18
Sarasa Ensemble, joined by rising star tenor Richard Pittsinger, offers a program at the BMC highlighting music manuscripts rediscovered after more than 100 years of oblivion.
“Schrank II-Cabinet II” is set for Friday, September 18, at 7 p.m. at the BMC. The program includes works by Händel, Vivaldi, Lully, Campra, Locatelli, and Telemann, some of which were found in a cabinet at the Dresden court. Also included will be the premiere of a new work by Rebecca Scout Nelson.
Joining Pittsinger will be Rebecca Scout Nelson, composer/violin; Susanna Ogata and Nelli Jabotinsky, violins; Emily Dahl Irons, violin/viola; Jennifer Morsches, Timothy Merton, cellos; and John McKean, harpsichord.
Juventas New Music Ensemble Offers World Premiere September 26
Juventas New Music Ensemble’s upcoming concert, “All We Are,” includes a world premiere Saturday, September 26, at 7 p.m. at the BMC.
This concert spans generations and continents, and asks what it means to endure, to hold multiple identities, and to cherish what is most fragile and fleeting. “All We Are” honors moments, both ordinary and remarkable, whose significance is often only understood in hindsight.
Soprano Kelley Hollis, clarinetist Celine Ferro, violinist Grant Houston, cellist Nicholas Johnson, and pianist Julia Scott Carey will premiere “Wherever You Think There is Nothing” by Oliver Caplan. The program will include Kian Ravaei’s Unstoppable, Reena Esmail’s Piano Trio and David Biedenbender’s All We Are Given We Cannot Hold.
A dynamic contemporary chamber group with a special focus on emerging voices, Juventas New Music Ensemble reimagines classical music as a vibrant living art form, bringing audiences music from a diverse array of rising composers that live in today’s world and respond to our time.
What community sounds like
The BMC adds something essential to our community: a note of joy — clear, resonant and shared. Music not only brings us joy, it also gives us courage. It offers peace when things feel unsettled, and connection when it would be easier to retreat. At the BMC, music is not something we experience alone. It’s what community sounds like.
For 74 years, people have kept showing up here — to listen, to learn, to perform, to be part of something. That resilience doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because people like you believe music is essential to a full and human life.
Your generosity provides:
- Scholarships so students of all ages can access lessons and ensembles
- Support for our dedicated facultywho inspire and guide;
- Concert funding to bring vibrant performances and world-class artists to our stage.
Please give today. To send your gift by mail, address to the Brattleboro Music Center, 72 Blanche Moyse Way, Brattleboro, VT 05301 Email: info@bmcvt.org 802-257-4523.
