BMC History

The Brattleboro Music Center was established in 1952 by violinist Blanche Honegger Moyse.

At the invitation of fellow émigrés Rudolf Serkin and Adolf Busch, Blanche came to Southern Vermont to help establish a music department at Marlboro College and, later, to co-found the world-renowned Marlboro Music Festival.

Blanche took up year-round residency in Brattleboro and was astonished to find a town where opportunities for participation and instruction in music-making were all but invisible.  In establishing the Brattleboro Music Center she sought to create an institution that would “promote the love and understanding of good music through performance and education and make it a vital part of the community.”

Over the ensuing decades the BMC became a nexus of education, participation and performance activities that involves thousands of local residents. These activities include a community chorus, a chamber music series, a community orchestra, concerts and educational programs in public schools, annual festivals and a thriving community music school.