Sunday, May 8 at 4 p.m. — POULTNEY — Under the baton of guest conductor Dr. Yutaka Kono, the Champlain Philharmonic will present its spring concert series entitled, “Storytellers” on Sunday, May 8 at 4 p.m. in Ackley Hall at Green Mountain College in Poultney and Sunday, May 15 at 4 p.m. at the Town Hall Theater in Middlebury. Dr. Kono is the artistic director of the Burlington Chamber Orchestra, conductor of the Vermont Youth Philharmonia of the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association, and the orchestra director and assistant professor of music at the University of Vermont.
Weaving tales through music, the program will include the overture to “La Cenerentola” (“Cinderella”), one of Gioacchino Rossini’s best-known operas “Danse Bacchanale;” from the opera “Samson and Delilah” by Camille Saint–Saëns; Maurice Ravel’s “Pavane for a Dead Princess”; and the Carmen Suites No. 1 and 2, comprised of the orchestral music drawn from Georges Bizet’s 1875 opera, “Carmen.”
The performances will also feature the premiere of “Surviving Soul,” a work written by Vermont student composer Leslie Bixby, a senior at Black River High School in Ludlow. She began arranging music in seventh grade and composing in ninth grade and has participated in Music-COMP, the online mentoring program for student composers. “My dream is to become a composer and music therapist. I want to create a change. When people are with me I want them to leave feeling confident while knowing that I have helped. I want to help those who are going through the same experience I have gone through, whether it is being adopted, or maybe going through depression, self-harm, or an eating disorder. I want them to know that music is something you can always go to and it will always be by your side. I have learned to express myself through music and I wish to teach many others to do the same,” said Bixby. She will be attending Plymouth State University this fall for music education.
Tickets are available at the door for both performances for $15 general admission, $10 seniors, and $5 students. For more info, visit champlainphilharmonic.org.
