Vermont Mozart Festival

Vermont Mozart Festival
Founded 1974 (first concert)
Incorporated: December 3, 1976 (1976-12-03)
Founder Melvin Kaplan
Focus Live music
Location
Method Summer Festival, Winter Series
Slogan Less Talk, More Mozart

The original Vermont Mozart Festival (1974-2010) was a series of indoor and outdoor concerts presented annually at sites throughout the state of Vermont. The Inaugural Festival of 1974 was conceived as a celebration of both the natural beauty of the state and the genius of the Festival's namesake, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The Festival's mission quickly grew, and since its third season it featured performances of a much broader range of classical and other repertoire. In 2010 the original Vermont Mozart Festival disbanded and dissolved. In 2015 violinist Michael Dabroski announced a new Vermont Mozart Festival, Inc. and programs with its Title Sponsor NBT Bank, the City of South Burlington, and partnerships with community supporters including Burlington Country Club, South Burlington Rotary Club and others. The not-for-profit Vermont Mozart Festival aims to attract local, national and international attention for its quality artistic programs, community relevance, accessibility and unique business model. Beginning in 2016, Vermont Mozart Festival will produce many all-Mozart concert events year round, including a summer series of outdoor concerts and a three-week summer Fellowship Program between July 18-August 7, 2016 for thirty (30) awardees, who will perform the concert series while studying Mozart, writing business plans and staying at Champlain College.[1]

History

The Festival was founded in 1974 by Melvin Kaplan, oboist and teacher at Juilliard, in collaboration with conductor William Metcalfe and the University of Vermont. The first season featured all-Mozart performances at the UVM Show Barn, Shelburne Farms, Royall Tyler Theatre, Robert Hull Fleming Museum, St. Paul's Cathedral, and aboard the S.S. Champlain. Notably, the Shelburne Farms concert marked the first time that the site was opened for a public event. In all, ten concerts were held over two weeks; every concert sold out. The following season, the Festival's format was expanded to include 15 concerts and three workshops. This format remained mostly unchanged for rest of the Festivals 37 years, though in 2006 the Festival presented 19 concerts. The Festival performed more than 3,000 pieces in over 50 locations, including at least 278 of Mozart's 626 works—possibly more than any other festival or concert series in the United States.

The Festival was incorporated as a non-profit organization in late 1976; the first full board of directors was assembled in early 1977. Following a successful fundraising campaign, the Festival achieved national recognition when CBS Sunday Morning filmed a week of concerts on location. A series of winter concerts began in 1978, and by 1979 the Festival was firmly established, drawing praise from the New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, and Montreal Star. In 1983, the complete Winter Series was recorded by National Public Radio and aired on Performance Today. In 1984, the Festival presented its first concert on the meadow of the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont, which quickly became, along with Shelburne Farms, one of the Festival's two largest and most popular concert sites. In the 2000s, all concerts on the Trapp meadow were followed by fireworks displays.[2]

Traditions

Financial sustainability

In early 2005, the new Executive Director announced that the Festival was about $140,000 in debt—enough to put the Festival's continued existence in jeopardy. Supporters responded; and in two seasons, 65% of that debt was eliminated. The same Executive Director then resigned citing differences with the Festival's board of directors.[3] Over the following four seasons, the deficit climbed to almost a third of the million dollar annual budget.[4][5] After 36 years, the Festival closed its doors following the December 2010 winter concert.[6]

Notable performers

Over the years, the Festival featured various performers including both established musicians and up-and-coming talent.

In the media

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Vermont Mozart Festival Revived". Burlington Free Press. Burlington Free Press. December 11, 2015.
  2. ↑ Hill, Mary Siegchrist (1998). The Vermont Mozart Festival: The First Twenty-Five Years.
  3. ↑ Hallenbeck, Brent (April 3, 2007). "Vermont Mozart director resigns; 'differences' cited". Burlington Free Press.
  4. ↑ "Mozart Festival Closing Its Doors". VPR News. Vermont Public Radio. December 22, 2010.
  5. ↑ "Vermont Mozart Festival calls it quits". the Stowe Reporter. December 23, 2010.
  6. ↑ "Curtain falls on Vermont Mozart Festival". Local News. WCAX. December 21, 2010.
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