UVM Music Program

09/24/2026

SUNDAY 9/27 at 3pm -- Prof. Paul Orgel's faculty recital will feature Claude Debussy’s impressionist masterpiece 12 Preludes (Book 1). The program also includes Bach, Ravel, and Poulenc. For a preview of the Debussy, check out Paul's Youtube which also has his program notes and inspirational art and imagery. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIhIUTZ07FHk

General admission by donation (any amount); free for UVM students.

UVM School of the Arts University of Vermont

09/16/2026

Composer talk TODAY at 2:15 in the Recital Hall!

Grammy Award-nominated composer Clarice Assad, and vocal soloists Danielle Buonaiuto and Nikola Printz, share insights about Assad’s new orchestral work "Summerland" based on the historic Weybridge, VT couple Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake. This discussion is hosted by Vermont Symphony Orchestra Artistic Advisor Matt LaRocca (Senior Lecturer, Music) and is in advance of the VSO’s concert at the Flynn on September 18 featuring the premiere of Assad’s work.

08/26/2026

Welcome, new Catamounts, and welcome back to returning students! UVM's 14 music ensembles will hold placement auditions during the first week of class. Sing in our Concert Choir, get groovy in Jazz Ensemble, or perform classic and contemporary works in Symphony Orchestra. All students are welcome, regardless of major.

More info online: https://www.uvm.edu/cas/music/ensemble-auditions

UVM School of the Arts

08/11/2026

We're very excited to welcome two new faculty to the Music Program this year! Find their full bios on our website.

Benny Reid is a boundary-pushing producer, composer, and saxophonist whose work lives at the intersection of jazz, hip-hop, and film. He brings his extensive experience in performance, production, and composition to courses in Studio Production, Live Sound Reinforcement, and Creating Music For Video. Benny Reid

McKinley James is a Montreal-based cellist who has performed with the Champlain Philharmonic Orchestra, Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra, Filarmónica del Café (Colombia), to name a few. She is a founding member of the band Night Tree, which was named the New England Conservatory's Honors Ensemble for 2016-2017. She joins us as an affiliate artist teaching one-on-one cello lessons.

04/10/2026

In their free concert on Tuesday 4/14, the UVM Concert Choir and Catamount Singers will present "SPRING SERENADE / MUD MEDLEY," featuring "Springtime on Funen" by Carl Nielsen; and "Mud Season in Vermont," a new work by Vermont composer Erik Nielsen.

Read the Seven Days article for more: https://www.sevendaysvt.com/arts-culture/performingarts/uvm-concert-choir-performs-classic-and-new-springtime-works/

04/08/2026

This weekend, our Concert Band, Symphony Orchestra, and Vermont Wind Ensemble perform staples of wind and orchestral literature, contemporary works based in traditional folk melodies, plus the debut of a new work by Grant Mathews '26 (Music Composition & Theory). FREE and open to the public, all ages. We hope you can join us!
UVM School of the Arts UVM College of Arts & Sciences

03/26/2026

SUNDAY at 3 -- Equinox Wind Quintet (incl. Affiliate Artist Molly Finkel, bassoon) opens its second season with “Inspired Styles,” a concert of innovative music by American and German composers from the 18th, 20th and 21st centuries.

An arrangement of Beethoven’s Opus 71 Sextet, an early work already brimming with inventive Ludwigian ideas, opens the concert. Equally creative compositions by Alec Wilder and David Gunn follow. Paul Hindemith’s Kleine Kammermusik—or Small Chamber Music—explores the scope of the wind quintet in five brief movements. The concert concludes with William Still’s Miniatures, another five-movement piece based on evocative folk songs of the Americas.

Free and open to the public.

03/16/2026

Did you catch last week's Seven Days article on Music's 100th anniversary? Bassist Rob Duguay '05, whose band SONGEVITY performs in the Recital Hall this upcoming Wednesday, spoke to the paper about his musical career. His musical guests include Professor Alex Stewart on tenor saxophone, and fellow UVM alum Dan Ryan on drums.

https://www.sevendaysvt.com/music/musicnews/on-the-beat-university-of-vermont-music-program-turns-100/

03/03/2026

02/12/2026

SUNDAY, FEB 22 at 2pm -- UVM faculty and select student musicians present the 13th annual scholarship concert. Performances range from four-handed percussion to a cello suite by Austrian/Vermonter Richard Stöhr; an original independent film score; piano as an ode to democracy; an improvised duet; and much more.

Admission is free. Donations encouraged. All donations will benefit the Music Lesson Scholarship Fund.