Capital City Concerts
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Celebrate music

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 
Nancy Reid, chair
Tobin Anderson
Linda Belt-Burnier

Judy Cyprian
​Tim Muncy

Brett Murphy
​Andrew Shuford

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ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: 
Karen Kevra
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About Us

Founded in 2000, by Grammy-nominated Vermont flutist Karen Kevra, Capital City Concerts has become a mainstay of excellent chamber music and small orchestral performances in Vermont. Capital City Concerts enriches lives and deepens a sense of community through diverse classical programming as well as commissions of new music. 

​Built on the "Marlboro" tradition, the late Louis Moyse—a founder of the Marlboro Music Festival—was the inspiration and active driving force behind the formation of the Capital City Concerts.  

Among the many outstanding artists whose work Capital City Concerts has presented or commissioned are violinists Jaime Laredo, Laurie Smukler, and Eugene Drucker, the Paris Piano Trio, the Borromeo Quartet, the Talich Quartet, the Whiffenpoofs of Yale, soprano Hyunah Yu, mezzo-soprano Julie Boulliane, pianist Jeffrey Chappell, and composers Mohammed Fairouz, Jorge Martin, and Evan Premo.

Capital City Concerts provides outreach opportunities to the community in the form of open rehearsals, workshops, student internships, and performance opportunities for aspiring student musicians. 

  • In September 2018, pianist Michael Arnowitt performed an interactive concert with the Montpelier High School creative writing students of Kerrin McCadden. Michael improvised on the spot while students read their poetry. In addition to active listening exercises, there was a lively discussion about creativity and imagination in composition of music and writing. 
  • New in the 2018-2109 season, Capital City Concerts has partnered with the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association by providing an exciting new performance opportunity for the Vermont Youth Orchestra's most advanced students. Small ensembles are scheduled to perform during the intermission of the concerts during the refreshment break.

Our Mission

Capital City Concerts contributes to the cultural richness of the Vermont community by organizing and presenting excellent chamber music concerts featuring local and world-renowned musicians, fostering the appreciation of and expanding the audience for music in the classical tradition.

Our History

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Photo by Caleb Kenna
Life in Vermont has brought me incalculable blessings, among them my connection to my dear teacher and mentor Louis Moyse, the guiding inspiration for Capital City Concerts.
​
​~Karen Kevra
Capital City Concerts was founded in 2000 by Montpelier's Grammy-nominated flutist Karen Kevra. 2019-2020 marks the 20th Anniversary season: A time for celebration and inflection. Capital City Concerts founder and Artistic Director put it in her own words: 

"When I was nine years old my beloved elementary school music teacher drove me and my twin sister to Avery Fisher Hall in New York City to hear the young Michael Tilson Thomas conduct the New York Philharmonic in a matinee children's concert. This was my first experience hearing live classical music. We sat perched in the front row of a balcony taking it all in: The exciting sense of anticipation in the cavernous hall as the musicians warmed up, the sudden and thunderous applause when the conductor wove his way through the string players and on to the podium and then the glorious sounds! When the swirling opening strains of  "Morning Mood" from Greig's Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 reached my ears, I knew I wanted to become a musician! 

Fast-forward to 1996, the year I moved to Montpelier. I was committed to raising my son in the Green Mountain State, but it was not easy or practical to make a living as a full-time musician. When I complained to my mentor Louis Moyse (a founder of the Marlboro Music Festival who was by then living in Montpelier and would later help shape Capital City Concerts) about the paucity of performing opportunities in Vermont, he said, "Invite your friends to come and play in Montpelier. Start your own series." And so in 2000, Capital City Concerts was born.

Paul Orgel opened the fledgling season with a brilliant solo piano recital, while pianist Jeffrey Chappell closed it by bringing down the house with his performance of "Rhapsody in Blue." Over the years the Capital City Concerts stage has included memorable performances by outstanding string quartets, including the Borromeo, Talich, and Formosa quartets. Notable violinists include Jaime Laredo, Régis Pasquier, Eugene Drucker, Theodore Arm, and n. Extraordinary pianists have come from across the globe including Jean-Claude Pennetier, Robert McDonald, Jeffrey Chappell, and Jeewon Park. We've served up plenty of sublime Bach over the years (including last season's wildly well-received  Magnificat performances) often with the spotlight on exquisite singers like Hyunah Yu, David Arnold, and Julie Boulianne. 

Capital City Concerts has given birth to new music by way of extraordinary commissions by composers such as Mohammed Fairouz and Evan Premo. We have joyfully extended a musical hand to community members from school-aged children through seniors in outreach programs which have included workshops, masterclasses, open rehearsals, and informal concerts in businesses, senior centers, and workplaces.

The core of our work for two decades has been to bring some of the best classical music on the planet to Montpelier and surrounding towns to the most receptive and appreciative audience anywhere. It's been an honor and my heart's delight to share these musical experiences with you. 
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~Karen Kevra, Artistic Director

Notable Press

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The Formosa Quartet's workshop demo with school-aged children.
  • Music Review: Reconfigured Paris Piano Trio deliver
  • Students Create "Pictures at an Exhibition"
  • Kids' Art Enhances Pianist's Performance
  • ​The Lowe Down: Why Do People Fear Chamber Music? 
  • Music of J.S. Bach Overwhelmes Catholic Church
  • Members of Celebrated Paris Piano Trio to Play Reunion Concert 
  • Evan Premo Sets to Music Poems by David Budbill
  • CCC Premieres a Work by Rising Arab American Composer, Mohammed Fairoux
  • Marlboro Man the Co-founder of Vermont's Famous Music School Looks Back on War, Wives, and the Composing Life
  • Back to Bach: Soprano Hyunah Yu Sings for Capital City Concerts
  • Music Review: Masterful Strings Close Topnotch Series
  • Premo-Budbill Collaboration Proves Inspired
Capital City Concerts is a 501c-3 non-profit organization.
Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by the law.
© COPYRIGHT 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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