Youth Talent Shines as 250 Musicians Take the Stage at Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 23, 2025 

 

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Youth Talent Shines as 250 Musicians Take the Stage at Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival

Upcoming Season Runs June 29-August 3, 2025, with 30 Concerts & Events, Including New Family Concert Series

 

Colchester, VT — May 23, 2025 — The Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival (GMCMF) announces its 21st season, taking place June 29, 2025 through August 3, 2025, on the St. Michael’s College campus. Since it was founded in 2004, the Festival has provided students from across the country and the world with the opportunity for intensive musical study with seasoned and celebrated artists, public performances that bring classical music into the community, and educational opportunities that support them in charting a musical career. It has also offered the public the unique opportunity to not only see young artists on the rise, but to attend concerts and master classes with some of the top string ensembles and string musicians in the U.S. 

 

“We are excited for another season of music education, mentorship, and community programming. We warmly welcome the Vermont community to experience the incredible artistry of our students and faculty through our various concert programs  and events open to the public,” said Elizabeth Chang, Artistic Director of Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival. “This season marks an expansion of our ‘Classical Encounters’ series, providing even greater opportunities for families and community members to engage with chamber music. We remain committed to providing accessible, enriching musical experiences and look forward to all that this summer holds.” 

 

New Programs & Impact

GMCMF’s program, open to violin, viola, and cello students ages 14 through 30 will take place from June 29-July 27, 2025. New this year is the Festival’s first-ever Junior Program for students ages 8-13, which will take place from July 20-August 3, 2025. 

 

To date, GMCMF has seen more than 2,000 students participate in its program, many of whom have gone on to pursue musical career paths and endeavors as professional musicians, community leaders, and teachers. This season, GMCMF will welcome a total of 235 students, 214 in the Festival’s regular program and 21 in the junior program. Students will come from 32 U.S. states and six countries, including Turkey, Mexico, Japan, and Korea. 

 

2025 Concerts  & Musical Offerings

The 2025 season includes several performance series open to the public, including the Artist Faculty Series, Emerging Artists Series, Mansfield Solo Concert Series, Master Classes, Family Concerts, and Classical Encounters series which includes GMCMF’s Quartet Conversations and Quartet Hop. 

 

Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival’s artist faculty consists of accomplished string musicians who are known as leading pedagogues in the U. S.  The Festival also welcomes the following eminent musical guests to perform alongside artist faculty and students at Festival concerts, host lectures, and teach masterclasses this season: the Balourdet Quartet, Ronald Copes, Norman Fischer, and the Pacifica Quartet. 

 

Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival 2025 Season:

 

Faculty Concerts 

All concerts take place at Elley-Long Music Center and begin at 7:30 PM.

General admission tickets range from $35-$50, student tickets are free.

Season tickets are $300 and include one ticket for each of the eight Artist Faculty Series concerts.

 

• July 1: The opening concert of the 2025 Artist Faculty Series features the Balourdet Quartet performing works by Haydn, Beethoven, and Smetana.

 

• July 4: Still Point featuring works by Turina, Casarrubios, and Brahms.

 

• July 8: Liminal Spaces, featuring works of Gubaidulina, Pejacevic, and Dvorák and a prelude concert featuring GMCMF students at 6:45 PM.
• July 11: Close Encounters with works by Schumann & Mendelssohn, including the 2025 Call for Scores first prize winning work by Jason Novak and a prelude concert featuring GMCMF students at 6:45 PM.
• July 15: Milestones featuring works by Berio, Beethoven, and Shostakovich, preceded by a pre-concert talk by Evan MacCarthy and Alexander Goldberg at 6:45 PM.

 

• July 18: Light/Shadow with works by Beethoven and Dohnányi, featuring the 2025 Call for Scores second prize winning work by Jorge Amado and a prelude concert featuring GMCMF students at 6:45 PM.

 

• July 22: Performance by the Pacifica Quartet featuring works by Barber, Bartok, and Dvorák, concluding with a post-concert Q&A with the quartet. A prelude concert given by students will take place at 6:45 PM.

 

• July 25: Transience, the final concert of the 2025 Artist Faculty Series featuring a world premier commission by Nicky Sohn as well as works by Ravel and Franck. A prelude concert given by students will take place at 6:45 PM.

 

 

Emerging Artist Series

All concerts take place at the McCarthy Arts Center Recital Hall at Saint Michael's College and begin at 7:30 PM unless otherwise noted.

Free and open to the public.

 

 

• July 2 and 7: Students from the 2025 Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival perform solo works.

• July 9, 10, 16, 17, 21, 23, 24:  Students from the 2025 Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival perform chamber works. 

• July 25 at 3:00 PM and July 26 at 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM: Students from the 2025 Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival perform their final concerts of chamber works in three locations on the campus of St. Michael’s College: McCarthy Recital Hall, Roy Room in Dion Student Center, and the McCarthy Arts Center Theater.

 

 

Additional Student Performances

 

• July 12 at 3:00 PM at Shelburne Winery (admission by donation)
• July 13 at 1 :00 PM at Ohavi Zedek Synagogue (free)
• Saturday, July 26 at 7:30 PM at The Cathedral Church of St. Paul’s: the final student performance of the season features GMCMF festival fellows and is a collaboration with the Music for Food Project; in lieu of ticket admission, non-perishable food items brought will be donated to a local food shelf.

 

Mansfield Solo Concerts

All concerts take place at the Dion Student Center Roy Room at Saint Michael's College.

Free and open to the public.

 

 

• July 5 at 12:30 PM

• July 9, 10, 14, 17, 18, 21 & 22 at 4:00 PM

 

 

Master Classes 

Master Classes are free and open to the public and will take place at the McCarthy Arts Center Recital Hall at Saint Michael’s College at 1:00 PM unless otherwise noted.

 

• Friday, July 11: Ronald Copes (of the Juilliard Quartet) master class
• Monday, July 14: Norman Fischer master class

 

• Monday, July 21: Pacifica Quartet master class

 

 

Presentations

Presentations are free and open to the public and will take place at the McCarthy Arts Center Recital Hall at Saint Michael’s College at 4:00 PM unless otherwise noted.

 

• Monday & Tuesday, June 30 & July 1 - Balourdet Quartet “Fundamentals of String Quartet Rehearsal” (in two parts)
• Wednesday, July 2 - Sheila Browne “Comfort & Ease in Playing”
• Thursday, July 3 - Nathaniel Lew “Before We Start, Beethoven Would Like You to Know a Few Things....”
• Tuesday, July 8 - Nathaniel Lew “Perspectives on the Classical Era String Quartet”
• Tuesday, July 15 - Molly Carr Virtual Talk (Roy Room, Dion Student Center)
• Wednesday, July 16 - Evan MacCarthy - “Hearing Voices in Shostakovich's String Quartets”

 

Community Performances

 

Classical Encounters

GMCMF hosts numerous pop-up style Classical Encounters performances throughout the community over the last two weeks of the festival at a variety of venues across the greater Burlington area. Dates and times will be posted on the GMCMF website in mid-June.

 

Quartet Hops

GMCMF will host two Quartet Hops on July 12 & 19, 2025, where guests can walk from venue to venue on Church Street and hear a different student string quartet performing in local businesses between 10 AM and 3 PM each day. Venues will be posted on the GMCMF website in mid-June.

 

Family Concert Series

New! Performances featuring student string quartets at family-friendly venues that include a sweet treat afterwards.

 

• Wednesday, July 16 at 1:15 PM: South Burlington Library
• Friday, July 18 at 10:30 AM: Burlington YMCA 
• Monday, July 21 at 11:15 AM: Williston Public Library 
• Tuesday, July 22 at 10:30 AM: Lake Champlain Chocolates, Pine Street

Quartet Conversations

Quartet Conversations invites adult learners into an exploration of the string quartet literature with lectures featuring  live performance. Guest musicologists will give listeners historical context to the works being performed by GMCMF students.

 

• Thursday, July 10 at 1:00 PM: Fletcher Free Library, Burlington with Nat Lew - “Conversing": Balance of Voices and Interplay of Parts”

 

• Friday, July 11 at 1:15 PM: South Burlington Public Library with Nat Lew - “People": Personal Expression and Emotional Intensity”
• Thursday, July 17 at 1:00 PM: CORE Center with Evan MacCarthy “Hearing Voices in Shostakovich's String Quartets”
• Friday, July 18 at 1:00 PM: Dorothy Alling Memorial Library (Williston) with Evan MacCarthy - “Motive and Allusion in Shostakovich's String Quartets”
• Tuesday, July 22 at 1:30 PM: Pierson Library, Shelburne with Nat Lew - "Reasonable?": Innovation and Experimentation

 

For more information about GMCMF’s 2025 season events and music education programs, please visit gmcmf.org.

 

About Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival:

Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival was founded in 2005 by violinist Kevin Lawrence in the Lake Champlain and Burlington, Vermont area. Now in residency at St. Michael's College in Colchester, Vermont the Festival brings together young string musicians from around the U.S. and several other countries with professional string teachers from many conservatories and universities, to work together for a month each summer. Student and faculty concerts offer a rich assortment of chamber music experiences to our audience members, both on campus and in the surrounding community.

 

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