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Jon
Borowicz,
emeritus professor of music at Norwich University, had a dream
of bringing together local musicians to perform classical symphonic
works. His dream was fulfilled in December 1959, when the Vermont
Philharmonic played its first public concert, Handel's Messiah
in Plumley Armory in Northfield, Vermont. During the next 30
years, the orchestra performed in a wide variety of settings
throughout Vermont. The orchestra found a permanent home in the
Barre Opera House when it was reopened in 1993.
Professor
Borowicz held the baton for nearly 20 years. In 1977, New Zealand
native Brian Webb became the orchestra's conductor for
the next two decades, stepping down in 1997 to pursue other interests.
Dan Bruce served as Interim Music Director during the
orchestra's two-year search for a new conductor. The Fall of
1999, Louis A. Kosma stepped up to the podium as Music
Director of the Vermont Philharmonic and proudly brought Vermont's
oldest community orchestra into the 21st Century.
Perhaps
the Philharmonic's proudest achievement has been in its support
of music in Vermont schools. Many opportunities are offered to
students to perform with the orchestra. The Philharmonic annually
awards, through audition, a scholarship to an outstanding Vermont
high school student of music, who is then the featured soloist
in a regular concert. Many scholarship winners have gone on to
study music in college and graduate school.
Today,
the Philharmonic's member-musicians, some 60 strong and from
all walks of life, are committed to the orchestra's two-fold
mission of sharing their love of music with audiences of all
ages, and encouraging young musicians to dedicate themselves
to their musical education so that some might become professional
musicians of tomorrow. |