In Thursday’s (6/22) Rutland Herald (Vermont), Jim Lowe reports on a concert last Saturday in Colchester, Vermont, in which area amateur musicians performed Brahms’s German Requiem with the Green Mountain Mahler Festival orchestra and chorus. “They were joined by Glover’s Bread and Puppet Theater…. In addition, the Vermont African drumming ensemble A2VT performed before the concert—perhaps a first for the Brahms Requiem. The celebration was of Vermont’s Somali refugee community, and several members spoke eloquently before the music of their experiences. Several joined the actors of Bread and Puppet. The event benefited famine relief in Africa and USCRI/Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program. The Green Mountain Mahler Festival was founded in 2002 by University of Vermont physician and amateur bass player Dan Weiss to provide an opportunity for area musicians to experience playing large-scale works like those of Gustav Mahler…. With nearly 200 folks on stage, chorus and orchestra, the sound was rich and full…. The famed Bread and Puppet Theater offered its typical politically charged interpretations, notably a cloth boat full of refugees capsizing. The A2VT proved infectious with much of the audience clapping along…. Saturday’s concert by the Green Mountain Mahler festival was a welcoming celebration of community.”
Posted June 23, 2017
