After an 18-month-long pandemic hiatus, Montpelier’s Capital City Concerts plans to resume concerts this weekend in Montpelier, Burlington, and Waterbury.
“I have longed for the immediacy, intimacy, and power of sharing live music with our beloved audience, so it is a joy to bring news of our 2021–2022 season,” said Karen Kevra, Capital City Concerts founder and artistic director.
The season opens the weekend of October 23–24 when the Boston-based Borromeo Quartet returns for concerts in Montpelier and Burlington. The Borromeo Quartet has been hailed for its “edge-of-the-seat performances,” by the Boston Globe, which called it “simply the best.” The major work on the program will be Beethoven’s Opus 132 String Quartet. “This transcendent work is Beethoven’s musical journey through illness and healing. Truly I can’t think of a more appropriate and deeply moving return to Capital City Concerts,” said Kevra. Violinist Nickolas Kitchen describes the piece as “joyful and sad in equal measure.” Beethoven, by 1825 totally deaf, wrote the exquisite slow movement as a prayer of thanksgiving after recovering from an illness.
On Friday, April 8, 2022, Solaris, the Vermont vocal ensemble led by Dawn Willis, will perform a concert celebrating spring and rebirth.
On May 21, 2022, Capital City Concerts returns to its J.S. Bach roots in a concert of sonatas, arias, and the ebullient Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major. The all-star line-up includes soprano Hyunah Yu, violinist Theodore Arm, violist Stefanie Taylor, cellist Edward Arron, bassist Lou Kosma, pianist Jeewon Park, and flutists Karen Kevra and Jillian Reed.
Capital City Concerts is committed to the safety, health, and comfort of the community, so a few changes related to the pandemic can be expected. The Unitarian Church of Montpelier, which has been the home of Capital City Concerts for two decades, has paused rentals, so alternative venues have been arranged. The majority of concerts will take place at a significantly larger venue, Montpelier’s Bethany United Church of Christ. Audience size will be limited to prevent overcrowding, and other protocols such as mask-wearing may be implemented. Consult capitalcityconcerts.org prior to each concert for updates.
Also new this season, Capital City Concerts is offering on-demand remote concert broadcasts. This pay-as-you-can ticket gives you admission for a two-week period beginning on each concert weekend. The minimum ticket price is $15. Live concert tickets may be converted to an on-demand ticket in the event a ticket holder is unable to attend the live concert by sending a request to info@capitalcityconcerts.org.
To order in-person or on-demand tickets and to learn more about Capital City Concerts upcoming season go to capitalcityconcerts.org. Because of COVID-related challenges, advance sale tickets will only be available online this year. No advance sale tickets will be sold at Bear Pond Books. Capital City Concerts will absorb the ticket surcharge this season so that customers will only pay the at-the-door price.
Capital City Concerts’ Muse Mentors podcast will continue this fall. For more information and to access all previous episodes, go to musementors.com.
