The Vermont Symphony Orchestra (VSO) is setting the stage for a remarkable year of music with a series of events that promise to captivate audiences across the state. From the ‘Summer of Love’ festival tour to the introspective 'East Meets West', and festive 'Holiday Pops', the VSO is ready to deliver a dazzling array of performances. Throughout the seasons, the orchestra, alongside talented guest artists, will bring to life a stunning repertoire of works that traverse genres and cultures, promising an unforgettable experience for all attendees.

A Symphony of Seasons: Vermont's Musical Extravaganza

The Vermont Symphony Orchestra's 2025-26 season is set to dazzle audiences with a thrilling lineup of events. From the Summer Festival Tour's 'Summer of Love' to the cross-cultural 'East Meets West' concerts, each event promises a feast for the senses. Highlights include celebrated works from Tchaikovsky, John Williams, and Philip Glass, along with performances from Grammy-winning artists like Sandeep Das and Jennifer Koh. With diverse genres ranging from orchestral and choral to musical theater, the VSO invites you to experience the transformative power of music across Vermont's scenic venues.

Vermont Symphony Orchestra: A Journey Through Music and Culture

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Made in Vermont with The Moth Radio Hour

Bellows Falls Opera House

Southern Vermont Arts Center

Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center

The natural world underscores VSO’s second concert at the Flynn in October, with birdsong, thunder, moonlight, and mushrooms as influence for a breadth of compositions. William Grant Still’s Wood Notes is inspired by the rich nature of the American South, and Chelsea Komschlies’ piece Mycelialore makes musical connections between fungal and neural networks in a piece commissioned by the League of American Orchestra’s Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Orchestral Commissions Program. The second half presents Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale”, a bucolic hymn to the countryside and nature. From stillness to dancing, and bird calls to storms, Beethoven’s ability to incorporate rural life in musical form is exemplified in the four movements of this work.

VSO at the Flynn: Pastoral Symphony

The Flynn

The 2025-26 season opens with one of the world’s leading tabla virtuosos, Grammy Award-winning musician Sandeep Das, a 21-year member of the Silk Road Ensemble and collaborator with Paquito D’Rivera, Bobby McFerrin, Yo-Yo Ma amongst others. VSO also welcomes guest sitarist Rajib Karmakar to start the concert with the first movement of pioneering composer Ravi Shankar’s Symphony. Das follows with Sri Lankan/Canadian composer Dinuk Wijeratne’s brilliant Tabla Concerto, a three movement exploration of baroque, electronica, folk, and romantic styles. The concert completes its East/West connection with Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, a hugely popular, sweeping work masterfully orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. The piece gives a distinct musical voice to visual art and shows the full colors and virtuosity of the orchestra.

East Meets West – Rutland

Paramount Theatre, VT

The 2025-26 season opens with one of the world’s leading tabla virtuosos, Grammy Award-winning musician Sandeep Das, a 21-year member of the Silk Road Ensemble and collaborator with Paquito D’Rivera, Bobby McFerrin, and Yo-Yo Ma amongst others. VSO also welcomes guest sitarist Rajib Karmakar to start the concert with the first movement of pioneering composer Ravi Shankar’s Symphony. Das follows with Sri Lankan/Canadian composer Dinuk Wijeratne’s brilliant Tabla Concerto, a three movement exploration of baroque, electronica, folk, and romantic styles. The concert completes its East/West connection with Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, a hugely popular, sweeping work masterfully orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. The piece gives a distinct musical voice to visual art and shows the full colors and virtuosity of the orchestra.

VSO at the Flynn: East Meets West

Picnic in the concert meadow and enjoy the Oscar- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical score brought to life in concert by a full orchestra, soloists, and chorus, conducted by Christopher Ray. Set in Oklahoma in 1906, the musical depicts a love story between a farm girl and a cowboy and the growing rivalry between the cowboys and local farmers.  The musical is the first written by the famous duo of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, and features well-loved tunes including “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin” and “Oklahoma”.

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! In Concert

Trapp Family Lodge Concert Meadow

Come feel the love with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra as we embark on our 2025 Summer Festival Tour. This year’s dynamic program, Summer of Love, features works from across the world and a range of genres, including pieces from Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, John Williams’ Star Wars Theme, Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, and pop hits such as “I Put A Spell On You” and “Nature Boy.” This summer the VSO welcomes mezzo Nikola Printz as the tour’s special guest vocalist. 

Summer Festival Tour 2025: Castleton

Vermont State University Castleton Campus

Burke Mountain Ski Resort

Grafton Trails and Outdoor Center

Shelburne Museum

Saskadena Six Ski Area

Each December we celebrate the holidays with music both contemplative and joyful, leaving audiences with a song in their heart and the warmth of the season. Our upcoming Holiday Pops concerts include the orchestra and VSO’s 80-voice chorus leading three sing-a-longs and performing much-loved music by John Rutter, LeRoy Anderson, and George Frederic Handel. A new-to-VSO composition by Quinn Mason, Spanish-influenced holiday music, and traditional carols round out this traditional family-favorite event. José Daniel Flores-Caraballo conducts.

Vermont Symphony Orchestra - Holiday Pops

Barre Opera House

Vermont-native pianist Adam Tendler premieres a new piano concerto composed by fellow Vermonter Nico Muhly, based on 18th century hymn tunes by Justin Morgan. VSO's guest vocal soloists explore Des Prez' moving love song, and the VSO Chorus joins for Mozart's enduring requiem.

Vso At the Flynn

From romantic, savage, and epic American dramas to Japanese anime fantasy, The Hollywood Sound explores film scores from the past 80 years. VSO Concertmaster, Katherine Winterstein, performs Korngold's 1945 film score-infused violin concerto to complete the concert.

Vermont's own indie-soul queen Myra Flynn, joins the VSO for its annual orchestral holiday concert. Fall in love again with beloved carols and enjoy Flynn's soulful voice as she brings to life classic carols, Joni Mitchell, and an original piece backed by the VSO in this family friendly favorite that concludes with an audience sing-a-long. This concert is conducted by VSO Music Director Andrew Crust.

VSO's 2023-2024 season opener begins with its first ever performance of Coleridge-Taylor's ravishing ballade, with Smetana and Brahms completing the Romantic concert theme. Cellist Joshua Roman and violinist Simone Porter make their Vermont debuts.

The VSO wouldn’t be the organization we are today without the artistic vision and leadership of VSO Chorus founder Robert De Cormier. This tribute concert is our small way of thanking him for his musical service to Vermonters and the VSO.
The first half of the concert will feature the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, under the direction of Jose Daniel Flores-Caraballo, who is making his conducting debut with the VSO. Los Angeles-based composer Morton Lauridsen (b. 1943) wrote Lux Aeterna following the death of his mother in 1997, and the text for the piece is based on various references to light from sacred Latin texts.
The first half is anchored by Robert De Cormier’s own composition for chorus and orchestra: Legacy. De Cormier composed this piece in 1981 as a memorial for his son. This performance marks the first time the VSO has ever performed the work.
After intermission, VSO Music Director Jaime Laredo takes the stage to lead the orchestra in Schubert’s ninth symphony, aptly nicknamed “The Great.” Widely regarded as Schubert’s supreme masterpiece, this is an extremely challenging piece to perform, due to the endurance and technique required–particularly among the strings and woodwinds. In fact, orchestras refused to play the symphony in Paris and London when Felix Mendelssohn attempted to program it in the late-1830’s.<

Masterworks featuring the VSO Chorus

Masterworks featuring Jinjoo Cho

Celebrate December with the VSO’s festive music and a visit from Santa! Join Music Director Andrew Crust, guest singers, and your Vermont Symphony Orchestra for a concert that delivers a joyful mood for the season. Enjoy favorites like Sleigh Ride and selections from The Nutcracker, a new commission by Vermont composer Michael Schachter inspired by a Jewish folktale, a rousing audience holiday sing-a-long, a musical reading of selections from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and more!

Holiday Pops – Barre

Brass Quintet & Counterpoint Chorus – Warren

Grafton Community Church

Manchester First Congregational Church

United Church of Newport

Warren United Church

The annual free community concert this season features selections from Mozart’s Symphony No. 1 in E-flat Major, Debussy’s Gymnopedies, Ravel’s Bolero, and Frostiana, a setting of Robert Frost’s poems in a seven-movement suite of choral art songs with chamber orchestra by Randall Thompson. The evening also features the world premiere of a new piece by a Music-COMP student. Conducted by VSO Music Director Andrew Crust.

David M. Wilson Farmers’ Night with the VSO Chorus

Vermont State House

On Valentine’s Day, VSO welcomes Grammy Award-winning violinist Jennifer Koh to perform Philip Glass’ Violin Concerto No. 1 in an eclectic concert mixing American and Romantic music. A student of VSO’s fourth music director Jaime Laredo, Koh is a hugely in-demand performer of contemporary violin repertoire with premieres of more than 100 works composed especially for her. Glass’ Violin Concerto No. 1, one of the composer’s most often performed works, is preceded by Frank Zappa’s fast-paced, riveting piece from his 1993 album The Yellow Shark. For the romantic at heart, lush orchestral suites from Georges Bizet’s Carmen and music by 19th C. French composer Augusta Holmès complete the afternoon concert.

VSO at the Flynn: Love Notes

The season finale opens with a piece by Gabriela Ortiz exploring the Kauyamari, or “blue deer,” from Mexican folklore, a spiritual guide transformed through an extended pilgrimage. The concert follows with the epic Carmina Burana, a thrilling cantata by Carl Orff based on medieval poems celebrating the joys of life, love, and fortune. With its famous opening, O Fortuna, this dynamic work combines chorus, soloists, and full orchestra in a dramatic journey from fate’s cruelty to the pleasures of spring, tavern revelry, and courtly romance. Whether grand and ominous or tender and playful, Carmina Burana is an unforgettable musical spectacle—visceral, vivid, and emotionally charged. This performance promises an electrifying experience that showcases the full force of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in one of the most iconic and beloved works of the 20th century.

Vermont Symphony Orchestra

5 - 7 Dec, 2025

Holiday Pops – Barre

11 - 14 Dec, 2025

Brass Quintet & Counterpoint Chorus – Warren

Feb 11, 2026

David M. Wilson Farmers’ Night with the VSO Chorus

Feb 14, 2026

VSO at the Flynn: Love Notes

May 9, 2026

VSO at the Flynn: O Fortuna!

14 - 16 Nov, 2025

Made in Vermont with The Moth Radio Hour

Oct 25, 2025

VSO at the Flynn: Pastoral Symphony

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