Music of Vermont

The state is also home to many iconoclastic composers, from Revolutionary-era Justin Morgan through electronic/avant-gardist Otto Luening. Vermont's contemporary composers includes Jon Appleton, Dennis Bathory-Kitsz, David Gunn, Ernie Stires, Su Lian Tan, Dennis Murphy, and Gwyneth Walker.

Vermont is also a source of folk and traditional music, with such musicians as Celia Woodsmith (and her band Avi & Celia,) Pete Sutherland, Anaïs Mitchell, Woods Tea Company and many others.

Music education and institutions

The Vermont Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1934, was the first state-funded orchestra in the nation. The orchestra's first artistic director was Alan Carter, followed by Efrain Guigui, Peter Brown, and Kate Tamarkin. The Artistic Director and conductor today is Jaime Laredo. Laredo performs worldwide as a soloist and frequently in duo concerts with Sharon Robinson, cellist. The VSO's "Made in Vermont" series annually commissions a Vermont composer to create a large-scale work that tours the State. Previous recipients have included G. Walker, L. Koplewitz, et al. Current composer-in-residence with the VSO is David Ludwig. The Vermont Youth Orchestra has come to prominence since the mid-1990s under the direction of composer/conductor Troy Peters. The Consortium of Vermont Composers was formed in 1988 to promote composers of classical music from the state; the Consortium calls Vermont the "most composer-friendly state" in the country.