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The 2026–27 season opens with a Friday night concert highlighting music inspired and created by powerful women—from Björk to Cleopatra, spanning 19th-century Vermont to the Persian Empire. The concert premieres a VSO commission by composer Clarice Assad, funded by Vermont Humanities and Vermont Arts Council, based on the historic Weybridge, VT couple Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake, accompanied by selections from Giuseppi Verdi’s Aida and Hector Berlioz’ La mort de Cléopâtre. The dramatic and sweeping Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov brings this memorable program to a vivid close. Mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz, soloist with VSO’s 2025 Summer Festival Tour, returns and is joined by soprano Danielle Buonaiuto.

The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. and is preceded at 6:30 p.m. by Musically Speaking, a free pre-concert discussion that provides entertaining insight into the evening’s program. 

Andrew Crust, conductor

Danielle Buonaiuto, soprano

Nikola Printz, mezzo-soprano

       Danielle Buonaiuto, Clarice Assad, Nikola Printz

Program

Björk/Dorn  – Overture from “Dancer in the Dark” 

Clarice Assad – Charity & Sylvia

Giuseppe Verdi  – Aida
    I. Preludio

Hector Berlioz  – La mort de Cléopâtre (Death of Cleopatra)
IV. Méditation

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov  – Scheherazade

Vermont Humanities is co-sponsor of the Charity and Sylvia commission, and the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History, holder of the Drake/Bryant archive, is a collaborating partner. 

Additional support is provided through an America 250 grant from the Vermont Arts Council.

This concert is also generously supported by Lyn & Ferdinand Lauffer and the New England Humanities Consortium.