Brattleboro – During the 2009-2010 concert season, the Windham Orchestra will celebrate the 40th anniversary of its founding in 1969. Under Music Director David Runnion, the orchestra embarks on a season of legacy and inspiration, with new community collaborations, challenging repertoire, and a celebration of the history and future of Windham County’s symphony orchestra.

The Windham Orchestra is a program of the Brattleboro Music Center (BMC) and takes pride in its history of 40 years of providing symphonic music in southeastern Vermont, in its commitment to new music, in its school and outreach programs to keep classical music vital and shape future audiences, and in its Listen Local focus.

The orchestra’s season opens in November with a new venture: the staged production of three one-act operas presented in collaboration with Friends of Music at Guilford (FOMAG). “Hello? An Evening of Telephone Operas” includes the premiere performance of Don McLean’s “Good Bye, Darling,” with soprano Evelyn McLean; Gian Carlo Menotti’s comic opera “The Telephone,” performed by Tim Levesque and Amy Green; and Francis Poulenc’s “La Voix Humaine (The Human Voice),” performed in English by lyric soprano Lisa Jablow.

Later in November, the Windham Orchestra presents a French-Swiss program in honor of BMC founder and southern Vermont musical pioneer Blanche Moyse’s 100th birthday. The November 20 program features Francis Poulenc’s “La Voix Humaine (The Human Voice)”; Darius Milhaud’s “Kentuckiana”; and Arthur Honegger’s “Pastorale d’Ete.”

In January the orchestra presents its third annual “Listen Local” concert, featuring the works of local composers. Featured in this year’s program are Zeke Hecker’s “Suite from The Tempest”; David Kidwell’s “Shenandoah: A Symphonic Portrait”; Dennis Bathory “Kitsz’s Prelude: Heat”; and an arrangement of spirituals by Hugh Keelan.

In March the orchestra dedicates its performances to Kids of All Ages, with a special day of performances for local schoolchildren that is repeated on a Sunday afternoon for the general public. Along with hundreds of school-children, concertgoers are invited to enjoy Benjamin Britten’s spectacular “Young Persons’ Guide to the Orchestra” and a performance by the winner of the Windham Orchestra’s 2010 Concerto Competition.

In the final concert in May, the orchestra takes direct inspiration from both its own history and the legacy of Moyse. The strings will perform Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No.3,” honoring Moyse’s special love of and dedication to the music of J.S. Bach. Violinist and BMC Music School faculty member Kathy Andrew will join the orchestra in a performance of one of the great works of the classical repertoire, Beethoven’s “Violin Concerto in D,” which was played by 16-year-old Blanche Moyse in her debut performance with L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

This concerto was also performed during the Windham Orchestra’s first season in 1969, with Joe Shor, the founder and original music director, as soloist. At that concert, in the front row, was the orchestra’s current music director, 10-year-old David Runnion.

The 2009-2010 Windham Orchestra Concert Schedule:

“Hello? An Evening of Telephone Operas,” Friday, November 6, 8 pm, and Saturday, November 7, 8 pm, Brattleboro Union High School Auditorium. Tickets are $20, $10 for students, and are available by calling FOMAG or the BMC.

French-Swiss program in honor of Blanche Honegger Moyse, Friday, November 20, 7:30 pm, Vermont Academy, Saxtons River.

3rd Annual Listen Local concert featuring works by local composers, Sunday, January 24, 3 pm, Latchis Theater in Brattleboro.

BMC Music in the Schools’ Children’s Concert: Britten’s “Young Persons’ Guide to the Orchestra,” Thursday, March 25, 9:30 am, 11 am, 1 pm, Latchis Theater, Brattleboro.

For Kids of All Ages: Britten’s Young Persons’ Guide to the Orchestra, Mussorgsky’s “Bald Mountain,” 2010 Concerto Competition Winner (TBA) Sunday, March 28, 3 pm, Latchis Theatre, Brattleboro, VT

Legacy of Inspiration: Bach’s “Brandenburg No. 3,” Mendelssohn’s “Fingal’s Cave,” Beethoven’s “Violin Concerto,” Friday, May 14 at 7:30 pm, Vermont Academy, Saxtons River and Saturday, May 15, 7:30 pm, Putney School, Putney.

Tickets for Windham Orchestra concerts, $15, $7 for students and seniors, are available by calling the Brattleboro Music Center at (802) 257-4523 or visiting www.bmcvt.org. For more information about the Windham Orchestra visit www.windhamorchestra.net.