Middlebury Festival On The Green

45th Annual Middlebury Festival on the Green

45 years of free, family-friendly music in the heart of Vermont

Schedule Of Events:

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM - Stephen Gratto

A New  York State school superintendent by day, Stephen Gratto moonlights as a physical comedian and circus performer.  His performances are fast-paced and include exciting displays of many classic vaudeville and circus skills including juggling, uni-cycling, rope walking, object  balancing and many other feats of daring, bravery, and side-splitting foolishness. The  high point of each performance is invariably the audience   participation.  Almost every portion of the Stephen Gratto Variety Show involves  audience volunteers, both young and old.  This continual interaction keeps everyone involved and laughing.

7:00 PM - 8:15 PM - Matt LaRocca and Friends

Matt LaRocca is a cross-genre composer, performer, and educator. You're as likely to see him playing with a rock band as conducting an orchestra. For example, he is the Special Project Conductor for the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Champlain Philharmonic Orchestra and performs on the electric viola in Freeway Clyde, Michael Chorney's psych-rock improvisation ensemble. Matt has written arrangements for and performed with Guster, Kat Wright, Francesca Blanchard and Matt Flinner. With a love of improvisation and crossing disciplines, it’s no wonder that his “friends” quartet includes Laura Markowitz, an avid fiddler in Swedish and Celtic styles who also has a career playing violin in several orchestras;  John Dunlop, the Principal cellist with the VSO; and Ben Lively, who plays rock, jazz, tango and classical music and whose collaborations include writing string arrangements for psych pop band Madaila, playing electric violin, mandolin, and guitar with the Grift and Josh Panda’s Wilykat and exploring Astor Piazzolla’s music with La Rebelión Del Tango. And you can expect a few special musical guests to join Matt LaRocca and Friends on stage as well!

8:30 PM - 9:45 PM - Myra Flynn Band

Singer/songwriter Myra Flynn, half Irish and half African American, crafts her original indie/soul songs in a blend of soulful vocals. She has headlined the Burlington Jazz Festival and shared the stage with Ivan Neville (Dumpstaphunk), Mike Gordon (Phish), Gabrielle  Gordon (Natalie Merchant), Sonya Kitchell, Anais Mitchell, Lee “Scratch” Perry and many others. Crooked Measures, her 2009 debut album, earned Flynn a solid spot in the  singer/songwriter circuit as well as much deserved media recognition.  She was named "Best Up-and-Coming Performer" by Seven Days Newspaper  (2010 and 2011) and "New England Artist of the Month" by The Deli Magazine New England. New England Deli Magazine wrote about For The Record, her newest release, “the album is crafted  with a self-assured sense of commitment and what seems like another lifetime of reasons to sing.”