Farmers Night tradition brings free evening entertainment to the State House

January 28, 2025  |  By Waterbury Roundabout

Composer, pianist and UVM professor David Feurzeig brings his “Playing Every Town” tour to the State House. Courtesy photo

The start of the new year and the new legislative session in Montpelier signal another tradition begins anew: the Farmers Night Weekly Concert Series. 

The 12-show free series on Wednesday nights began Jan. 22 with the Upper Valley Community Band. For this week’s performance, composer, pianist and UVM professor David Feurzeig brings his “Playing Every Town” tour to the capitol. Feurzeig has been traveling around the state performing with a purpose to build awareness about climate change through his musical compositions that range from classical to jazz and ragtime tunes.

Subsequent performances will include the Vermont Symphony Orchestra’s chamber orchestra, West African and Ghanian music and dance, Irish tunes to mark St. Patrick’s Day, 20th-century pops, Americana and poetry readings for National Poetry Month in April.

The Farmers Night Concert Series is a long-standing State House tradition that goes back over 100 years to the time when lawmakers entertained themselves in the House Chamber mid-week while away from home. 

Today, artists from around the state, in genres ranging from classical music to bluegrass to barbershop, perform in the well of the House Chamber each Wednesday night during the legislative session. 

The concerts are free and open to the public and begin at 7:30 p.m. They take the first week in March off for the Town Meeting Day break. 

Below is the full schedule of performances from Jan. 22 through April 9. More information is online here.

• Jan. 22 Upper Valley Community Band

• Jan. 29: Composer/ Pianist David Feurzeig, “Playing Every Town” 

• Feb. 5: Vermont Reads 2025 with Ken Cadow, author of “Gather.” Sponsored by Vermont Humanities, author Cadow will share his experiences traveling throughout the state to discuss his book. His topics are related to community building and larger issues of poverty, housing insecurity and addiction. 

• Feb. 12: Vermont Symphony Orchestra: Now in its 90th season, the VSO’s chamber orchestra with Music Director Andrew Crust present Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major in a concert with guest artist Damascus Kafumbe, director of Middlebury College’s African Music and Dance Ensemble. The program will include Kafumbe’s strings and percussion as well as a premiere of a composition by Mount Mansfield Union High School senior Eleanor Freebern.

• Feb. 19: Shidda Projects - West African/Ghanaian music and dance: A vibrant collection of artists who focus on cultural education and diversity share West African dancing, drumming and folk traditions. 

• Feb. 26: Toussaint St. Negritude – poet, bass clarinetist, shaman. Sponsored by the Friends of the VT State House, Afro-futurist /Oro-shamanic poet and bass clarinetist Toussaint St. Negritude visits to dually conjure the lyric timbre of both his horn and verse. 

• March 5: Town Meeting Week – No Concert

• March 12: Lisa Jablow and the Vermont Symphonic Winds: Jablow conducts musicians and vocalists for a vibrant performance of classical and contemporary selections. 

• March 19: One More Time – Traditional Irish music: On the heels of St. Patrick’s Day, this six-piece band includes guitar, fiddles, banjo, button accordion, and vocals to perform traditional Irish tunes along with some Americana and folk.   

• March 26: Jaded Ravins: Back from touring the country, Halle Jade and Kelly Ravin are an Americana/country blues duo performing original tunes.  

• April 2: PoemCity 2025 – The Laureates Three: Sponsored by Montpelier’s Kellogg-Hubbard Library, this event features three acclaimed Northern New England poet laureates – Bianca Stone of Vermont, Jennifer Militello of New Hampshire, and Julia Bouwsma of Maine – who will share their work and kick off Montpelier’s annual PoemCity celebration in honor of National Poetry Month. 

• April 9: The Evans-Asbell-Stats Trio: A Day in the Life of Jazz. The finale performance of the series presents popular music from the 1930s through the 1960s by jazz vocalist Samirah Evans accompanied by guitarist Paul Asbel and bassist Clyde Stats.