In 2007, GMSI was pleased to welcome Dr. Sara Doncaster as our Composer-in-Residence. Dr. Doncaster earned her Ph. D. in Theory and Composition from Brandeis University. She has received awards and commissions for her compositions from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Vermont Arts Council, the Hungarian Chamber Symphony Orchestra, the Corporation of Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, the Ragale Foundation and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, among others. A resident of Irasburg, Vermont, Dr. Doncaster has been an elementary and middle-school music teacher in the Orleans Essex North Supervisory Union and a private piano teacher for six years.

Since the fall of 2006, she has enjoyed working as a composer mentor for the Vermont MIDI Project. She is the director of the Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival, a three-day celebration of modern music taking place every three years in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Current projects include an opera, an orchestral work for the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, a choral work for Social Band (Burlington), and a new work for tenor and six instruments for the Empyrean Ensemble in California.

Doncaster's piece, Legend, inspired by folk motifs and early music forms, has three movements: Ballad, Chant, and Rustic Dance. The music was rehearsed and premiered by Olivia Daniel (violin), Julia Gaster (cello) and Nick Martin (piano), with coaching by Cynthia Huard and Devin Arrington. This is an advanced group of players -- Olivia performs with the Vermont Youth Orchestra and had just returned from their China tour; Nick is an accomplished 16 year old player with both classical and jazz background; Julia had played violin as a young person, and had switched as a grandmother to cello, studying with Miriam Wu.

Each day's rehearsal saw the students taking on a larger role and the coaches role becoming more advisory than directing. The trio rehearsed long hours each afternoon and evening to solidify the technical issues of the piece and work on the musical issues. Their coaches reported that their work was focussed and energetic.

The performance at Friday afternoon's chamber concert as wonderful. At different times, the music moved to feature each member of the trio - each of the three brought out their parts both in soloistic ways, but also as part of the ensemble. Following the performance, they welcomed Doncaster onto the stage. She applauded the group and took her own bow to the audience's standing ovation.

The winner of the GMSI/Vermont MIDI Call for Scores was Cecilia ("Cece") Daigle. Cece is a student at Moretown Elementary School where she studies composition with Mike Close. She also studies piano with teacher and composer, Dominique Gagne.

Cece's piece in two movements, Comitan Dancers, was rehearsed and premiered by Brendon Mezzetti (violin), Lane Waples (cello), and Aiden Ryan (piano). The piece was coached by Renee Robbins and Alison Eldredge. Cece and Sara Doncaster worked with the musician/performers each day.

The first movement of Comitan Dancers has a strong calypso beat and swings easily. The second movement features long sustained notes in the strings and sweeping arpeggios in the piano without strong beats. Cece envisioned a "New Age" flow to this movement.

As with the Doncaster piece, the three performers took on this project with enthusiasm and dedication. They rehearsed independently of their coaches each afternoon, discussing and working out the musical details of the piece to make it their own. They debated with their coaches and Cece whether or not they might need any of the parts to be doubled by the coaches and whether to be conducted for the second movement. At the final rehearsal, they rehearsed with their coaches the appropriate acknoweldgement due the composer after the end of their performance. Finally, they decided to perform the piece without a conductor, but with Alison's support for the first movement.