Kate Tamarkin

Completes Tenure
as
Music Director
of the
Vermont Symphony
Orchestra

May, 1999
 
[Excerpts from:]
A final bow

Conductor Kate Tamarkin ends
her work with the VSO on a
high note

By Susan Green
Free Press Correspondent
March 18, 1999
Farewell for Tamarkin will be expressed more in music than in words this weekend, when she conducts two final concerts at the Flynn Theatre.  The trace she leaves behind, after eight years at the helm, is likely to be profound.

The health of the VSO was in critical condition when Tamarkin arrived in 1991. "We were in such trouble in so many ways," recalled Hilary Hatch, an Orwell violinist who joined in 1982.

"There was a period when the orchestra could have gone under," added South Hero resident Layton Davis, who has played clarinet with the VSO since 1973.

Tamarkin faced initial difficulties, including trustees on some of the VSO's five regional boards who felt alienated.  "The symphony was struggling with a negative public perception", she said.  "There was a need for some peace and stability. But the communities were ready to embrace us again.  I find it gratifying there's a grassroots feeling that this is our orchestra."

Her goals were to "Play consistently exciting concerts, events that would send people home talking about the music.  Our subscription base grew.  The summer offerings grew.  I'm also proud of starting the VSO Chorus.  Getting (chorus director) Robert DeCormier was a big coup."

Tamarkin helped put the VSO back on a sound financial footing and created what Hatch called "an empathy with audiences that few conductors can manage."

Andrea Rogers, executive director of the Flynn Theatre, sensed Tamarkin's introduction to the state was novel.  "Her first name was almost like a marketing thing for the VSO: 'Welcome, Kate.'  Normally, you wouldn't do that.  It would be, 'Welcome, maestro.'  It set a tone.  She was like the girl next door, whom we really admired."