[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 59 (Monday, May 15, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S4551]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        MARLBORO MUSIC FESTIVAL

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, Just south of Route 9 in southern Vermont, 
along a tree-lined road, lies one of Vermont's distinctive 
destinations, Marlboro College. Walk through this picturesque school in 
the summer months and you will hear some of the sweetest melodies 
imaginable, or you may be enveloped by warm pulses of sound that seem 
to linger like the wispy clouds above. The sounds you hear are those of 
another year of the Marlboro Music Festival.
  Since its founding in 1951, this 8-week festival--one of the world's 
premiere chamber music workshops and weekend concert series--brings 
some of the most renowned and experienced musicians together with the 
rising stars of tomorrow.
  This year has marked the 40th anniversary of the Musicians From 
Marlboro, the festival's active touring program which sends the 
musicians on the road to perform periodically across the country. At 
some of the Nation's premier venues, including historic places like the 
Freer Gallery in Washington and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New 
York, the concerts feature the exceptional music heard first in the 
Marlboro Music Festival.
  As this remarkable event approaches again this year, spanning the 
gorgeous Vermont months of June through August, it is fitting to pause 
to note the accomplishments of the Musicians From Marlboro and the 
entire Marlboro Music Festival. For four decades, the festival's 
touring group has brought their music to every corner of the United 
States. For four decades, the musicians have set a model of artistic 
excellence that has inspired other musicians and artists and their 
audiences. This band of musicians--outwardly casual but hard-driven in 
their pursuit of beauty and truth in their art--has moved thousands of 
concert-goers.
  The touring group has featured such superb musicians as Rudolph 
Serkin, Richard Goode, Benita Velente, and Murray Perahia. Performers 
who went on to make up such noted ensembles as the Guarneri and Emerson 
String Quartets have received critical early boosts from the Marlboro 
experience of intensive summers and the tours. Their alumni can be 
found in many leading orchestras, from the Philadelphia Orchestra to 
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
  There is certainly something about Vermont and the Green Mountains 
that helps inspire the ensemble. Whatever the inspiration, the 
Musicians From Marlboro are a superb reflection of the best Vermont has 
to offer.
  Vermont is a richer place because of the Marlboro Music Festival, and 
the festival and its musicians have touched innumerable audiences 
across the country with their artistry. I know my colleagues join me in 
congratulating the Marlboro Music Festival and its Musicians From 
Marlboro on this great achievement of 40 years of touring and in 
wishing the festival many more happy and sonorous decades to come.

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