Vermont
Internationally renowned composer Nico Muhly comes home to Vermont with piece for VSO
Nico Muhly is a world traveler. The composer was home in New York when he spoke with the Burlington Free Press in early April, but on the days before and after that conversation his itinerary included trips to Paris, Los Angeles and London.
When he’s home, though – not home in New York, but home home, the place where he feels he really belongs – it’s in central Vermont.
“If I say I’m going home,” Muhly said, “it’s to Randolph.”
One of the world’s most highly regarded contemporary composers, Muhly was born 42 years ago at Gifford Medical Center in Randolph. His parents lived primarily in Providence, Rhode Island, but their home and artistic studio in Tunbridge, outside Randolph, is where he feels most rooted, having spent every summer and most weekends there.
Considering his Vermont connections, it’s a little surprising that Muhly has never written a commissioned piece for the state’s most prominent classical organization, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. That changes May 4 when the VSO and another Vermont-born musician making waves internationally, pianist Adam Tendler, premiere a piece Muhly created specifically for Tendler and the VSO.
Working at Carnegie Hall, with Sufjan Stevens
The composer has certainly written high-profile commissioned pieces before, for the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and more. Muhly has collaborated with choreographers including Benjamin Millepied at the Paris Opera Ballet and Kyle Abraham at the New York City Ballet. He has dipped into the world of popular music to work with indie stars such as Bryce Dessner of The National and Sufjan Stevens.
Muhly’s mother, Bunny Harvey, an artist and teacher, attended the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. Muhly’s father, documentary filmmaker Frank Muhly, also went to school in the city, attending Brown University. Harvey taught at Wellesley College, 35 miles away in Massachusetts, so the family lived mostly in Providence, where Muhly attended school.
Muhly said his mother’s parents had homes in Woodstock and Randolph Center before his parents bought an old Cape Cod-style home in Tunbridge in the 1970s that they’ve added onto bit by bit. Those additions include a studio where Muhly sometimes creates his compositions.
“It’s gradually expanded into this kind of magical place,” said Muhly, who called the Tunbridge home “a gathering point” for friends and family. When he describes it to first-time visitors he says, “Yes, the highway (Interstate 89) is there, kind of, but it’s a click farther away than other places.”
Muhly attends festivals and collaborates with musicians worldwide, but that doesn’t keep him from Vermont. Sometimes, he said, he’ll wake up in a place like Helsinki, fly to Boston, board a tiny plane bound for Lebanon, New Hampshire, and arrive in Tunbridge to find himself “grilling a chicken at 6 p.m.”
Compositions by Justin Morgan
The story of how Muhly came to work on the VSO piece, a co-commission with the New Jersey Symphony, is not complicated.
“The phone rang and I said ‘Sure,’” he said. “It was pretty simple.”
The composition itself, a piano concerto titled “Sounding,” was not as easy. Muhly based the 15-minute piece on hymns by Justin Morgan, the renowned 18th-century horse breeder who lived in Randolph.
“He was kind of a polymath,” Muhly said of Morgan. “He was a composer/horse breeder. I think he was also a publisher. He was one of the originators of shape-note music.”
Tapping into music a couple of centuries old is not uncommon for Muhly. “I would say a lot of my music is in some sort of dialogue with the past, either explicitly or not,” he said. But Morgan’s style didn’t mesh easily with Muhly’s approach.
“That music is actually quite at variance with the music from the past that I really relate to, which is Anglican choral music,” Muhly said. He had to translate Morgan’s style into his own language.
“That was randomly more challenging than I thought,” Muhly said. “It kind of doesn’t matter how big the piece is. You still have to have a really good idea.”
Adam Tendler plays Muhly’s music
Muhly often writes compositions with friends in mind to play them. He wrote “Sounding” to be played by Tendler, who grew up outside Barre, just up Vermont 14 from Tunbridge. Muhly said Tendler can provide the “technical fireworks” the piece requires.
Muhly said he likes to ask when writing for a musician such as Tendler “how does this fit in your hands?” Then, he said, “I am able to tailor the suit.”
Tendler performed April 11 at The Phoenix in Waterbury in conjunction with the Waterbury-based contemporary chamber group TURNmusic. The program featured eight piano pieces written by Muhly between 2005 and 2022.
The works displayed Muhly’s range, from the delicate, deliberate tone of “Lilt” to the more energetic and flamboyant “Move.” Tendler concluded with “Eiris, Sones,” a Muhly composition that will appear on Tendler’s upcoming album.
Tendler said he didn’t know Muhly while growing up in Vermont; they became friends while living in New York. “I really started as a fan of his,” Tendler told the audience at The Phoenix.
He described Muhly’s music as “precise,” but also surprising. Muhly likes to include what Tendler called “glitches” in his compositions, where one note can change the shape of an entire piece.
“I call it sometimes the ‘anti-ending,’” Tendler said, adding that Muhly might not care for that description. “I think it’s interesting to hear something that upends what has been established.”
Muhly will be back in Vermont for the May 4 performance of “Sounding.” He said he’s “really happy with the piece,” despite having wrestled with creating it.
“I’m glad I did it,” Muhly said, “so I don’t have to do it anymore.”
If you go
WHAT: “Mozart, Mazzoli, and Muhly,” a concert presented by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 4
WHERE: The Flynn, Burlington
INFORMATION: $8.35-$59. www.vso.org
Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com.
Vermont
Grilling the Chef: Robert Smith III Leads a Fresh Chapter at Ferrisburgh's Starry Night Café
Chef Robert Smith III
- Position: Executive chef
- Age: 31
- Cuisine type: Italian-inflected California cuisine with fresh, seasonal ingredients
- Experience: On-the-job training in Vermont, from dishwashing at Kitchen Table Bistro to holding all stations at Texas Roadhouse to three years cooking at Guild Tavern. Moved to Los Angeles at 22 and spent four years at chef Michael Cimarusti’s two-Michelin-starred Providence — including off-site events in Mexico and cooking onstage for Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead. Other California career highlights include San Francisco’s Flour + Water and Michelin-starred AL’s Place, as well as Sightglass Coffee’s 14,000-square-foot Hollywood expansion.
- What’s on the menu: Coal-roasted oysters; crispy root vegetables with Cabot clothbound cheddar espuma; an epic deconstructed steak tartare; housemade pasta; and wood-grilled entrées, including black bass and picanha steak with loaded polenta, black garlic steak sauce, grilled lemon and sauce Bordelaise
The first Friday in May was a busy one at Ferrisburgh’s Starry Night Café. The sun was shining, and the team was snipping tulip stems and cleaning off outdoor tables to open the restaurant’s patio for the first time this year. Baby greens and herbs were peeking through the soil in the fine-dining restaurant’s new raised-bed vegetable garden. And as this reporter from Seven Days walked into the kitchen, a health inspector was wrapping up his surprise visit.
“I thought this interview would be the most nerve-racking thing today,” executive chef Robert Smith III joked, settling into a comfy new leather chair in the restaurant’s window-filled sunroom.
That room, formerly a screened-in porch warmed by space heaters, is just one of the updates recently undertaken at the destination restaurant on Route 7. Since Smith began leading Starry Night’s kitchen in late 2021, there have been three separate renovations. Most of the multiroom restaurant has been refreshed, including a hood expansion to accommodate a wood-fired grill in the kitchen, updates to the octagonal dining room and the porch winterization. The most recent project — a complete revamp of the front barroom, for which Starry was closed for five weeks this spring — has created a modern, downright swanky space.
A Jericho native, Smith already thought the restaurant was one of the most beautiful in Vermont when he arrived for his interview in November 2021, two days after moving back to Vermont from a seven-year stint at top restaurants in California. Now, thanks to all the investment from owners Mark and Molly Valade, the setting has a big-city feel befitting his big, bold menu.
Starry Night regular Bobby Berg, owner of Haute & Heady Cannabis Cuisine, told Seven Days the renovated restaurant “matches California’s wine country refinement with Vermont’s rustic, earthy palates.” Smith, recalling Berg’s feedback on a recent meal, summarized a more visceral take: “He said he wants to take a bath in the black garlic steak sauce.”
The new marble-topped bar is far from a bathtub, but it’s the perfect place to soak up the delights of a cut-to-order, deconstructed steak tartare ($23) or luxuriate over a bowl of ribbony mafaldine pasta with wild morel ragù ($36) alongside a cocktail from bar pro Nick Roy.
Smith took a break from his busy day to chat about the renovations, forgotten rooms and what’s growing in the garden.
How’d the health inspection go?
I saw [the inspector], and I was like, [big sigh] ‘Hi!’ But it went well. I didn’t get the score yet, but I saw what he wrote down and have a good idea.
I’m sure he was just here to check out this incredible new bar.
[Laughing] This used to be the forgotten room. You’d walk through the door right into the bar, and it was awkward.
A lot of guests would leave notes in their reservations saying they didn’t want to sit in the front room. The first week we were back, we had guests say, “Actually, I do want to sit in there.”
Beyond the physical changes, how has your menu evolved since you started here?
I look back in my pictures at early menu stuff, and I think I was really, really focused on “fine dining” and plating things that way. I’m getting more comfortable with my skill set and what I like.
We’ve gotten a lot more pasta-forward, too. I love northern Italian braises of pork and beef that take several days. We make ricotta and marinate the meat in the whey from that to tenderize it. We’ve even got a pasta extruder in the back, so we can make semolina dried noodles in-house — all kinds of shapes.
You posted a video of beet radiatori recently that looked pretty incredible.
Several people thought that was hamburger — my parents and a delivery driver. He said, “Making hamburg?” I was like, What is hamburg? This is great.
If you were to pair a dish with each of the restaurant’s dining rooms, what would they be?
For the bar, grilled oysters, roasted veg and fun specials that we run. You can see the kitchen, so that makes sense to me there. This room [the former porch], I don’t know what it is, but it attracts the most pasta lovers. We’ll get tables of all pasta. The larger dining room, it’s the big showstopper plates.
You’re adding Saturday lunch in June. What will be on the menu?
We’re gonna do some pastas — carbonara, vongole, a spring zucchini pasta with mafaldine — Korean spareribs, and some sandwiches on housemade buns. We’re working on some type of crispy fry thing. We don’t have a fryer in the kitchen, so that’s the dilemma.
Speaking of fryers, what was it like going from a chain restaurant to fine dining early in your career?
I was hired [at Texas Roadhouse] as a dishwasher and worked cold prep, hot prep, the line, grill. When the Guild was opening up, I was like, “This is sick — a new wood-grilled steakhouse.” I felt confident cooking steak. It’s different quality and seasonings, but you’re cooking a lot of steak at Texas Roadhouse. You get temperature and volume. Still, the Guild was an eye-opening experience. Chef Phillip Clayton was a really great mentor for me. When I left, he gave me a chef coat and a really nice good-grace note to anywhere.
How do you foster that sort of growth now that you’re the mentor?
It’s incredible to see people put more on their plate and just crush it. My sous chef, Eli Eppolito, is really tremendous. He keeps the kitchen afloat — and he’s six foot five and can dunk. He started as a cook; he graduated from UVM and didn’t want to be a sociologist.
I definitely like to promote from within. There’s no reason not to pursue what we have and invest more with them. We’ve got two guys who started in the dish pit, and now they’re on the pasta station and the grill. A chef friend of mine, Austin [Poulin of southern Vermont’s Restaurant at Hill Farm], dined here last week, and he said, “How old are these kids?” I was like, “Combined age of 39. And they’re doing great.” I don’t think they had encouragement like that before.
How do you find people to work here, being a destination spot?
We do a lot of carpooling. Most of us are commuting from Middlebury or Burlington. Staffing is the hardest. That’s why maintaining this team is so important — this is the best staff we’ve ever had. We have under 20 employees, and not all of them are full time. But this restaurant’s only open 15 hours a week.
Even for diners, you’ve got to plan. You’re not often driving by here at 5:30 p.m. like, “Oh, I’m gonna swing in for dinner.”
As things start popping out of the ground, what are the next local ingredients you’re excited to put on the menu?
Asparagus, better peas — they’re starting, but they need to be a little sweeter — ramps and morels. Our six new garden beds were planted this week; Horsford [Gardens & Nursery] built them, and Farmer Hil is maintaining them for us. As cooks, we’ll go out daily to pick herbs and stuff for a garden salad. I just had some lettuce, which I shouldn’t really be eating because it should grow. But it tastes so fresh.
What’s planted in there? It’s cool to see the beds from Route 7.
Let’s walk out there. We’ve got radishes, beets, speckled lettuce, red Russian kale, red-veined sorrel, parsley chives, purple shiso. We got that from Farmer Hil last year for the tartare, and now it will be from here.
[Pointing to plants] Cilantro, curly parsley, chives, onions, sage, oregano, thyme, rosemary. It’s like the French Laundry.
Want to go in and light the grill? I have it all set up, because I figured this is a “grilling” thing. I’ll give you the blowtorch.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity and length.
OnLogic, an industrial computer hardware and solutions provider, has opened its global headquarters in South Burlington, Vermont, with a ceremony attended by dignitaries including U.S. Senator Peter Welch.
OnLogic, an industrial computer hardware and solutions provider, has opened its global headquarters in South Burlington, Vermont, with a ceremony attended by dignitaries including U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont), according to a press release.
The facility includes manufacturing capacity to support the design and deployment of orange systems for power manufacturing, automation, advanced agriculture, smart cities, energy management, artificial intelligence, and the industrial internet of things for a range of clients, from startups to large organizations such as NASA, Google, and Amazon.
The company’s previous Vermont headquarters opened in 2004 and was expanded in 2015. With approximately 300 employees across the U.S., The Netherlands, Germany, Taiwan, and Malaysia, OnLogic estimates the new facility will meet its needs for the next decade.
“Innovation is at the forefront of everything we do, and we went into this project with ideas to enhance efficiency and sustainability, including geo-thermal heating and solar power, with the goal to make the facility as self-sufficient as possible,” Roland Groeneveld, co-founder at OnLogic, said in the release. “This new space gives our team of around 180 people here in Vermont the resources and room they need to most effectively collaborate. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to continue to grow here and contribute to the thriving tech community and economic engine in Vermont.”
“It’s such an inspiring experience to see what happens when cooperation, teamwork, ingenuity, commitment, and discipline work,” Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont) said in the release. “This is how all of us not only want to build a business, it’s how we want to build a community, it’s how we want to live, it’s how we want to be in the world, where we’re part of something better, when we show up for work, we’re glad to be there. I am awfully proud to be a Vermonter in this OnLogic building celebrating the success of all this hard work by so many people in this company and in this community.”
Take a Trance on Me
Saturday 18
This year’s Bandwagon Summer Series, presented by Next Stage Arts, kicks off at the Putney Inn with an unbeatable double billing. Persian violinist and kamancheh (an Iranian bowed string instrument) player Mehrnam Rastegari (pictured) and Mediterranean psychedelic-surf trio Habbina Habbina transport audiences to the Middle East and beyond.
Golden Skate Warriors
Saturday 18
Vermonters cheer on the women and nonbinary athletes of Green Mountain Roller Derby at the team’s Back in Black Bout at Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction. Hard-hitting skaters enter a heart-pounding face-off against New York’s Salt City Roller Derby at this full-contact showdown.
Yiddish You Were Here
Thursday 16
Burlington’s Ohavi Zedek Synagogue presents a benefit concert for its Full Circle Preschool featuring Boston-based trio Fun Yener Velt, Yiddish for From Another World. After wine and cheese at an art show of works donated by OZ community members, musicians Jessica Kate Meyer, Hankus Netsky and Itay Dayan perform everything from soulful Carpathian Jewish songs to joyful klezmer jams.
One-Stop Shop
Thursday 16
At Rutland’s Downtown Sip + Shop, more than 20 local stores pair up with Vermont beverage and food purveyors for a delicious day of drinking and supporting small businesses. Ticket holders pick up a map and commemorative tote bag before tracking down all the tastings, from mocktails at the Rutland County Pride Center to Golden Rule Mead at GreenSpell Plant Shop to Inspired Cookies’ whoopie pies at Phoenix Books.
Short Squeeze
Friday 17-Sunday 19
Junction Arts & Media invites all White River Junction-area filmmakers to enter a race against the clock at the 48-Hour Film Slam. Beginning on Friday evening, registered teams have just two days to write, shoot and edit a short film, which will be screened to audiences at an awards ceremony on Sunday night. Start storyboarding now.
The Family Stone
Friday 17-Sunday 19
The William Eddy Lecture Series at St. Johnsbury’s Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium returns with artist, author and birder Rosemary Mosco‘s address “Panels and Pigeons: How Comics Help Us See Local Wildlife in New Ways.” The weekend fun continues with Mosco leading two kids’ cartoon workshops, a creative get-together over drinks at Kingdom Taproom and Table, and nature walks through Matsinger Forest in Danville.
This Is 40
Ongoing
Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville invites art lovers to party like it’s 1984 at its “40 Years Together” exhibit. Visitors are invited to break out their hair crimpers and shoulder pads for a 1980s-themed reception on May 16, where they’ll get the first look at a vast collection of modern and historical works by Vermont artists, as well as originals by gallery founder Alden Bryan and his wife, Mary.
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