This year’s New Year Eve Highlight features Young Tradition Vermont presenting their Musical Petting Zoo, followed by their Youth Ensemble performance. These events will be from 1-4 PM at the Fletcher Free Library. The musical petting zoo features an array of instruments to interact with, while the YTV ensemble performance shows the individual taste of this year’s commissioned artist, Romy Munkres.

The musical petting zoo is a collection of instruments whose sole purpose is for people to explore. Touting a sign that says “please touch the instruments,” this event is designed to let people engage with music. The primary focus of Young Tradition Vermont is to inspire and teach the youth the beauty of traditional music, while also planting seeds of musical passion. YTV also ensures opportunities for individuals to perform any traditional music or dance that has inspired them. The musical petting zoo will mostly include stringed instruments like guitars, banjos, ukuleles, fiddles, and mandolins. Not only will the instruments bring their own unique sounds, but also their own unique stories.

The petting zoo will be broken up by the performance of the Youth Ensemble. Each year a current or previous member from the Young Tradition Touring group is selected and tasked with creating a small, 4-6 person ensemble that will tour the state performing a program of original compositions. This year’s commissioned artist is Romy Munkres. Romy’s ensemble includes her brother Ben Munkres, Abi Sandy, Hadley Stockwell, and Fern O’Donnell. Romy has a long-standing relationship with performance, which ranges from winning YTV’s annual contest all the way to touring Ireland, Cape Brenton, Japan, and NYC to perform. Needless to say, Romy’s endless experience will make them a fun sight on December 31st. Take a look at her ensemble’s first rehearsal:

Be sure to stop by Fletcher Free Library’s Main Reading Room to see YTV’s musical petting zoo and ensemble performance. The petting zoo will be at 1-1:45 and from 3-3:45r, with an intermission showcasing the youth Ensemble Performance.

This Bright Ideas Project event was crowdsourced from Vermonters, and generously powered by VSECU.

Text by Jay Strek.

Photo courtesy of Highlight.

Highlight: HYTV's Musical Petting Zoo and Youth Ensemble