Meet Our Team
Stephen FalbelTreasurerOffice ManagerStephen Falbel has been Treasurer of the Monteverdi board since 2008 and also led the board of the Center for Arts and Learning from its inception in 2012 until 2017. Steve is currently filling in as office manager for the Monteverdi office in Fall of 2020. He is a professional singer, performing with Counterpoint and his early music ensemble, the Green Mountain Monteverdi Ensemble of Vermont, as well as other groups. By day, he is a public transportation planning consultant.
Matthew TaylorBoard MemberComposer and saxophonist Matthew Evan Taylor (1980) has been hailed as “a promising new voice” (Lawrence Budmen, Miami Herald) and a “risk taker” (Neil De La Flor, Huffington Post) whose music is “insistent and defiant…envelopingly hypnotic” (Alan Young, Lucid Culture).
A southern kid who worshipped at the altar of Cannonball Adderly, Ornette Coleman, Carla Bley and Charles Mingus, Matthew’s music has been performed across the United States and Europe by such ensembles as the Cleveland Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, the Metropolis Ensemble, the Imani Winds, and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. As a performer, Matthew has worked with musicians Elliott Sharp, Marilyn Crispell, Tatsuya Nakatani, Taylor Ho Bynum, Mary Halvorson; visual artists Will Kasso Condry, Molly Zuckerman-Hartung and Dannielle Tegeder; and dancers Katherine Kramer, Sara Shelton, Laurel Jenkins, and Lida Winfield. Matthew has developed a dedicated following for his #project39 series on Instagram and Facebook. In December 2019, on his 39th birthday, Matthew pledged to improvise for at least 39 seconds for a year. This series has yielded the album Say Their Names, seven improvised reactions to the events of May 29 – June 5, the early days of the renewed Black Lives Matters protests. Self-released on Bandcamp on June 6th, the proceeds have gone directly to such racial justice organizations as Black Lives Matter Global Organization and the Equal Justice Initiative. Matthew has also partnered with the Metropolis Ensemble and New Amsterdam Records to release his epic The Unheard Mixtapes. Another product of #project39, this 5-EP series represents a journey inward and Matthew’s struggle to cope with isolation in a time when it was never more important to join in solidarity with people. The first installment, The Unheard Mixtape 1: Follow to the End was released September 29, 2020, with each installment thereafter released monthly. All albums will be on Bandcamp, courtesy of New Amsterdam Records. Matthew is currently based in Vermont. He is Assistant Professor of Music at Middlebury College. |
Deb SmollerPresidentDeb Smoller has been a Monteverdi board member since 2017 and President since 2019. Deb has taught piano lessons for 27 years (bio here) and flute for 18 years. Her early careers in Burlington included work in the nonprofit sector including Flynn Theatre for Performing Arts, Discover Jazz Festival, and Burlington City Arts as well as in the for-profit sector in cinema. More recently Deb spent 6 years with a local/sustainable food organization as operations manager and currently as a manager sub with Hunger Mountain Co-op.
Liz BenjaminSecretaryLiz Benjamin has been a member of the Monteverdi Music School board of directors since 2018 and secretary since 2019. She has been studying composition with Erik Nielsen for six years. She has included music and singing in her work with children, youth, and adults all her life. She taught Music Together for ten years and was a kindergarten teacher and a minister of religious education.
You?Possible Board Member.
|
Lisa CarlsonProgram Consultant
Lisa has served as recital coordinator since April of 2020, when programs moved online. As program consultant since late June 2020, she also works on website design and other limited aspects of Monteverdi Music School's online presence. Lisa also teaches flute at Monteverdi, and you can read her flute bio here.
Larry RevitBoard MemberA musician since childhood, Larry has made music recordings since his teens. He worked in studios and concert venues through the 1970s, when he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in music engineering. A progressive hearing loss led to a research-oriented masters degree in audiology, and now he has come full circle: creating laboratory sound systems used in hearing aid and cochlear implant research. A member of the Monteverdi board since 2018, Larry has remained a performing musician, playing guitar and electric bass at venues throughout Vermont.
Allison Rogers Photo and bio coming soon!
Board Member |