I am the current Director of the Vermont Council of National Association of Insurance Women d/b/a International Association of Insurance Professionals. Our group will be converging upon Brandon September 14th and 15th for our Annual Vermont Council Day.  

In years past, Vermont Council Day has been held at large, "corporate" venues, such as Stowe, Sugarbush, Bolton Valley, Holiday Inn and other large hotel chains. I however, chose to bring the event to what I consider my Vermont Home Town, Brandon. The independently owned Brandon Inn is the venue for our event.

During the two days, we will be taking care of organization business, doing continuing education, a community service project at the Brandon Town Hall, and will have time to spend in Brandon.  

I write to ask for your support, to help me make the attendees visit to Brandon unforgettable. In our welcome packet, I would like to have a flyer with coupons from our various businesses. Perhaps a percentage off, free item with minimum purchase, just something to help entice our guest to spend some time in Brandon and check out our great local businesses and offerings.

Another new feature of Vermont Council Day is a "silent auction" with proceeds to benefit the Vermont Chapter of the American Red Cross. In keeping with our theme, items available will be Vermont Products and/or from Small Vermont businesses. If you would like to donate to this wonderful cause, please let me know (barb@alanasheinsurance.com or 558-8692).

I am SO EXCITED to be holding what Vermont Council Days in Brandon and I hope you will join me in welcoming this wonderful group of people to town!

Thank you

Barb Watters, Vt Council Director

1) One week (April 13 - April 20, 2013) at the Orange Lake Resort, West Village, in Orlando. Florida.  Full kitchen, 2 bedrooms, 6 private occupancy or 8 full occupancy. Note this does NOT include transportation to or from Florida, and the resort is for that specific time period only.
$1600.00 value includes:

2) Four, one day Walt Disney "Hopper Passes" good for any time from June 15 2012 - June 15 2014. These four passes are good at any  Disney venue (Disney World, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, etc.)  $500.00 value Total value: $2100. Tickets available at any Brandon Town Hall Event

 Drawing on December 5, 2012 Moonlight Madness at the Town Hall.  Do not have to be present to win. Thank you Gary & Nancy Meffe for the donation.

Food Safety Courses

ServSafe® Food Safety Certification

Chefs, Proprietors, Food Managers, Specialty Foods Entrepreneurs

Food Handlers Certificates, excellent ServSafe® pathway

Cold and Hot Foods Preparation, Deli and Wait Service Associates

Training to Excel, Norm Milot, Brandon Vermont

ServSafe® Instructor and Registered Proctor

Phone: 802.247.0098 answered by Rosebelle's Inn

Email: info@trainingtoexcel.com 

Web site:www.trainingtoexcel.com 

Food Safety sessions pre-scheduled monthly in Brandon

Sessions mutually arranged to accommodate client unit scheduling

Brandon Music Presents the Syncopation Vocal Jazz Ensemble, August 30

Brandon Music, located at 62 Country Club Road in Brandon, Vermont, will present the Syncopation Vocal Jazz Ensemble on August 30 at 7:30pm. General Admission is $12. Venue is BYOB. Brandon Music offers an Early Bird dinner special, which includes a ticket for the jazz performance, for $22 per person. Full menu is also available at regular pricing.

For Information & Reservations (802) 465-4071 / info@brandon-music.net

Syncopation performs jazz and pop music in four-part harmony with a style that is both timeless and contemporary. Comprised of acclaimed Boston vocalists Christine Fawson, Jeremy Ragsdale, David Thorne Scott and Tsunenori "Lee" Abe, the group is renowned for their A cappella singing, which has earned them regional and national awards. All About Jazz calls Syncopation "a thoroughly modern, bright, and fresh take on ensemble jazz vocals that effectively updates the entire genre."

Syncopation has performed at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, the Boston Globe Jazz Festival, and the International Association for Jazz Education Conference.  The group regularly plays jazz clubs in New England including Scullers, Ryles, the Hi-Hat, the Sahara Club, and the Press Room. The Boston Globe celebrated Syncopationas "the 21st Century Manhattan Transfer or Lambert, Hendricks and Ross."

Jazz at Brandon Music performances have a concert listening policy, which prohibits talking, texting, cell phones, recording, laptop computers, gaming units, and cameras during the performance. The weekly series is produced by NH Jazz Presents and sponsored by the Brandon Inn, the Radisson Nashua, Patrick's Pub and the Margate Resort.

Upcoming Jazz Shows at Brandon Music:

9/6 Left Ear Trio featuring Michael-Louis Smith

9/13 Geoff Countryman & the Buffalo Band

9/20 Landaya African Rhythm Ensemble featuring Sayon Camara & Dave "the Kobra"

9/27 Jerry Sabatini's Sonic Explorers

10/4 Philip Hamilton Group

10/11 Ken Peplowski

10/18 Yoron Israel's High Standards Quartet

10/25 Julian Lage (solo)

BRANDON MUSIC  

Point CounterPoint Faculty Perform Benefit Concert at Brandon Music Sept 7

Brandon Music in Brandon, Vermont, presents a chamber music concert by Point CounterPoint summer camp faculty members on September 7, 2012, at 7pm. Performers include Anton Miller, violin; Rita Porfiris, viola; Lawrence Zoernig, cello; and Arielle Levioff, piano. The program will include Beethoven's Piano Trio in B-flat, Op. 11, Castanuevo-Tedesco's Sonata for violin and viola, and Brahms' Piano Quartet in c minor, Op. 60.  Tickets are $15 per person and proceeds will benefit the Compass Music and Arts Foundation. For tickets, call 802-465-4071 or email info@brandon-music.net.

Point CounterPoint was founded in 1963 on the shores of Lake Dunmore by the late Dr. Edwin Finckel, a New Jersey pianist, composer, and teacher. Dr. Finckel's goal was to create summer musical opportunities for his students. Among these first camper/musicians was his son, David Finckel, now well-known as the cellist in the Emerson String Quartet and as the cellist in the duo of David Finckel and Wu Han. The next owners and directors were Emory Fanning, professor of music at Middlebury College, and Diana Fanning, a noted concert pianist, who directed the camp for ten years. Under the Fannings' leadership, Point CounterPoint gained an international reputation, attracting many students from foreign lands: France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, West Africa, Japan, Israel, Switzerland, as well as, Canada.

In 1989, ownership of Point CounterPoint passed to professional violinist/violist Dr. Paul Roby and pianist Margaret Johnson Roby, along with amateur musicians and family members Nick and Sue Jones. The Roby/Jones team changed the camp's music focus to strings and piano, eliminating woodwinds.

In 2008, a new era began when Jenny and Steve Beck purchased Point CounterPoint.  New programs populate the summer calendar.  At the end of the summer, a one week camp (called Prelude) attracts the young chamber musicians (ages 8-13) who are looking for a shorter sleep-away camp experience.  Early in the fall, there is a 5 day Adult Chamber Music Workshop giving amateurs the opportunity to play music with new friends in a camp-like environment.  In June 2011, New Music on The Point was launched.  New Music On The Point encourages imaginative collaboration among composers, instrumentalists, and vocalists creating 21st century chamber music in a glorious setting on the shores of Lake Dunmore.  The newest of the music programs at PCP focuses on young adults ages 18 and older who are interested in new chamber music.  At this innovative program, young composers, instrumentalists and vocalists collaborate and perform the newest of new chamber music.

Compass Music and Arts Foundation is a new and developing non-profit organization striving to be the foremost venue in Vermont for all types of music and artistic media. Compass Music and Arts Foundation is dedicated to enriching life through a deeper appreciation of music and the literary, performing and visual arts. The purpose of Compass Music and Arts Foundation is to help bring art in all its forms to the people of Vermont and beyond.

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

Pianist Arielle Levioff has appeared as a soloist in some of New York City's most prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, and Alice Tully Hall.  She has also performed in Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and in England, France, and Italy.  Ms. Levioff was a finalist in the 2009 Sorel Medallion Competition in Collaborative Piano, and in July 2010 was invited by the Sorel Foundation to join the coaching staff at the Daniel Ferro Vocal Festival in Tuscany.  In November 2011 she made her debut at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium in the inaugural concert of the newly formed New York Women's Ensemble.  Her playing was described as "elegant" by Steve Smith, music critic for the New York Times. Ms. Levioff  has attended many prestigious summer festivals including the Tanglewood Institute. She has served on the piano faculty of the 92^nd Street Y School of Music since 2005 and maintains a private teaching studio.  She recently began teaching piano in the 60 Plus program at the 92^nd Street Y and has been on the faculty of the Point Counterpoint Adult Chamber Music since its beginning in 2010.

Since giving his Carnegie Hall concerto debut, American violinist Anton Miller has appeared throughout the United States and abroad as a soloist, chamber musician, recitalist, and pedagogue. He is currently Associate Professor of Violin at The Hartt School and on the violin and chamber music faculty at New York University. Mr. Miller is a founder and the Artistic Director of the Three Bridges International Chamber Music Festival in Minnesota, and was the co-Artistic Director of the Silver Bay Festival.  In the 2010-2011 Season, Mr. Miller performed the Sibelius and Vieuxtemps Concerti as well as the Beethoven Romance in D with orchestras in Nebraska and Florida, and recorded the Weill Violin Concerto for the Naxos label. Mr. Miller is dedicated to expanding the violin repertoire, and he often premieres the music of living composers.  He is currently working on a CD project of commissioned new works for violin and viola with violist Rita Porfiris.  His world premiere performance of Xiogang Ye's "Last Paradise" for violin and orchestra in Beijing, China was recorded for broadcast throughout Asia and released on CD.  His complete discography can be found on the Dorian, Jericho, Full House, Hugo, Naxos and Klavier labels.

Always trying to bridge the gap between popular culture and classical music, violist Rita Porfiris has been the subject of articles and interviews in media across the globe including the New York Times, Chamber Music America, International Symphony Musician, the NBC Nightly News, NPR, PBS, and the BBC. She has performed in major concert halls and music festivals worldwide and as a soloist has appeared with numerous orchestras including the Orquesta Filarmonica de la Ciudad de Mexico, the New World Symphony and the Houston Symphony. Currently the Associate Professor of Viola at The Hartt School, she is also on the faculty of New York University, the Texas Music Festival, and ARIA Arts Academy. Ms. Porfiris is the Artistic Director and co-Founder of Musica da Camara Festival Eterna Primavera in Mexico and was a founding member of the Plymouth Quartet, in-residence at the Ojai Festival, Mainly Mozart, Point Counterpoint, and the Internationale Quartettakademie Prag-Wien-Budapest. She has worked under some of the most recognized conductors of the 20-21 Centuries, including Leonard Bernstein, Sergiu Celibidache, Kurt Masur, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Christoph Eschenbach.

Lawrence Zoernig has been principal 'cellist of many New York symphony and chamber orchestras including New York Chamber Orchestra, Bachanalia and Opera Manhattan.  Mr. Zoernig premiered Lars-Erik Larsson's Concertino for 'Cello and String Orchestra at Trinity Church with the New York Scandia Symphony, for which he is also principal 'cellist.  As a chamber musician, he has performed with Goliard Ensemble and the Cosmopolitan Chamber Players. He has appeared with such noted artists as violinists Nina Beilina, Sidney Harth and Mark Peskanov and clarinetist Charles Neidich. He has appeared as soloist and chamber musician at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, Steinway Hall in New York and the Phillips Collection and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In April 2005 he was invited to play for President Jimmy Carter at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. As a concert artist on the international scene, Mr. Zoernig has also been presented in Brazil and Spain and extensively on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth II, Caronia, Vistafjord, Sagafjord and Royal Viking Sun throughout the world. Meet the Composer Foundation recently provided Mr. Zoernig with a grant for his work as a composer of music for 'cello.

Workshop on Business Succession and Employee Ownership
Coming to Carris Reels,
Proctor, VT - Oct. 3

 

The Vermont Employee Ownership Center (VEOC) is offering a free workshop entitled "Selling to the Employees: Employee Ownership as a Path for Business Succession" on Wednesday, October 3rd from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm in the offices of Carris Reels in Proctor, Vermont. Carris Reelsmanufactures packaging for the wire and cable industry, and is 100% employee-owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Lunch for workshop attendees is included!

VEOC staff will provide a brief overview of ownership succession options, and will focus on the pros and cons of different forms of employee ownership, including the key financial and organizational benefits of this approach. The story of employee ownership at Carris Reels will be told by Dave Fitz-Gerald,the company's Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Bill Kidder, Eastern Region Manager and Vice President for Corporate Banking at Merchants Bank, will discuss financing for ownership succession. Tabitha Croscut, a partner in the law firm of Steiker, Fischer, Edwards & Greenapple, will describe the steps in assessing feasbility of establishing an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) or other form of employee ownership.

The event is co-sponsored by the Vermont Small Business Development Center and the Rutland Economic Development Corporation. Refreshments and lunch will be served.

There is no registration fee, but advance registration is required. For more information and to register, please visit www.veoc.org or call 802-321-8362 .

SQUARE DANCE TO BENEFIT BRANDON TOWN HALL RESTORATION

Square up for an evening of dancing fun at the Brandon Town Hall. Peter Tobin will be calling a Western-style Square Dance sponsored by the Cast Off 8's on Saturday, September 8 between 8 and 10 PM. The $5 per person admission will go to the continued restoration of the Brandon Town Hall. Join the fun. No experience is necessary.

The Cast Off 8's have been an active Square Dance club for the past 34 years. We dance on Wednesday evenings at the Lothrop School Gym in Pittsford. New dancers are welcome to join the group during the month of September. For additional information, please give us a call or visit our website (www.CastOff8s.com).

BRANDON AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

PO BOX 267

BRANDON, VT 05733

802-247-6401

e: info@brandon.org

www.brandon.org