BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – The Vermont Symphony Orchestra received a $10,000 grant to create an original musical piece about one of the earliest-documented same-sex couples in the United States. Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake lived in Vermont.
The Vermont 250th Anniversary Commission, Vermont Arts Council and Vermont Humanities awarded more than $63,000 in grants to various projects highlighting Vermont history to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.
Bryant and Drake lived and ran a business together in Weybridge for more than 40 years in the early to mid-1800s.
“Music is so emotionally evocative,” said Elise Brunelle, Vermont Symphony Orchestra executive director.
Brunelle said it’s an honor to turn the couple’s story into song for modern-day audiences.
“I feel a great and wonderful obligation to bring a bit of Vermont history into the performance space, into the classical music space. That’s really exciting,” Brunelle said.
The music will pull directly from Bryant and Drake’s life together.
“We have two vocalists who are going to be singing music that is taken from the letters that Charity and Sylvia wrote to each other,” Brunelle said.
The Vermont Symphony Orchestra had to find a composer who could work within budget with a passion for this piece and the ability to connect with the subjects.
“She and the two vocalists, our conductor, are all– it’s an entirely queer creative team,” Brunelle said.
She said the music connects the Vermonters of today with the Vermonters of the past.
“It’s a state where we can just live, whomever we are,” Brunelle said.
The work will take nearly a year to write and is being created now. The Vermont Symphony Orchestra will perform it on Sept. 18 at the Flynn Theater in Burlington.
