Where does one go to see Americana singer-songwriter Iris DeMent, the Budapest-based classical ensemble Trio Bohémo and jazz pianist Helen Sung? Based at the University of Vermont Recital Hall, the UVM Lane Series has brought in high-caliber musicians and performers working in a wide variety of genres for almost 70 years. This season, audiences can sample shows ranging from an off-the-wall percussion soloist to ensembles that include a Middle Eastern oud and a new string instrument called a fadolín. And that's only the fall portion of the 2024-25 season.
The architect of this cultural cornucopia is director Natalie Neuert. The fourth director since the series' start in 1955, she has programmed Lane lineups for the past 14 years and given Burlington's venerable music series cutting-edge appeal season after season.
"I've been doing it for so long that I do have a sense of what works," Neuert said during a phone interview. Guided by musical taste and knowledge that are "pretty wide-ranging," as she put it, Neuert aims to entice audiences to the intimate, 300-seat hall with a few big acts — DeMent's series-opening show last week sold out immediately — and many lesser-known but intriguing ones.
"It's boutique, what we do," she said. "We don't need necessarily to look for the familiar. We want people to open their eyes and ears to something they've never seen before."
Valerie Solof Monette and Robert Monette of Jericho have held season passes to the series for the past six years. In a phone call, Valerie described Neuert's taste as "omnivorous" and said she and her husband especially look forward to being surprised each season.
"As with most things, you think you know what you like, but you don't know what you like," Valerie said. Something could go wrong with the two concerts you're looking forward to, she continued, "meanwhile the Brazilian whatever blows you away with the first note.
"This is some of the most incredible world-class talent that you don't hear about," Valerie said. "You cannot be tuned-in enough to be aware of the music in the Lane Series."
To land those unique acts, Neuert is constantly on the move. She travels often to seek out native music in different countries — particularly those specializing in Celtic music, a Lane staple. She explores the indie singer-songwriter world, hits the Montréal music scene regularly and keeps up with choral and vocal acts around the globe.
At the annual Association of Performing Arts Professionals booking conference in New York City, Neuert might see 50 artists over four days. She's a regular at the Folk Alliance International Conference and Mundial Montréal, a world music showcase. She listens to "a lot" of live music, attends "a ton" of festivals and even gleans ideas from her students. Neuert teaches one class per semester, including a music department course on arts management in which her students put together a performing arts season.
Neuert began at the Lane in 1994 as marketing and financial manager under former director Jane Ambrose, a flutist and music historian of the baroque era who chaired UVM's music department. While Ambrose programmed some folk, jazz and international performers, seasons often hewed to her tastes in early and classical music. When Neuert took over in 2010, she worked to "get the dial to move" in order to expand the audience.
"We had to. We absolutely had to," Neuert said.
Knowing that chamber music is what works best in the hall — which Neuert describes as an "echo chamber with a lot of low-end reverb" — the director brings in small, mainly acoustic ensembles of every musical stripe. "I believe chamber music is just magical in our hall, but it doesn't have to be classical chamber music," she said.
The director still programs some classical. Besides Trio Bohémo and Trio Fadolín, this fall's 10 acts include WindSync, a quintet that won the 2016 Fischoff prize for wind ensemble; and British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, who gained fame on "Britain's Got Talent" in 2015. (Her cellist brother, Sheku, played at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding in 2018.) Kanneh-Mason, who plays large halls around the world, is a coup for the series; Neuert worked for two years to land her.
While it may sound like an earnest university institution, the Lane Series has always been for the community. Founded in 1954 with a Lane family endowment in memory of UVM alum George Bishop Lane, it originally ran in now-defunct Memorial Auditorium until the recital hall opened in 1974.
At Memorial, acts included whatever was available in those early days of touring, from the London Symphony Orchestra and a Russian ballet company to Ike and Tina Turner, Nina Simone, and Simon & Garfunkel. In fact, the live version of the Everly Brothers' "Bye Bye Love" on Simon and Garfunkel's album Bridge Over Troubled Water was recorded at a 1968 Lane Series concert at Memorial, Neuert noted. The recording captures the Burlington audience clapping along.
Neuert makes an effort each season to highlight artists from around the world, an aspect of programming she believes is "more and more important, because music is a bridge."
In addition, she said, she has "about 10 criteria" for choosing a show, including how it will sound in the hall, affordability, whether it "celebrates a culture that brings something to our community that audiences might not normally have or see," and whether the performers are "doing something interesting in a highly dazzling and accomplished way."
"It's a tapestry she thinks about and spends a lot of time weaving," said Kellie Fleury, the Lane's business and marketing manager since 2022. Fleury worked at Higher Ground nightclub in South Burlington for 11 years, helming the box office and marketing outdoor performances such as the Ben & Jerry's Concerts on the Green series at Shelburne Museum and the Grand Point North festival.
"One of the things I notice about our [Lane Series] audience," Fleury said, "is there is an element of trust. Natalie has worked so long at curating, and she has proven time and time again to her audience that we're going to bring in talent.
"Whether you've heard of them or not," Fleury continued, "you can trust that it will sound good, be cool and be different."
Steve MacQueen, the current executive director of Vermont International Film Foundation, spent 10 years as artistic director of the Flynn in Burlington. He said programming a performing arts season requires a balance of "answering to the economic gods while also meeting your own artistic bent."
During his Flynn tenure, MacQueen collaborated with Neuert on about 20 shows, a partnership he has continued at the film foundation. Last season's Vermont International Film Festival opened with a showing of the 1945 film noir Hangover Square at the recital hall with live music provided by a theremin, violin and piano trio that Neuert brought in.
MacQueen described the Lane Series as "wide-ranging" and "adventurous," adding that Neuert "knows her audience and knows what they want but also understands that you broaden your audience by bringing in new things."
Season pass holder Valerie Solof Monette agrees. She recommends "giving yourself over" to the Lane Series programming. "Any night you can get caught by something or someone who has the magic, and you happen to be there. That's the joy of live music," she said. "Allow yourself to be delighted."