About

What Makes Marlboro Unique

Marlboro Music is known world-wide as an institution devoted to artistic excellence and to developing new leaders who illuminate all areas of music. It is where the concept of having master artists play together with exceptional young professionals was born—initiating a dynamic, collaborative approach to learning. Under the artistic direction of pianists Mitsuko Uchida and Jonathan Biss, leading musicians spend up to seven weeks exchanging ideas and rehearsing in depth some 250 chamber music works each summer.

Since 1951, Marlboro has brought together generations of the world’s most respected musicians in the rural town of Marlboro, Vermont (population 978) to share their perspectives and learn from one another, to inspire and be inspired. Participants are drawn also by the warm, supportive family atmosphere, where musicians, staff, spouses, and children share meals, seminars, chores, social, and recreational events—creating a unique musical, human community. After three weeks of in-depth rehearsals, a portion of the musical collaborations are shared with audiences at weekend concerts, held from mid-July to mid-August. Audiences share in a spirit of discovery, experiencing exciting young musicians and hearing insightful interpretations of chamber music masterworks and unfamiliar pieces played with great passion and joy.

What Has Always Guided Us

The values our founders brought to this hilltop in 1951 are the same ones that guide Marlboro today. In a world that can feel increasingly driven by competition, celebrity, and commerce, we believe they matter more than ever.

Serve the Music (and Musicians). We pursue artistic truth over individual acclaim.

Collaborate as Equals. We learn and create together across generations, with hierarchy diminished in service to the music.

Inquire Deeply. We value questions over answers, exploration over certainty, and process over product.

Cultivate Community. We live together as a family, knowing shared rituals aren’t separate from our artistic mission—they support it.

Uphold Our Principles. We hold fast to our values and resist commercial pressures, even when it’s unconventional.

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Marlboro’s founders: Marcel Moyse, Louis Moyse, Rudolf Serkin, Blanche Moyse, Adolf Busch, Hermann Busch (with cellist Nathan Chaikin second from left)

“Nowhere else will you find this complete lack of selfishness, this coming together of musicians from all countries and backgrounds, this dedication to the composer and the music rather than to the performer’s glory.”

— Rudolf Serkin

Impact

In 1964, the Guarneri String Quartet became the first of many major chamber ensembles to form at Marlboro. Since then, many other artists who spent formative summers in Vermont have gone on to form or join other ensembles that have changed the chamber music landscape. When the Guarneri was founded, Musical America’s Directory of the Performing Arts listed 113 chamber ensembles; today, that list contains some 650 groups. Marlboro is widely credited with playing a major role in this growth and in a similar increase in the number of chamber music concert series and festivals today. We invite you to browse partial lists of participants—past and present—who developed their artistry at Marlboro early in their careers and went on to form or join prominent ensembles.

Ensembles Formed at Marlboro

Ensembles with Past Participants

Principals in Major Orchestras

Meet the Artists

Each summer, Marlboro gathers some 75 exceptionally talented instrumentalists and singers of widely varying ages, backgrounds, and points of view. New musical leaders are joined by eminent concert artists from around the world who live together for seven weeks as one nurturing and close-knit family.

2026 MARLBORO MUSIC PARTICIPANTS

Discover Our Campus

Our Southern Vermont campus is a year-round home for culture, creativity, and community. From September through May, when Marlboro Music is not in session, our purpose-built facilities are available to mission-aligned programs and organizations that can benefit from Marlboro’s beautiful setting and legacy of learning and artistic excellence.

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Leadership & Staff

Marlboro’s essence is its people—an extended circle of artists, staff, trustees, organizational partners, friends, and supporters bound together by shared values and a belief in its limitless possibility.