MICHAEL DABROSKI (b. 1968)
"On a snowy Saturday night in December, Wevertown is not where you'd think to go for a good time. There's a stoplight where Routes 28 and 8 collide, there's a darkened lumberyard, perhaps a dozen houses and not much else. No restaurant, no bar, no theater - just fifty or sixty cars packed in the gathering drifts outside a small church. When the door opens, sound pours out lush Haydn trios, lightening quick jazz piano solos and wave after wave of ovations. It's the every-other-week concert from the ADIRONDACK ENSEMBLE, transforming this Warren County crossroads into the hottest musical venue between Harlem and Montreal ... Standing-room-only crowds are now routine at the concerts, and you'd better get there half an hour early if you want a seat down front where you can watch up close as MICHAEL DABROSKI caresses his violin ... 'They're doing pioneering work in the best sense of the word, carving a whole new road for people to follow,' says Richard Adams, dean of performance at Manhattan School of Music, Dabroski's alma mater. Adams says students are watching the example of Adirondack Ensemble and beginning to scout the country for other musically underserved areas. Culture has become very concentrated in this country - it's like bouillon cubes of culture stuck in our cities. But the future of classical music really depends on the energy of young people ... creating audiences in new places. There's this myth that classical music is dead, but to hear live music, it's an astonishing experience. It changes people. It changes places, too. "
- Bill McKibben ADIRONDACK LIFE "Music Matters: Adirondack Ensemble Brings Classical Tunes to Quiet Towns"
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1998)
"Growing the Audience, Helping the Community ... 'if we could combine playing music of a high quality with using it for a purpose [says DABROSKI], then we're going to be able to grow more audience and also help community.' BURLINGTON ENSEMBLE - or BE, as its known - has already met those expectations, collaborating with 25 nonprofits to raise more than $38,000 USD. With some 3,000 nonprofit organizations around Vermont, the opportunities seem limitless. It's a model that has attracted the attention of musicians nationwide ... they've worked with nearly 60, with anywhere from 1 to 17 people on stage at a time ... 'in the standard board-directed nonprofit, the music and the musicians are lost [says DABROSKI], with our model, we can invest directly in musicians and collaboration - and an idea - and let that speak for itself. That's the shift. It's not a matter of whether someone likes classical music or not, it's a matter of do they believe in a community experience that can make it better for everybody.' Since summer 2012, some 25 works written by composers ranging in age from 7 to 17 have been premiered. For 10 weeks, 50 children selected from The Vermont Center for Children [Jim Hudziak, MD, Director] will receive introductory violin lessons three days a week; during that time, their parents will be coached in parenting skills. Hudziak will take before-and-after neuroimaging scans of each child to support recent findings that violin training leads to the development of key areas of the brain that are associated with better behavioral control and decreased anxiety and aggression."
- Sarah Zobel BEST OF BURLINGTON "Burlington Ensemble: A Win-Win ProposItion" VERMONT, UNITED
STATES (WINTER 2013-2014)
"NBT BANK is proud to join in this new beginning for the VERMONT MOZART FESTIVAL ... Music has a tremendous power to bring people together and create a sense of community and our commitment to supporting the communities we serve is one of our key corporate values. Our goals is that through our title sponsorship [$200,000 USD between 2016-2019] of Vermont Mozart Festival others will be encouraged to join us and lend their support in the rebirth of this valuable concert series."
- Matthew Durkee, regional President, NBT Bank, VERMONT, UNITED STATES (January 2016)
"DABROSKI ... proved a very fine conductor with a deep understanding of MOZART, a particularly difficult composer to perform well ... Dabroski's approach was to build the drama, but allowing the music to breathe and enjoy its glorious lyricism ... Exploiting the music's expressiveness within its Classical form is what makes Mozart exciting and that's what Dabroski and his excellent players did ... The string sound was rich and warm, complimented by excellent woodwinds and brass ... the ensemble was cohesive throughout. They sounded great."
- Jim Lowe TIMES ARGUS, VERMONT, UNITED STATES (July 25, 2016)
"Director MICHAEL DABROSKI led the VMF Orchestra in a brilliant and well-articulated performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No.38 in D, K.504 ("Prague"). Dabroski has an affinity for Mozart ... His approach is to honor the Classical nature of the music with nuanced expressiveness within a steady pulse. The sound is light and elegant, lyrical when appropriate and dramatic when called for."
- Jim Lowe TIMES ARGUS, VERMONT, UNITED STATES (July 25, 2017)
"The VERMONT MOZART FESTIVAL's opening weekend underscored its place as one of the state's major classical music festivals ... proving itself an important musical asset to the state with consistently well-executed musically substantial performances. And the broad spectrum of formats and venues makes them available to just about everyone. This is what Vermont is all about."
- Jim Lowe TIMES ARGUS, VERMONT, UNITED STATES (July 28, 2018)
"DABROSKI clearly has a strong rapport with the musicians ... At the rehearsal for the final concert, a massed quartet performance involving all the participating quartets at the Church of San Felipe Neri, it was a pleasure to see the spirit of camaraderie among players and director as he spotlighted areas of rhythmic articulation that needed tightening, phrases that called for more restraint, and points of climactic emphasis in the quartets K80 and K499, not to mention difficulties with intonation (HAVANA is hot and humid in February). The church's acoustic allowed the warmth of the playing to be conveyed with youthful energy and lightness of touch in the 'Hoffmeister' K499, particularly in the bracing, vital final movement ... It's not just about the sound; music has to involve a social benefit if it is to thrive."
- Chloe Cutts the STRAD "Postcard from ... Havana: Classical Routes" ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
(May 2020 - 130th Anniversary Issue, pages 24-25)
"Amidst the hustle and bustle of Old Havana, the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart coincided with the rumba and son that set the Historic Center of the Cuban capital, where for the first time the 24 string quartets of the Austrian genius were heard live ... The idea of a "RUTA MOZARTt" that unites the genius of Salzburg and the beauty of Havana came a year ago to the American violinist MICHAEL DABROSKI ... This event is not only about music but also about building relationships."
- HAVANA EFE, HAVANA, CUBA (February 25, 2018)
"Dear MR. DABROSKI ... at a time when relations between the governments of the United States and Cuba are experiencing setbacks, I greatly appreciate that CUBAN and AMERICAN artists are as determined as ever to continue sharing their love of music. The music of Mozart is revered by people of every nationality, and political differences should not prevent musicians and lovers of music from performing and listening to Mozart's masterpieces. It is because of cultural events like this that I am convinced that the arc of history favors closer relations between the people of both of our countries. PROUD OF YOU!"
- Senator Patrick Leahy UNITED STATES SENATE, WASHINGTON DC, UNITED STATES (February 20, 2019)
