State of the Art

Sunday, July 28: Melissa Reardon

By Heather McDougall

Published July 29, 2024 at 12:00 PM EDT

This week’s guest is Melissa Reardon, violist and Artistic Director of the Portland Chamber Music Festival, which runs August 8to 17 at University of Southern Maine’s Hannaford Hall. 2024 marks Melissa’s sixth season with the festival and the program this year sees the much-celebrated return of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra and also features the Maine premiere of Handmade Universe, a new work by Grammy-nominated composer Vijay Iyer.

Melissa chats with Host Heather McDougall about these highlights as well as the festival’s all-French program and the array of stand-out arrangements by Nate Farrington and Michi Wiancko.

More details at pcmf.org.

State of the Art

Heather McDougall

Heather McDougall has enjoyed a varied international career, with more than two decades working across classical radio and music management. With roots as a performing and teaching cellist, she got her start in public media at Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), Ireland’s national public broadcaster, in classical radio production and later as artistic administrator for their two radio orchestras. Other production, music direction, and project management roles at West Cork Music, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, WFMT Radio Network (Chicago) and WRTI (Philadelphia) have rounded out her versatility across these fields and reflect her lifelong passion for radio and music-making.

See stories by Heather McDougall