Coming Soon: The Michael White Archives

Announcing the Michael White Community Fund

A beloved teacher, musician, composer, and friend of the Wintergreen Music Festival, the memory of Michael White lives on through this special fund. John and Nanci Taylor, former hosts of the late Michael White, generously made the first seed contribution to this new fund. Donations made to the Michael White Community Fund will cultivate music education now and for generations to come by helping to offer free tuition for LEAD Cooperative students. To learn more about joining the list of donors who support this special fund, please contact Corinne Horvath (chorvath@wintergreenmusic.org) or make a donation here with a donor note.

Remembering Michael White

We wanted to inform our Wintergreen Music family that one of our own, Michael White, passed away on January 24, 2022, at the age of 90. Michael was a champion of music: a beloved teacher, musician, and composer. He wrote many pieces inspired by and for Wintergreen Festival Artists – often performed on the mountaintop during our summer Festivals.

Michael impacted Wintergreen Music more than we can say. He shaped our history, our community, and our mission of inspiring, welcoming, and educating audiences, students, and musicians alike through the transformative power of music.

Below, please find Artistic Director Erin Freeman's reflections on Michael's time with Wintergreen music, and we also encourage you to read more about his life here.

Reflections on Michael White from Artistic Director Erin Freeman:

"From the first time I visited Wintergreen Music, I sensed that the audience was one of the most intellectually and musically curious audiences around. Patrons flocked to pre-concert lectures, read program notes diligently, and asked interesting questions about the composers and the music – even down to nerdy musicological details like the “circle of fifths” and “the golden mean”.

Never before had I experienced concertgoers as connected to the inner workings of the music as at Wintergreen. It was not long before I understood why: Michael White. Through his joyful, detailed, and at times relentless investigation of the music of Bach, Beethoven, Debussy, and his beloved Mozart, Michael unlocked a secret passageway for our patrons – one to magical rooms with musical gears and pulleys that expose how the artistic machine actually works. He created an atmosphere of curiosity that inspires all of us at Wintergreen Music – a spirit and a vibe that we will strive to maintain.

Michael first came to Wintergreen in 2006 at the invitation of Larry Alan Smith, and instantly became part of the Wintergreen Music family. Through the years, we have celebrated Michael in various ways. In 2016, our opening night was a “This is Your Life”- style concert for his 85th birthday. We even sang the Yankee’s theme song, just for Michael! Last year, we toasted his 90th with a virtual birthday party, complete with online performances by Steve Larson and Annie Trepanier, two of our Festival Artists. Countless Festival Artists have premiered his works, and we are currently dedicating a section of our website as a resource for Michael White fans to see and hear his impressive catalogue of music. Although that project will take some time to complete (with expected unveiling in Fall 2022) we are grateful to be able to honor his life this summer with a few special projects.

We will miss Michael very much, but we are thankful for his many years with us. Those years did not teach us just about Mozart or Beethoven . . . or "the golden mean" and "the circle of fifths", but they also taught us that curiosity is worth it – that the act of investigating, asking questions, and challenging assumptions makes listening to music a truly transformative and transcendent experience. "

– Erin Freeman, Artistic Director