"Michael Chorney does Michael Chorney things..." Seven Days Vermont
Michael Chorney is a musician from Lincoln Vermont. He has worked as a composer, bandleader, librarian, orchestrator, assembly line worker, Tony award winner, arranger, janitor, dance accompanist, carpenter, engineer, house painter, teacher and sideman. His work spans genre, from avant-garde prepared guitar pieces to arrangements of Paul Bowles, Kurt Weill and Sun Ra. His newest project is a six-piece psychedelic jazz-rock collective called Freeway Clyde.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chorney
2020 to present Freeway Clyde - instrumental psych rock film scores for non existent movies
2011 to present Hollar General - folk jazz quartet playing original songs.
2007 to present Hadestown Orchestra - guitarist, arranger, band leader
2005 to present Magic City - acoustic sextet playing arrangements of Sun Ra, original material
2004 to present Collaborations with Anais Mitchell as guitarist, producer, arranger
2004 to present Solo performances of original songs
2003 to present Collaborations with Miriam Bernardo
2001 to present Orchid - original pieces for two saxophones, drums and bass
2009 to 2010 MC6 - instrumental sextet playing original compositions
2004 Seven Deadly Sins - septet playing arrangements of Kurt Weill
1995 to 2000 ViperHouse - band leader and original pieces for eleven piece electric big band
1990 to 1995 So-called Jazz Sextet - band leader, original compositions
1988 to 1990 Sun Dog - guitarist, saxophonist
1980 to 1985 Feast or Famine - original and traditional acoustic music
Discography of original works
1980's
Brecon Beacon – Feast or Famine
Bussoftlthemememormee – Feast or Famine
Tomorrow the Birds Will Sing – Feast or Famine
Rara Avis - solo
You Needn’t Act So Wild - Sundog
Solo Concert
1990's
Bell Recipe – So-Called Jazz
Outset – So-Called Jazz
Agricultures – So-Called Jazz
Vermont Avenue – So-Called Jazz
viperHouse - viperHouse
Shed - viperHouse
Ottawa - viperHouse
Lap hen - viperHouse
2000's
Orchid
Orchid v2
Songs and Music of Paul Bowles – with Miriam Bernardo
Songs in Secret Ink
The June Book - Magic City
Magic City at Nectars
Mother Tongue
It Disappears – with Seth Eames
Oom-pah of the Ghost Parade
Wonder
2010's on
Dispensation of the Ordinary – Holler General
Shameless Light – Holler General
Luxembourg Antennae – with Jeremy Harlos, Bill Heminway
Sunflower – Freeway Clyde
Sept Etoiles - Freeway Clyde
Astral Ferns and Ghost Flowers - Solo acoustic
Blinker - Freeway Clyde
Plexcerpt - Freeway Clyde
Lockwood Prize
June 22, 2024
Dear Friends,
Burlington City Arts is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2024 Herb Lockwood Prize in the Arts. Vermont musician, composer and arranger Michael Chorney from Lincoln, Vermont received the $10,000 prize during a reception on Saturday afternoon, June 22nd at BCA Center in Burlington. This marks the eleventh time the Herb Lockwood Prize has been awarded since 2014.
The Herb Lockwood Prize aims to reward the pinnacle of arts leadership in Vermont by honoring the state’s most influential artists. The prize recognizes artists who produce significant work in the areas of visual arts, music, writing, drama, dance, film, and fine woodworking—and who encourage other artists to do the same. The recipient of the 2023 prize was film director and impresario Jay Craven from Barnet, Vermont.
Michael Chorney was present at the presentation as well as Herb Lockwood’s brother Todd R. Lockwood, 2023 Herb Lockwood Prize winner Jay Craven, Libby Barlow, Associate Provost at Dartmouth College who attended Hamilton College with Herb Lockwood, and arts writer Pamela Polston, co-founder of Seven Days. Vermont media producer and host Fran Stoddard hosted the event. Members and friends of the Vermont music and arts community also attended.
A tribute to musician Michael Chorney by arts writer Pamela Polston
On his website, this year’s Herb Lockwood Prize winner notes a string of past occupations, including but not limited to assembly line worker, librarian, janitor, carpenter and house painter. However, most Vermonters have likely known him in more celebrated roles: musician — on saxophone and guitar — composer, dance program collaborator at Middlebury College, arranger and producer, teacher. And many probably know he’s the recipient of a Tony Award.
Our winner has had a long and fruitful journey in the Vermont music scene and beyond. I first became aware of him back in the 1980s, when he was performing in an acoustic band called Feast or Famine. Several bands, genres and years later, as he led the “acid jazz” group viperHouse, I began to recognize not only his incredible versatility and musical curiosity but his significant mentorship of other, younger musicians. Some of the players who came into their own in viperHouse would become in-demand jazz musicians in Vermont, and doing their own original work.
In nearly a dozen ensembles, in styles ranging from folk to jazz to what he dubs “instrumental psych-rock film scores for nonexistent movies,” our man has continued to compose original works, to surpass himself in creativity, and to influence and collaborate with many others. That fake film-score band is his current project, named Freeway Clyde. Their latest record, reviewed by Seven Days music editor Chris Farnsworth earlier this year, features music from the “lost” film Sept Etoiles (Seven Stars), allegedly recorded in Portugal. Unfortunately, the director was arrested on smuggling charges — again allegedly — and the film fell apart.
“Even if the fake film never saw the light of day, the very real soundtrack fortunately did,” Farnsworth writes. “It's some of the band's best work: a clever, rarely still record that moves between sunny jazz and ambient electronica with ease.”
Terrific music for apocryphal films aside, our man’s best-known collaboration was with singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell on the wildly successful folk-rock opera Hadestown. Still running on Broadway, the show, which is an expansive retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, had its more stripped-down debut in Vermont. I had the good fortune to see the nascent production in a small Burlington venue, then a bigger and longer version off-Broadway, and finally the fully developed show on Broadway, which was utterly thrilling. Hadestown was nominated for 14 Tony Awards and took home eight, including Best Musical, in 2019. Among them also was the award for Best Orchestration, which our man shared with New York musician Todd Sickafoose.
“I am the only person who has played every live performance of Hadestown,” he told Eva Sollberger for an episode of her video series “Stuck in Vermont.” “There’s a lot of heart,” he added. “Maybe that’s the Vermont part of the show.”
There is probably little doubt among this audience who I mean by “our man.” A resident of both Lincoln, Vt., and a remarkable place called Hadestown, Michael Chorney is the 2024 recipient of the Herb Lockwood Prize.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chorney
2020 to present Freeway Clyde - instrumental psych rock film scores for non existent movies
2011 to present Hollar General - folk jazz quartet playing original songs.
2007 to present Hadestown Orchestra - guitarist, arranger, band leader
2005 to present Magic City - acoustic sextet playing arrangements of Sun Ra, original material
2004 to present Collaborations with Anais Mitchell as guitarist, producer, arranger
2004 to present Solo performances of original songs
2003 to present Collaborations with Miriam Bernardo
2001 to present Orchid - original pieces for two saxophones, drums and bass
2009 to 2010 MC6 - instrumental sextet playing original compositions
2004 Seven Deadly Sins - septet playing arrangements of Kurt Weill
1995 to 2000 ViperHouse - band leader and original pieces for eleven piece electric big band
1990 to 1995 So-called Jazz Sextet - band leader, original compositions
1988 to 1990 Sun Dog - guitarist, saxophonist
1980 to 1985 Feast or Famine - original and traditional acoustic music
Discography of original works
1980's
Brecon Beacon – Feast or Famine
Bussoftlthemememormee – Feast or Famine
Tomorrow the Birds Will Sing – Feast or Famine
Rara Avis - solo
You Needn’t Act So Wild - Sundog
Solo Concert
1990's
Bell Recipe – So-Called Jazz
Outset – So-Called Jazz
Agricultures – So-Called Jazz
Vermont Avenue – So-Called Jazz
viperHouse - viperHouse
Shed - viperHouse
Ottawa - viperHouse
Lap hen - viperHouse
2000's
Orchid
Orchid v2
Songs and Music of Paul Bowles – with Miriam Bernardo
Songs in Secret Ink
The June Book - Magic City
Magic City at Nectars
Mother Tongue
It Disappears – with Seth Eames
Oom-pah of the Ghost Parade
Wonder
2010's on
Dispensation of the Ordinary – Holler General
Shameless Light – Holler General
Luxembourg Antennae – with Jeremy Harlos, Bill Heminway
Sunflower – Freeway Clyde
Sept Etoiles - Freeway Clyde
Astral Ferns and Ghost Flowers - Solo acoustic
Blinker - Freeway Clyde
Plexcerpt - Freeway Clyde
Lockwood Prize
June 22, 2024
Dear Friends,
Burlington City Arts is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2024 Herb Lockwood Prize in the Arts. Vermont musician, composer and arranger Michael Chorney from Lincoln, Vermont received the $10,000 prize during a reception on Saturday afternoon, June 22nd at BCA Center in Burlington. This marks the eleventh time the Herb Lockwood Prize has been awarded since 2014.
The Herb Lockwood Prize aims to reward the pinnacle of arts leadership in Vermont by honoring the state’s most influential artists. The prize recognizes artists who produce significant work in the areas of visual arts, music, writing, drama, dance, film, and fine woodworking—and who encourage other artists to do the same. The recipient of the 2023 prize was film director and impresario Jay Craven from Barnet, Vermont.
Michael Chorney was present at the presentation as well as Herb Lockwood’s brother Todd R. Lockwood, 2023 Herb Lockwood Prize winner Jay Craven, Libby Barlow, Associate Provost at Dartmouth College who attended Hamilton College with Herb Lockwood, and arts writer Pamela Polston, co-founder of Seven Days. Vermont media producer and host Fran Stoddard hosted the event. Members and friends of the Vermont music and arts community also attended.
A tribute to musician Michael Chorney by arts writer Pamela Polston
On his website, this year’s Herb Lockwood Prize winner notes a string of past occupations, including but not limited to assembly line worker, librarian, janitor, carpenter and house painter. However, most Vermonters have likely known him in more celebrated roles: musician — on saxophone and guitar — composer, dance program collaborator at Middlebury College, arranger and producer, teacher. And many probably know he’s the recipient of a Tony Award.
Our winner has had a long and fruitful journey in the Vermont music scene and beyond. I first became aware of him back in the 1980s, when he was performing in an acoustic band called Feast or Famine. Several bands, genres and years later, as he led the “acid jazz” group viperHouse, I began to recognize not only his incredible versatility and musical curiosity but his significant mentorship of other, younger musicians. Some of the players who came into their own in viperHouse would become in-demand jazz musicians in Vermont, and doing their own original work.
In nearly a dozen ensembles, in styles ranging from folk to jazz to what he dubs “instrumental psych-rock film scores for nonexistent movies,” our man has continued to compose original works, to surpass himself in creativity, and to influence and collaborate with many others. That fake film-score band is his current project, named Freeway Clyde. Their latest record, reviewed by Seven Days music editor Chris Farnsworth earlier this year, features music from the “lost” film Sept Etoiles (Seven Stars), allegedly recorded in Portugal. Unfortunately, the director was arrested on smuggling charges — again allegedly — and the film fell apart.
“Even if the fake film never saw the light of day, the very real soundtrack fortunately did,” Farnsworth writes. “It's some of the band's best work: a clever, rarely still record that moves between sunny jazz and ambient electronica with ease.”
Terrific music for apocryphal films aside, our man’s best-known collaboration was with singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell on the wildly successful folk-rock opera Hadestown. Still running on Broadway, the show, which is an expansive retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, had its more stripped-down debut in Vermont. I had the good fortune to see the nascent production in a small Burlington venue, then a bigger and longer version off-Broadway, and finally the fully developed show on Broadway, which was utterly thrilling. Hadestown was nominated for 14 Tony Awards and took home eight, including Best Musical, in 2019. Among them also was the award for Best Orchestration, which our man shared with New York musician Todd Sickafoose.
“I am the only person who has played every live performance of Hadestown,” he told Eva Sollberger for an episode of her video series “Stuck in Vermont.” “There’s a lot of heart,” he added. “Maybe that’s the Vermont part of the show.”
There is probably little doubt among this audience who I mean by “our man.” A resident of both Lincoln, Vt., and a remarkable place called Hadestown, Michael Chorney is the 2024 recipient of the Herb Lockwood Prize.