Caitlin Murray has served as Bravo! Vail’s Executive Director since 2018. During that time she has led the organization through the challenges of the pandemic and maintained the presence of world-class music in the Vail community. She is deeply committed to Bravo! Vail’s mission to enrich people’s lives through the power of music.

Caitlin has been associated with Bravo! Vail for over a decade, previously serving as the Vice President of Development. Throughout her tenure she has played an integral role in innovative projects which have led to major programmatic advancements and an ongoing elevation of the Festival’s artistic excellence. She has previously worked as Director of Leadership Gifts at Colorado Public Radio, as well as an Account Executive at Westword newspaper in Denver. Caitlin is a graduate of Rutgers University in New Jersey, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and history.

Caitlin’s love for music began at a young age and she studied violin in her youth. She and her husband Dan enjoy living in the Vail Valley by hiking with their dog Porky, snowboarding, and biking. They love to travel and take in as many concerts as possible wherever they are.

Pianist Anne-Marie McDermott is a consummate artist who balances a versatile career as a soloist and collaborator. She performs over 100 concerts a year in a combination of solo recitals, concerti and chamber music. Her repertoire choices are eclectic, spanning from Bach and Haydn to Prokofiev and Scriabin to Kernis, Hartke, Tower and Wuorinen.

With over 50 concerti in her repertoire, Ms. McDermott has performed with many leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Seattle Symphony, National Symphony, Houston Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, Hong Kong Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, New Jersey Symphony and Baltimore Symphony among others. Ms. McDermott has toured with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Moscow Virtuosi.

In the recent seasons, Ms. McDermott performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, North Carolina Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Huntsville Symphony, Alabama Symphony, San Diego Symphony, the Oregon Mozart Players, and the New Century Chamber Orchestra.

Recital engagements have included the 92nd Street Y, Alice Tully Hall, Town Hall, The Schubert Club, Kennedy Center, as well as universities across the country. Anne-Marie McDermott has curated and performed in a number of intense projects including: the Complete Prokofiev Piano Sonatas and Chamber Music, a Three Concert Series of Shostakovich Chamber Music, as well as a recital series of Haydn and Beethoven Piano Sonatas. Most recently, she commissioned works of Charles Wuorinen and Clarice Assad which were premiered in May 2009 at Town Hall, in conjunction with Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

As a soloist, Ms. McDermott has recorded the complete Prokofiev Piano Sonatas, Bach English Suites and Partitas (which was named Gramophone Magazine’s Editor’s Choice), and most recently, Gershwin Complete Works for Piano and Orchestra with the Dallas Symphony and Justin Brown.

In addition to her many achievements and association with Bravo! Vail, McDermott is also Artistic Director of two other festivals; The Ocean Reef Chamber Music Festival in the Florida Keys and The Avila Chamber Music Celebration in Curaçao, off the coast of Venezuela.

As a chamber music performer, Anne-Marie McDermott was named an artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in 1995 and performs and tours extensively with them each season. She also continues a long standing collaboration with the highly acclaimed violinist, Nadja Salerno Sonnenberg. As a duo, they have released a CD titled “Live” on the NSS label and plan to release the Complete Brahms Violin and Piano Sonatas in the future. Ms. McDermott is also a member of the renowned piano quartet, Opus One, with colleagues Ida Kavafian, Steven Tenenbom and Peter Wiley.

She continues to perform each season with her sisters, Maureen McDermott and Kerry McDermott in the McDermott Trio. Ms. McDermott has also released an all Schumann CD with violist, Paul Neubauer, as well as the Complete Chamber Music of Debussy with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Ms. McDermott studied at the Manhattan School of Music with Dalmo Carra, Constance Keene and John Browning. She was a winner of the Young Concert Artists auditions and was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant.

In addition to her duties at Bravo! Vail, Anne-Marie McDermott regularly performs at Festivals across the United States including Spoleto, Mainly Mozart, Sante Fe, La Jolla Summerfest, Mostly Mozart, Newport, Caramoor, Chamber Music Northwest, Aspen, Music from Angelfire, and the Festival Casals in Puerto Rico, among others.

Ronda Helton has more than 20 years of experience as a marketing and communication
professional in the arts and culture industry and nonprofit sector. Since opening ACG’s
Nashville office in 2015, she has provided numerous interim management services, led
significant earned revenue enhancement projects, and guided several national executive
searches. Her additional areas of expertise include strategic marketing, branding, pricing
strategies, media, and public relations.

Engaged by the newly opened Marathon Center for Performing Arts to serve as Interim Marketing Director, Ms. Helton helped create membership packages, a robust pricing model, and an effective and economical season ticket campaign. The organization’s first season ended with a large increase in both its membership program and tickets sales. Total ticket revenue for the venue’s second season saw a 17 percent increase from its inaugural season.

During her tenure as Interim Vice President of Marketing at Bravo! Vail Music Festival, Ms. Helton managed dynamic pricing strategies, directed existing marketing and advertising budgets, and created expense and revenue budgets for the fiscal year. Additionally, she created and executed public relations plans for five major media announcements, including Bravo’s first ever opera production, Puccini’s Tosca, for which she also developed a comprehensive international marketing plan.

Prior to joining ACG, Ms. Helton served as Vice President of Marketing and Communication at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and War Memorial Auditorium. During her tenure, she led intra-departmental efforts to develop innovative pricing strategies that resulted in one of the organization’s most successful years, with nearly 360,000 tickets sold and $20 million in total ticket sales. Ms. Helton also spent seven years with the Nashville Symphony, ultimately becoming Senior Director of Marketing. She was a key member of the team that opened Schermerhorn Symphony Center and helped lead its recovery efforts after the building suffered severe flood damage. The Nashville Symphony’s annual ticket sales revenue more than tripled during her time with the organization.

Ms. Helton holds a bachelor of arts in government and English from Western Kentucky University.