Vita West Muir

Founder/Executive Director

Litchfield, CT

Executive/Artistic Director of Litchfield Performing Arts since 1989, founded LPA in 1981. Her efforts have guided its evolution into a force in the arts in Connecticut and nationally. Ms. Muir has developed and run many programs over 28 years, from classical concerts to the critically acclaimed Litchfield Jazz Festival.

She has secured scores of grants to support LPA’s work, at the local, state and federal level. Her Project Poetry Live! was selected by the U. S. Department of Education for a major three-year grant. She has served on the boards of The Connecticut Junior Republic, Young Audiences, and the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and as an NEA panelist. Muir received her B.S. in Biology from Fordham University and had a long career as a writer, specializing in medical science. She was Managing Editor of The Bioastronautics Data and Biomedical Results of Apollo for NASA and has written for Reader’s Digest, Family Health Magazine, and others. Her awards include Rotary’s Paul Harris Medal, The Elizabeth L. Mahaffey Arts Administration Fellowship, the Inge Morath Award and, most recently, the 2008 Connecticut Governor’s Award for Excellence in Culture and Tourism.

Bob Lenz

President
South Kent, CT / NYC

Bob Lenz received his degree in Fine Arts & Painting from the University of Illinois. He exhibited paintings in the Chicago area during the late fifties and to help earn his way through college, he played the drums (his second passion) with various local jazz & dance bands. Upon graduation, in 1961, he moved to New York City and promptly began a career as an art director in the advertising business at McCann Erickson. In 1979 he, and four other partners, founded Backer & Spielvogel. As Executive Creative Director of the new agency he was responsible for the creation of the extremely successful TV campaign, “Tastes Great/Less Filling”, for Miller Lite beer. Backer & Spielvogel grew rapidly and was purchased by Saachi & Saachi in 1987, and eventually merged with Ted Bates, a large international agency. Bob became Chairman, Executive Creative Director of the merged entity in 1989 and retired from the industry in 1997.

He then returned to his first love, painting, after a 36-year hiatus. Since then he has studied at the Silvermine School of Art & the Washington Art Association, both in CT. also the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League in NYC. Now with his studio in South Kent, CT, he has returned to exhibiting, and has resumed a vital and prolific career as a painter and print maker. He exhibits his work locally at the Morrison Gallery in Kent, CT. Bob is the former co-chair of the Silvermine Guild Art Center and former chairman of the Bermuda Artworks Association. He currently sits on the Board of the Kent Land Trust Association and the Board of Trustees of the New Milford Hospital. He also teaches painting at the Washington Art Association. He still plays the drums occasionally, but only at parties in his own home, “where I can’t embarrass myself too publicly.” Examples of his work can be seen on his web site: rlenzart.com.

David DeRosa

Interim Treasurer
Naugatuck, CT

An attorney in Connecticut since 1999, David DeRosa has a solo practice in law with a focus on Appellate advocacy and general practice in State and Federal Courts in Connecticut. As a student at Fairfield College Preparatory High School in Connecticut, he became interested in jazz. While attending Boston College, he began attending the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island every year, and began attending some jazz performances at Boston College and in Boston. After graduating from Quinnipiac College School of Law in Hamden, Connecticut 1998, he began his career as an attorney and relocated to Morris Connecticut in Litchfield County. He heard about the Litchfield Jazz Festival in 1999 and volunteered as a member of the stage crew. He has volunteered almost every year since. He has seen the festival and its summer camp grow from an idea to an institution.

In the past, Mr. DeRosa was a board member and assisted in the production of La Traviata for the Nutmeg Opera Company in Danbury, Connecticut. In addition to his position as a director in this organization, he is currently a member of the Connecticut Bar Association Young Lawyer Section Executive Committee and is assigned to the Appellate Committee putting on educational and vocational programming for fellow lawyers. He also volunteers once or twice a semester to teach high schools students writing for the Grainville Academy, an after school coaching and counseling program designed to give inner city youth an introductory knowledge of business and industry, in Waterbury, Connecticut.

Martine T. Longhi

Director
West Cornwall, CT

Martine T. Longhi is a French journalist who until recently lived and worked in New York City. Her American journey, launched in the late eighties, led her to the circle of Andy Warhol, where she was taken on board as the New York-based European Editor of FAME magazine. During the nineties, she contributed to various French and American publications, including ELLE and BIG. For PARIS VOGUE she then began her series of in-depth profiles of American personalities such as Tony Morrison, Erica Jong, Meryl Streep, and Madonna, later returning to French newspaper LIBERATION with a new series of American portraits.

At the end of the nineties, Martine took an unexpected detour within the corporate world of global luxury, advising CEO’s of public companies and developing pilot programs in cultural strategies. She also took on responsibilities as creative director working with the greatest photographers of the time. Simultaneously, she was a featured radio columnist live from NYC for the French NPR, France Culture. Martine has recently been engaged as author/producer in documentary film making with the likes of NOVAPROD, the historic production partner of ARTE, the iconic cultural European television channel, and 22/7 Pictures. As of 2011 Martine makes her home in West Cornwall, just a couple of miles from the Goshen Fairgrounds.

Jeanne Miterko

Director
Trumbull, CT

Raised on Motown sound, Jeanne is a native of Detroit, MI. She graduated with a B.A. in political science from Oakland University in Rochester, MI in 1984 and earned a J.D. degree from Wayne State Univ. Law School in 1987. After marrying her husband Ron- a long time jazz enthusiast- and moving to CT, she was admitted to both the CT Bar and the US District Court.  Jeanne practiced law for 5 years with CT Legal Services in Bridgeport, concentrating in Special Education and Disability law for indigent clients. When her second son Joe was born in 1992, she decided to be a stay at home mom. By age 4, Joe was taking piano lessons. By age 14, he was actively playing in jazz gigs in the area. Jeanne found herself with two part time jobs: office manager of her congregation and road manager for Joe. Three years ago Joe started attending Litchfield Jazz Camp and Jeanne has enjoyed volunteering at the Camp and Festival ever since. Currently, Jeanne is working with inner city kids at the Discovery Magnet School in Bridgeport. She also serves as the Vice President on the Board of Directors for her synagogue.

Mario Pavone

Director
Prospect, CT

Bassist/composer Mario Pavone has collaborated with legendary innovators and today's most respected young musicians to define the cutting edge of jazz for the past 40 years. He was playing professionally by 1965, though his full-time job was putting his Industrial Engineering degree to work for major corporations. Upon hearing the news of Coltrane's death in 1967, he left his briefcase on his desk, got in the car, and drove to the funeral, where he decided on the spot to dedicate the rest of his life to music. Since then he has anchored the trios of Paul Bley, Bill Dixon, and the late Thomas Chapin, and co-led a variety of notable ensembles with Anthony Braxton, Wadada Leo Smith, Marty Ehrlich, and Michael Musillami. His list of sidemen includes Steven Bernstein, Gerald Cleaver, Dave Douglas, Peter Madsen, Tony Malaby, Joshua Redman, George Schuller, Michael Sarin, and Matt Wilson. And, unlike most artists whose careers span five decades, his most recent recordings are his most widely acclaimed, appearing on best-of-the-year lists from Slate.com, AllAboutJazz.com, Down Beat, AllAboutJazz-New York, Coda, the Village Voice , and the New York Times.  mariopavone.com.