Graduate Vocal Arts Program
Overview
Dawn Upshaw, Artistic Director
Kayo Iwama, Head of Program
Announcement!
**Online Information Session
Thursday, November 10
*6pm (EST)
with Kayo Iwama, head of program, and Lily Sutton, admission director
**THIS INFO SESSION IS NOW FULL.
We will be hosting another online info session in coming weeks (date TBA). Please email lsutton@bard.edu to be added to our email list.
The Graduate Vocal Arts Program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music is a unique Master of Music program in vocal performance. Designed and conceived by the renowned American soprano Dawn Upshaw, it was created to prepare the young singer to meet the special artistic and practical challenges of a music career in the 21st century. This two-year Master of Music degree balances a respect for established repertory and expressive techniques with the flexibility and curiosity needed to keep abreast of evolving musical ideas. It also includes a strong practical component with seminars and classes on career skills led by some of the leading figures in arts management and administration.
Each year a select group of up to 8 singers is invited to join the program through an intensive audition process. The small number of students in each class insures that each singer receives the individual attention that can uncover and nurture his or her unique qualities in order to create a complete singing artist.
A group of master voice teachers, coaches and instructors in Alexander Technique, movement and diction is supplemented by guest artists drawn from the professional music world. Previous guest artists have included the conductor James Conlon, Metropolitan Opera coaches Robert Cowart, Ken Noda and Pierre Vallet, the stage directors Marc Verzatt and Peter Sellars, and the singers Phyllis Curtin and Lucy Shelton.
Ms. Upshaw takes a personal interest in the growth of each student and acts as both teacher and mentor to help them realize their full artistic and professional potential. She is in residence at least three times each semester for intensive work with students in individual coachings and master classes. Her inspirational presence sets the tone for the exploration and discovery of a wide-range of musical styles and for the development of communicative and emotionally compelling music making.
VOCAL ARTS PROGRAM: IN THE NEWS
Singers from the Graduate Vocal Arts Program with pianists Kayo Iwama , head of the VAP, and Bard Collaborative Piano Fellow Michael Bukhman performed a concert, entitled "Voices: The Next Generation." The concert was hosted by Dawn Upshaw, artistic director of the Bard VAP, and included solos, duets, and vocal ensembles, featuring classical works and folk song arrangements.
In partnership with the Bard College Conservatory of Music, Carnegie Hall commissioned four young composers to write new vocal works for 10 selected singers. Composer Donnacha Dennehy and soprano Dawn Upshaw mentored these musicians through the collaborative compositional process, leading up to this premiere performance.
VAP artistic director Dawn Upshaw gave a recital at the Morgan Library with pianist and head of program Kayo Iwama, the singers of the program, and the Collaborative Piano Fellows. This program of "First Songs" included Joan Tower’s first piece written for voice as well as new works composed by current students and recent alumni of the Bard Conservatory: John Boggs, Conor Brown, Ben Pesetsky, Matt Schickele, Shen Yiwen, Stefan Weisman.
Letter From the Director
NPR Interview
