News & Events

The opening of the 2013 Bard SummerScape festival on Friday, July 5, signals the return of the authentic Belgian Spiegeltent. The luxurious “tent of mirrors” affords a sumptuous and magical environment in which to enjoy cutting-edge cabaret and world-class live music, plus spectacular circus acts, dancing, and dining throughout the seven-week festival (July 5 – August 18).
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2446

From July 1–3, Bard College and Ulster County BOCES will host the Mid-Hudson Math Teachers Circle Summer Intensive, a three-day session linking problem solving and enrichment activities to the new Middle School Mathematics Common Core Standards. The program takes place at Bard College and is free and open to all mid-level math teachers, mathematics professors, and mathematicians in the Mid-Hudson region.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2445

This year's SummerScape theater production, The Master and Margarita, is a world premiere adaptation by János Szász and Gideon Lester. In this interview Szász, who also directs the production, discusses the original novel by Mikhail Bulgakov and the author's struggle to work in Stalin's Soviet Union. Performances take place July 11–21.


http://fishercenter.bard.edu/calendar/event.php?eid=117633

No birds allowed: the vocal and dramatic voice of the flute is given full play in this recital by Patricia Spencer, flutist with the Naumburg Award-winning Da Capo Chamber Players. “A Flute Is Not a Bird” will be performed on Thursday, June 13, at 8 p.m. at the Bitó Conservatory Performance Hall of Bard College. Admission is free and no reservations are necessary.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2444

As the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere passes 400 parts per million, Eban Goodstein reflects on the past course of climate change and possible sustainable futures. Dr. Goodstein directs the Bard Center for Environmental Policy and the Bard MBA in Sustainability program.
http://www.bard.edu/cep/blog/?p=4669

Bard College president and Bard Music Festival artistic codirector Leon Botstein looks at the reception of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, which premiered a century ago in Paris, and gives a preview of this year's festival. Stravinsky and His World will explore the composer's legacy, his influences, and his contemporaries in a series of concerts, panels, and lectures, August 9–11 and 16–18.


http://fishercenter.bard.edu/bmf/2013/

Bard College faculty member and Bard Prison Initiative distinguished fellow Ellen Condliffe Lagemann delivered the keynote address at Columbia University Teachers College's celebration of its 125th anniversary in April. Lagemann was awarded the President's Medal of Excellence in recognition of her "passionate commitment to make education a civic force and to reanimate universities as institutions that illuminate and transform lives and societies."

Choreographer and Bard resident artist Bill T. Jones talks about A Rite—a new work by the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and SITI Company—and the significance of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. "The Rite of Spring as a premiere in May of 1913 in Paris set a kind of high water mark for progressive arts in the 20th century," he says, "and we're still feeling it today."


http://fishercenter.bard.edu/calendar/event.php?eid=117630

Bard SummerScape presents the world premiere of an original stage adaptation of The Master and Margarita (1937) by Mikhail Bulgakov, one of the greatest and most beloved Russian novels of the 20th century. SummerScape’s theatrical adaptation—an exploration of miracles, madness, and the magic of theater itself—comes courtesy of visionary Hungarian director János Szász in collaboration with Gideon Lester, director of Bard’s Theater Programs. The Master and Margarita will be presented in 10 performances between July 11 and 21.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2442

CCS Bard presents two new exhibitions this summer showcasing the work of Haim Steinbach and Helen Marten. Steinbach's once again the world is flat. is expansive, including paintings and installations from his 40-year career. Marten's No borders in a wok that can’t be crossed is the British artist's first exhibition in the United States. Curated by Beatrix Ruf, it is also the first major collaboration between CCS Bard and the Kunsthalle Zürich.
http://www.bard.edu/ccs/exhibitions/?filter=all

Hannah Arendt wrote, after moving to the United States, “One feels very lonely in this country; this has to do in particular with the fact that everyone is very busy ... ” Reflecting on Arendt's experience of Americans as isolated by their own absent mindedness, Arendt Center fellow Thomas Wild makes the case for leisure and contemplation in response to a culture of distraction.
http://www.hannaharendtcenter.org/?p=10692

Since graduating from the Bard Prison Initiative, the writing career of Manuel Borras Oliveras ’08 has blossomed. He has been accepted to the Public Theater's prestigious 2013 Emerging Writers Group, a selective program created to nurture the work of new playwrights. Of his Bard education behind bars, Oliveras says, “It opened up my worldview. It introduced me to writers like John Dewey, Plato, Shakespeare. I met professors who had written books, and I could sit down and talk to them. At those moments I felt totally free.”
http://www.bard.edu/news/news.php?id=72

Bard College graduating senior Perry Scheetz placed 11th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase final at the NCAA Track and Field Championships on Saturday, May 25. She was the first Bard student athlete to ever qualify for the National Championships. As a graduate, this was Scheetz's last race. She will next pursue a Ph.D. in chemistry at Dartmouth College.
http://www.bardathletics.com/news/2013/5/25/WTRACK_0525131214.aspx

The Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle series at Bard presents three concerts in June by world-renowned musicians. The Daedalus Quartet, Miami String Quartet, and Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio will perform Saturday evening concerts on June 8, 22, and 29 in Olin Hall.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2439

Bard faculty member Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas, ECLA of Bard's David Levine, and visiting artists Nature Theater of Oklahoma were honored at the Obie Awards in New York City on Monday, May 20. Bard playwright in residence Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas received an Obie Grant for his company Fulcrum Theater; ECLA of Bard faculty member David Levine was honored for Habit; and Live Arts Bard visiting artists Nature Theater of Oklahoma won for Life and Times: Episodes 1-4. The Obies recognize excellence in off-Broadway theater, and are given annually by the Village Voice.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2013/05/obies_winners.php

The Bard Model United Nations Team finished the 2012-2013 season with a top 50 national ranking—one of only a handful of liberal arts colleges to do so. Team members performed well, winning awards in several tournaments.
http://www.bard.edu/news/news.php?id=70

Conjunctions:60, In Absentia—the latest issue of Bard's innovative literary magazine—gathers a collection of today’s leading contemporary writers to explore the presence of absence, the losses that gain on us, the black holes in our everyday lives. Edited by Conjunctions editor, novelist, and Bard literature professor Bradford Morrow, the issue includes work by Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Coover, Frederic Tuten, and many others. Visit their website to read excerpts.
http://www.conjunctions.com/justout.htm

Depending on one’s viewpoint, it would seem either incongruous or quite likely that twins would study the same subjects at the same college. But for Alina and Janeta Marinova ’06, a double major in economics and mathematics at Bard was simply something both of them wanted to pursue. Here, they talk about their time at Bard and where their careers have taken them since then.
http://www.bard.edu/news/news.php?id=69

Biochemist Raed Al-Abbasee ’13 took an unlikely path to Bard. Fleeing the escalating violence in Iraq in the midst of his medical school training, Raed connected with Bard and received a scholarship to continue his studies. Bard chemistry professor Swapan Jain writes about Raed's time at the College as the senior prepares to graduate.
http://www.bard.edu/news/news.php?id=68

The Bard College Department of Athletics and Recreation honored student athletes, teams, and staff at the annual Athletics Awards event on the evening of May 8. Click below for a complete list of award winners.
http://www.bardathletics.com/news/2013/5/8/GEN_0508134822.aspx

In conjunction with Zeitgeist Films, the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College presents the official U.S. opening of the film Hannah Arendt on Wednesday, May 29, at Film Forum in New York City. The screening will be followed by a discussion with director Margarethe von Trotta, screenwriter Pam Katz, and actors Barbara Sukowa (Hannah Arendt) and Janet McTeer (Mary McCarthy).
http://annandaleonline.org/s/990/giving/index.aspx?sid=990&pgid=1203&gid=1&cid=2542&ecid=2542&post_id=0

The Bard College Conservatory Orchestra, under music director Leon Botstein, returns to Lincoln Center to celebrate the 24th annual Bard Music Festival “Stravinsky and His World” in a program of works by Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and Prokofiev, with violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi, a member of the Bard faculty, as soloist. The program includes Stravinsky’s Fireworks, Op. 4; Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93; and  Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1. The concert will be performed at Alice Tully Hall on Wednesday, May 22, at 7 p.m.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2436

Dance/philosophy double major Samuel Pratt ’14 talks about the interdisciplinary study opportunities at Bard, and how his two chosen fields illuminate each other. "What I knew was that any academic pursuit was going to be integral to my growth and evolution as an artist," he says.

The Bard SummerScape festival opens on Saturday, July 6 at 8pm, with A Rite, a major new dance-theater piece by the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and SITI Company. Co-commissioned by SummerScape and created by Bill T. Jones and Anne Bogart '74, two titans of American performing arts, A Rite commemorates the centenary of Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring and its notorious, game-changing Paris premiere.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2435

Bard College's first varsity baseball season in 76 years ended on Friday, May 3. The Raptors split a doubleheader with The City College of New York to close out the season.
http://www.bardathletics.com/news/2013/5/3/BB_0503132810.aspx

Reviving important but neglected operas is one of the ways the Bard SummerScape festival has established itself as “a hotbed of intellectual and aesthetic adventure” (New York Times). This year’s exploration of “Stravinsky and His World” is no exception, with performances of Taneyev’s Oresteia (July 26–Aug 4), and three Stravinsky operas: Oedipus Rex and Perséphone (Aug 18) and Mavra (Aug 11).
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2433

The Bard College Conservatory Orchestra, conducted by music director Leon Botstein, is back on stage at the Fisher Center for its final concert of the semester on Saturday, May 11. Called a “genuine talent and profoundly gifted” by Vienna Express, violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi will perform Violin Concerto No. 1 by Prokofiev. The program celebrates the theme for this summer’s Bard Music Festival, “Stravinsky and His World,” and proceeds from the concert benefit the Scholarship Fund of The Bard College Conservatory of Music.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2434

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) has awarded Ken Haig, assistant professor of political studies at Bard College, a prestigious Abe Fellowship to support a year of research in Japan and South Korea for his project, “Family, State, and Society: Japanese and Korean Family Welfare Policies in Comparative Perspective.”
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2432

Valerie Doescher '11 was an all-star activist for global human rights while a student at Bard. She is the recipient of the Cooky Heiferman Signet Award and the Clinton R. and Harriette M. Jones Award from the College. These days her work continues as a programs associate at the Coalition for the International Criminal Court.
http://bgia.bard.edu/newsdetails.php?id=3&nid=79&ntype=2

Live Arts Bard is a laboratory for new performance at the College in which visiting artists work collaboratively with students on creative projects. In this video, Bard students, Director of Theater Programs Gideon Lester, musician Amanda Palmer, and author Neil Gaiman discuss the program.

Twenty-seven Bard student-athletes have been named to the Liberty League spring All-Academic teams. Each student maintained a grade point average of at least 3.20 in order to qualify. "Liberty League student-athletes have long demonstrated that it is possible to not only compete at the highest levels of Division III, but also to excel academically," said Liberty League Commissioner Tracy King.
http://www.bardathletics.com/news/2013/4/25/BB_0425134913.aspx

More than 3,000 people from 115 institutions participated in the National Conversation on Democracy and Climate, which was organized by C2C Fellows at Bard and available virtually to organizations across the country. The event featured a coordinated nationwide screening of the film The Island President, followed by an interactive expert panel.
http://www.bard.edu/news/news.php?id=62

The Bard College Student-Athletic Advisory Committee hosted the second annual Special Olympics Day, with guests from Astor Services for Children & Families in Rhinebeck, the Anderson Center for Autism in Staatsburg, and the Devereaux in Red Hook.
http://www.bardathletics.com/news/2013/4/22/GEN_0422131429.aspx

Judy Pfaff, renowned artist, Richard B. Fisher Professor in the Arts, and codirector of the Studio Arts Program at Bard College, has been elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Pfaff is among some of the world’s most accomplished leaders from academia, business, public affairs, the humanities, and the arts who have been elected as the Academy’s 2013 class of members. The new class will be inducted at a ceremony on October 12, 2013, at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2431

Faculty members from Bard College and West Point have collaborated on the new book Just War in Religion and Politics, which developed out of a joint project between the two institutions. Bard religion professors Jacob Neusner and Bruce Chilton have jointly edited the book with West Point faculty member Robert Tully. The book features chapters by several Bard faculty members, including professors Chilton and Neusner, Roger Berkowitz, Richard Davis, Carolyn Dewald, Joel Perlmann, Kristin Scheible, and Mairaj Syed. Faculty members from West Point and other institutions also contributed. The collaboration between Bard and West Point has comprised a joint course; an international conference hosted at Bard; and a public debate on whether war can be just, with Bard students and West Point cadets working together to argue both sides of the issue. The project, which was carried out with the cooperation of the West Point–Bard Exchange, has served as a model for a Mellon Foundation program on cooperation between service academies and liberal arts institutions.

Alexis Gambis '03 will be shooting key scenes for his film The Fly Room at Bard in June. Gambis is seeking extras and actors for speaking roles. Auditions will be held on April 25 and 26.
http://www.bard.edu/news/events/event.php?eid=118445&year=2013&month=4&day=25

Arendt Center director Roger Berkowitz looks at Massive Open Online Courses and the transformative power of teaching.
http://www.hannaharendtcenter.org/?p=10261

Bard professor and world-renowned author Norman Manea was well received at the prestigious Salon du Livre in Paris. Manea was an honorary guest at the event in March, which was dedicated to Romanian literature. The French press praised Manea's participation and his new book, The Fifth Impossibility: Essays on Exile and Language. During the Salon du Livre Manea gave interviews, participated in a public debate, and spoke to a large audience about Romanian history and literature. Click here to download PDF.

Bard freshman Tyler Emel earned his first collegiate win on the mound and hit his first home run—for three runs—in Bard's 12-9 win over Lehman College in the Bronx on Sunday.
http://www.bardathletics.com/news/2013/4/21/BB_0421131015.aspx

The Music Program presents the Bard College Big Band on Wednesday, April 24 at 8:00 p.m. in Olin Hall. The ensemble will perform the music of Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Jerome Kern and Thurman Barker.
http://www.bard.edu/news/events/event.php?eid=118428&year=2013&month=4&day=24

Conjunctions:60, In Absentia—the latest issue of the innovative literary magazine published by Bard College—gathers a collection of today’s leading contemporary writers to explore the presence of absence, the losses that gain on us, the black holes in our everyday lives.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2430

The Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College is mounting two new exhibitions through May 26: less like an object more like the weather, which showcases the curatorial work of CCS Bard master’s degree candidates; and Monogamy, with works by Gerard Byrne and Sarah Pierce, curated by Tirdad Zolghadr. On Saturday, April 20, CCS Bard will host several special opening events, including artists' talks, performances, and readings. Click below to view the full schedule.
http://www.bard.edu/ccs/event-listing-for-april-20-2013/

The Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College is presenting a special series of three concerts titled, “Music in the Holocaust, Jewish Identity and Cosmopolitanism,” featuring music composed and performed by Jewish prisoners in Nazi territories during World War II. Part two, “Nationalism, Continuity, and Creativity: Music of Warsaw, Lodz and other Eastern Ghettoes,” will take place on Saturday, April 20. The event will include Robert Cuckson’s 2003 song cycle, “Der Gayst funem Shturem,” with text taken from the poems of Binem Heller. It will be performed in Yiddish by mezzo-soprano Malena Dayen, with piano accompaniment by David Rosenmeyer.
http://bard.edu/hannaharendtcenter/events

Four Bard alumni/ae have been recognized by the Fulbright Commission and the Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) for the 2013–2014 award year. Matthew Christian '11 (Simons Rock '07) has won a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Senegal. Amith Gupta '12 and Amber Winick BGC '12 have been named as alternates for research awards to Jordan and Hungary, respectively. Bardian Ada Petiwala '12 has won a language fellowship from CASA for the 2013–2014 academic year. She will spend the year in Cairo, where she will hone her language skills and continue her study of Middle Eastern politics and culture.

Chorus Master James Bagwell discusses Mahler's Symphony No. 2, which will be performed at the Fisher Center on April 26 and 27 by members of the American Symphony Orchestra, Bard College Conservatory Orchestra, and Longy Conservatory Orchestra.


http://fishercenter.bard.edu/calendar/event.php?eid=117503#video1

Bard College has received a $5,000 grant from the beauty and fashion boutique mark., as part of its m.powerment by mark. Healthy Relationship Peer Educator Program, which is managed by the Avon Foundation for Women through its Speak Out Against Domestic Violence initiative. The grant will fund preventive education on dating abuse and violence through the College's BRAVE program.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2428

Bard College faculty member Karen Sullivan, Irma Brandeis Professor of Romance Cultures and Literature and director of the Medieval Studies Program, is among the 175 winners of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation’s 89th annual competition for the United States and Canada. Sullivan has been awarded a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship for her work in Medieval and Romance literature.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2425

Described by the New York Times as “part boot camp for the brain, part spa for the spirit,” the world-renowned Bard Music Festival returns for its 24th annual season, filling the last two weekends of Bard SummerScape 2013 (Aug 9–11 and 16–18) with a compelling and enlightening investigation of “Stravinsky and His World.”
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2424

A production of The Bakkhai (The Bacchae) by Bard College students takes place at the Fisher Center through April 14. Sunday's events also include a panel discussion, "Euripides' The Bakkhai: Play and Performance" with Daniel Mendelsohn (Bard College), Helene Foley (Barnard), Rachel Kitzinger (Vassar), and Emily Wilson (University of Pennsylvania). The panel is free and open to the public.

Nicholas Platt—longtime China specialist, three-time U.S. ambassador (Pakistan, Zambia, and the Philippines), and author of the published memoir China Boys—will share his experiences and insights gained from a long and distinguished career in the diplomatic service and as president of the Asia Society in New York.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2426