Bard Conservatory of Music News Archive

The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts presents the Bard College Conservatory Orchestra in concert at the Sosnoff Theater on Sunday, December 6 at 3 p.m. Guest conductor JoAnn Falletta, music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Virginia Symphony Orchestra, will lead the orchestra in a performance of Ernest Bloch’s Suite for Viola and Orchestra, with 2015 Conservatory Concerto Competition winner Ye Zi ’16, viola soloist; Vítězslav Novák’s V Tratách (In the Tatras); and the Brahms Symphony No. 2 in D Major.  

"Earnest and all-American, she radiates fireside-chat warmth," writes Zachary Woolfe of Professor Upshaw's set at the Resonant Bodies Festival.

The Bard College Conservatory of Music is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, featuring three special anniversary concerts in September. On September 3 the Conservatory will celebrate the gift of seven historic pianos with a concert featuring pianists Peter Serkin and Julia Hsu, with commentary by President Leon Botstein. Then, on September 22, Conservatory faculty and students will perform the works of Joseph Haydn in the opening concert of the three-part Haydn Project. Finally, singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant will perform with her band and the Conservatory Orchestra on September 26 in a concert to benefit the Conservatory.

Soprano Clarissa Lyons ’11, alumna of the Bard College Conservatory of Music Graduate Vocal Arts Program (VAP), has been invited to join the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, capping an exciting year in which she was named the Grand Prize Winner at Florida Grand Opera’s Young Patronesses of the Opera Competition and the Glenn & Ginger Flournay Award Winner at Shreveport Opera’s Mary Jacobs Smith Singer of the Year Competition. In January, Lyons participated in The Song Continues series at Carnegie Hall, where she performed in a master class led by Warren Jones. She will return to Carnegie Hall in January 2016 to present a Spotlight Recital in Weill Hall as part of The Song Continues series alongside tenor Miles Mykkanen and pianist Ken Noda.

On May 1, the Bard Conservatory Orchestra directed by Leon Botstein showcased music that for the larger general audience may stray from expected fare, yet was exciting and thrilling. 

"Considered one of the most successful female composers of all time," Tower is recognized as one of “the classy ladies of classical music throughout history."

Bard College's Fisher Center and the Longy School's Zabriskie House made the list of the most beautiful music education buildings by College Degree Search.

Fourth-year Bard Conservatory student Tamzin Elliott talks about composing from a young age, the importance of "screwing up" for creativity, and what she's up to on campus.

Joan Tower composed "For Daniel" in memory of her nephew, Daniel MacArthur. Now Bard Conservatory faculty member Raman Ramakrishnan is performing it with the Horszowski Trio.

Bard students founded Contemporaneous on campus in 2010. On March 8, the group returned to Bard for a well-received anniversary concert.

Grammy Award–winning soprano and Bard professor Dawn Upshaw performs an eclectic repertoire in Vancouver this week.

Gettysburg College alumna and Bard Conservatory Graduate Vocal Arts Program student Sarah Tuttle talks about working with Bard faculty Edith Bers and Dawn Upshaw.