Bard Conservatory of Music News Archive

The US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the Cyrus Tang Foundation. The funding will support numerous cultural exchange activities and performances throughout 2025, starting with a two-week tour of China in June featuring lively concerts, youth education, and community outreach by the dynamic young musicians of the Bard East/West Ensemble. Later in the year the ensemble plans to perform in Washington D.C. and Boston.

The upcoming China tour is part of the broader work of the US–China Music Institute, in collaboration with partners in the US and China, to promote cultural bridges through the universal language of music, showing that cooperation can flourish between people with different cultures, traditions, and ideas. During the two-week tour in China, the Bard East/West Ensemble will be hosted by music schools in the cities of Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Wujiang, and Hangzhou, where master classes, community engagement events, and musical performances are planned. The tour will conclude in Beijing with a week at the Central Conservatory of Music, US-China Music Institute’s longtime partner institution. The musical repertoire includes new arrangements of both Chinese and Western compositions including Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Zhou Long’s King Chu Doffs His Armor, Matthias Duplessy’s Zhong Kui’s Adventures, and more, as well as new works commissioned for the ensemble.

The Bard East/West Ensemble is a dynamic and original music group that brings together the essence of Chinese and Western soundscapes to create a new model of cross-cultural performance. The ensemble’s founder and artistic director, Jindong Cai, has devoted his career as an orchestra conductor and educator to advocate for the development of Chinese music in the West. The ensemble aims to combine Eastern and Western musical traditions, and is committed to performing arrangements and original works with unique instrumentation, thereby creating a new realm of musical expression. Cultural exchange and cross-cultural understanding are at the root of the ensemble’s mission to improve US-China relations by using music to bridge divides, deepen understanding, and inspire connection between people in both countries. barduschinamusic.org/bard-eastwest-ensemble

The Cyrus Tang Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Las Vegas, was established in 1995 to support initiatives that drive impact across education, healthcare, community development, and other underserved areas. The organization was inspired by the vision of its founder, Cyrus Tang, a successful businessman and philanthropist who envisioned a world where everyone would be empowered to make a difference and carry forward a spirit of giving back. cyrustangfoundation.org/
 

The Bard College Conservatory of Music presents the 2025 season of Signs, Games & Messages, a three-day festival celebrating the music and artistry of renowned Hungarian composer György Kurtág. The festival, which is free and open to the public, will begin on February 29 and take place through March 2 on Bard’s campus in Annandale. Curated by acclaimed pianist and conductor Benjamin Hochman, a lecturer at Bard College Berlin, this year’s festival offers four unique programs showcasing the range of Kurtág’s work.

“The Kurtág Festival is a remarkable opportunity for students, faculty, guest artists, and audiences to engage deeply with the work of one of the most profound musical voices of our time,” said Frank Corliss, director of the Bard College Conservatory of Music. “This recurring festival fosters a unique environment where musicians of all ages come together to explore, interpret, and celebrate Kurtág’s artistry in conversation with other great composers.”

Named after one of Kurtág’s signature compositions, Signs, Games & Messages is an annual festival dedicated to exploring his music and the composers who have shaped or been shaped by his artistry. This unique celebration fosters a timeless dialogue between composers, musicians, and styles, with Kurtág’s work as the central thread. 

For more information, please visit https://www.bard.edu/conservatory/events/ or contact Kat Ottosen [email protected]. 

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE:

PROGRAM ONE: Bartók and Kurtág
Friday, February 28 at 7:00 pm at the Conservatory Performance Space, Bard College 61 Blithewood Ave, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, 12504
Featuring guest artists Hiromi Kikuchi (violin) and Ken Hakii (viola), this program explores the musical conversation between Béla Bartók and György Kurtág, two of Hungary’s most significant composers.

PROGRAM TWO: Piano Marathon, Bartók’s Mikrokosmos (Books IV, V, and VI)
Saturday, March 1 at 2:00 pm at the Conservatory Performance Space, Bard College 61 Blithewood Ave, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, 12504
An exhilarating performance of Bartók’s Mikrokosmos by students and faculty of the Conservatory, showcasing the depth and brilliance of his pedagogical masterpiece.

PROGRAM THREE: Literary Inspirations I, Lichtenberg, Joyce, and Kurtág
Saturday, March 1 at 7:00 pm at the Chapel of the Holy Innocents, 1387 Annandale Rd, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY, 12504
A thought-provoking program featuring works by Kurtág, Bach, Gubaidulina, Purcell, Eötvös, Cage, and more, exploring the interplay of literature and music. Performed by faculty, students and guest artists.

PROGRAM FOUR: Literary Inspirations II, Beckett and Kurtág
Sunday, March 2 at 4:00 pm at the Conservatory Performance Space, Bard College 61 Blithewood Ave, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, 12504
A profound musical journey through works by Kurtág, Schubert, and Beethoven, highlighting not only Beckett’s influence on Kurtág but also musical inspirations shared by both Kurtág and Beckett.

2025 Kurtág Festival performers Include: Guest Artists Ken Hakii (viola), Hiromi Kikuchi (violin), Will Langlie-Miletich (double bass); and Faculty Members Luosha Fang ’11 (violin), Lucy Fitz Gibbon (soprano), Benjamin Hochman (piano), Kayo Iwama (piano), Philip McNaughton (bassoon), Daniel Phillips (violin), Raman Ramakrishnan (cello), Melissa Reardon (viola), Terrence Wilson (piano), and Carmit Zori (violin).

This festival has been permanently endowed through the generous support of László Z. Bitó '60 and Olivia Cariño.

China Daily reviewed “The Sound of Spring,” Bard Conservatory of Music’s US–China Music Institute and China's Central Conservatory of Music’s sixth annual Chinese new year concert with The Orchestra Now (TŌN). “I think the relationship between the US and China is important, it's very important, especially in contemporary times. The two biggest countries in the world need to connect together. I think music has been one of the tools to connect people,” said maestro Jindong Cai, director of the US–China Music Institute.

Each year, “The Sound of Spring” showcases exemplary symphonic works from the modern and contemporary repertoire, often featuring concertos for traditional Chinese instruments. This year included the world premiere of “Majestic Gallop,” a piece inspired by the vast Mongolian grasslands of Hulunbuir, galloping horses, and the simple life of herders, composed by Bard Visiting Professor of Chinese Music Xinyan Li and performed by sheng virtuoso Wang Lei. “The sheng is an amazing, brilliant instrument. It has more than 3,000 years of history and shares a similar mechanism as an accordion or organ. Whichever country music comes from, they should blend with each other. When we play Chinese and Western music together, it is a great way to collaborate,” said Wang.

Further reading:
“Sound of Spring” concert held in New York City to celebrate Chinese New Year (People’s Daily Online)
Chinese New Year Concert at Bard (The Millbrook Independent)

Bard alumna Jacquelyn Stucker VAP ’13 was interviewed by Opera Wire in advance of her performance in We Are the Lucky Ones at Amsterdam’s Opera Forward Festival. Opera Forward is a showcase of new performances and student production labs that is in its ninth year, and this year’s theme is looking to the past while “search[ing] for a way forward in an era of polarization, crisis, and conflict.” We Are the Lucky Ones is based on interviews with 70 people born in Western Europe in the 1940s, raising questions about “the relationship between the private and the political, the impact of our choices and what truly matters.”

Stucker spoke with Opera Wire about her career in performance and how she became enamored with opera starting at age 20. She credits soprano Dawn Upshaw, the founder of the Bard Conservatory Vocal Arts Program, as the biggest influence on her career: “She taught me how to think about music from a composer’s or an instrumentalist’s point of view in a completely different way.” She also spoke about some of her favorite art outside of opera, including Radiohead’s “In Rainbows,” Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Márquez, and the paintings of Egon Schiele.

The sixth annual “The Sound of Spring” concert celebrating the Chinese New Year will be held on January 25 and 26, 2025, at the Fisher Center at Bard College and Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Both performances will begin at 3 pm. The Orchestra Now performs under the baton of conductor Jindong Cai, with featured soloists Wang Lei, professor of Sheng at the Central Conservatory of Music; Yan Guowei, winner of the Golden Prize at the China Music Golden Bell Award for Erhu; Zhang Jingli, a renowned percussionist; and Bard graduate student and pipa virtuoso JinOu Anastasia Dong, presenting a musical celebration to usher in the Spring Festival.

Each year, “The Sound of Spring” showcases exemplary symphonic works from the modern and contemporary repertoire, often featuring concertos for traditional Chinese instruments. This year, Maestro Jindong Cai, director of the US–China Music Institute, introduces the pipa concerto “Sisters of the Grassland,” a milestone work in the development of Chinese ethnic music. Based on Wu Yingju’s animated film of the same name and inspired by Inner Mongolian folk songs, the piece portrays the heroic efforts of two Mongolian sisters, Longmei and Yurong, as they courageously battle a blizzard to protect their flock. Composed in 1972 by Wu Zuqiang, Wang Yanqiao, and Liu Dehai, the piece established the precedent for pipa concertos with orchestral accompaniment. In January 1979, shortly after the formal establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, Seiji Ozawa conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a performance of “Sisters of the Grassland” during their historic visit to China, followed soon after by its US premiere.

The concert will also feature multiple works by contemporary Chinese composers, including three concertos for Chinese instruments and orchestra. The erhu concerto “Ink Plum” by renowned artist and educator Yu Hongmei, inspired by Wang Mian’s poem “Ink Plum” from the Yuan Dynasty, combines classical poetry with modern compositional techniques with a grand yet nuanced effect. The concerto will be performed by Yan Guowei, associate professor of Erhu at the Central Conservatory of Music, who is celebrated as one of China’s top ten young Erhu performers and a recipient of the prestigious “Golden School Badge” award from the Central Conservatory.

The percussion concerto “Cang Cai,” composed by Tang Jianping in 2003, merges the sounds of Chinese Peking Opera and with crashing cymbals. The work will be performed by Zhang Jingli, a distinguished percussionist and professor at the Central Conservatory of Music. Zhang has served as principal percussionist of the China Symphony Orchestra and the China Philharmonic Orchestra and is a frequent judge at international percussion competitions.

This year’s concert will also feature the world premiere of “Majestic Gallop” by composer and Visiting Professor of Chinese Music at Bard College Xinyan Li. A concerto for sheng and orchestra, the piece will be performed by Wang Lei, professor at the Central Conservatory of Music and sheng virtuoso. The piece is inspired by the vast grasslands of Hulunbuir, galloping horses, and the simple life of herders, showcasing the expressive power of the sheng and incorporating Mongolian long tunes.

In addition to the classic “Spring Festival Overture” and the aforementioned concertos, the concert will present two symphonic works: “East and West III: Tao for All” by Zhang Shuai, and “The Majestic Land” by Li Shaosheng. Zhang’s “East and West III” draws inspiration from the Tao Te Ching and reflects the composer’s deep philosophical insights into Taoism, nature, and life. Li’s “The Majestic Land” will close the concert. The work portrays the grandeur of China’s landscapes throughout the day, from the sunrise over Mount Tai to the starry sky above China’s 500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST).

This year’s “The Sound of Spring” will once again feature a pre-concert demonstration with Chinese traditional instruments, offering the public the opportunity to engage with instruments and meet musicians starting at 2pm, an hour before each concert.

Sixth Annual “The Sound of Spring” Chinese New Year Concert 
PERFORMANCE DETAILS

Saturday, January 25, 2025, 3 pm
(Pre-concert event in the Fisher Center lobby at 2 pm)
Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College
Tickets $25
http://barduschinamusic.org/events/spring-25-bard

Sunday, January 26, 2025, 3 pm
(Chinese traditional instrument demonstrations and Spring Festival activities at 2 pm in the Rose Theater Lobby)
Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall
10 Columbus Circle, New York, 5th Floor
Tickets: From $25
Ticket Purchase: Online at https://ticketing.jazz.org/ or by phone at 212-721-6500 (or in person at the box office to avoid service fees)
http://barduschinamusic.org/events/spring25
 

Bard College senior Aleksandar Vitanov ’25 has been announced as a recipient of a prestigious Schwarzman Scholarship for 2025-26. Vitanov, who is pursuing a double degree in Politics and Music Performance at Bard and the Bard Conservatory, is one of 150 scholars—representing 38 countries and 105 universities from around the world—who will receive the opportunity to attend a one-year, fully-funded master’s degree program in global affairs at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.

“I am very grateful to the Schwarzman Scholars Program for this opportunity,” Vitanov said. “I would also like to express my appreciation to my family and all of my mentors for their support throughout my journey.”

Schwarzman Scholars has become one of the most selective graduate fellowship programs, with this year’s admitted students marking its tenth cohort. The program supports up to 200 students annually and is designed to build a global community of future leaders who will serve to deepen understanding between China and the rest of the world. This year, Schwarzman Scholars received the highest number of applications in its ten-year history, with the class of 2025-26 selected from a pool of nearly 5,000 candidates worldwide.

“Our tenth cohort fills me with optimism for the future,” said Stephen A. Schwarzman, founding trustee of Schwarzman Scholars. “This year’s selected Scholars are keenly interested in learning about China and broadening their understanding of global affairs, which are both now more important than ever. Our network, now ten classes strong, is already starting to make a global impact, and I am proud of our program’s continued success. I look forward to watching this inspiring community continue to grow.”

Vitanov, originally from North Macedonia, is a student fellow at the Hannah Arendt Center and founder and former president of the Alexander Hamilton Society at Bard. He interned at Hudson’s Europe and Eurasia Center and Charney Research. Vitanov also founded the Musical Mentorship Initiative to provide free music education to Bard’s local community, and won, with a group of classmates, the Davis Projects for Peace prize to expand the initiative to Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya. As a Schwarzman Scholar, Vitanov hopes to study China’s strategy in Southeastern Europe.

Special Event Collaboration American Ballet Theatre Studio Company
 
TŌN Makes First Visit to Europe with Two Concerts in Germany on May 6 & 8
 
Soloists Include Violinist Anna Reszniak, Cellist Benedict Kloeckner, Clarinetist Miles Wazni,
and Guest Conductor Charles Barker

New York, NY, January 7, 2025 — The Orchestra Now (TŌN) begins its winter/spring, 10^th anniversary season with performances led by music director Leon Botstein at the Fisher Center at Bard College on February 8, and continues through April 6.

Highlights include a Carnegie Hall preview concert offering three orchestral transcriptions of works by master composers Beethoven, Chopin, and Smetana (February 8-9); the TŌN spring benefit, a unique collaboration with the dancers of American Ballet Theatre Studio Company (February 28 and March 1); and the season’s closing concert at Bard with works by Kaija Saariaho, Albéric Magnard, and Carl Maria von Weber with soloist and winner of the 2023 Bard Conservatory Concerto Competition, clarinetist Miles Wazni (April 5-6).

Marking the Orchestra’s first visit abroad during its 10^th anniversary, TŌN performs two concerts in Germany: one at the Koblenz IMUKO Festival (Internationale Musik-Kontakte) (Koblenz, May 6); and the second commemorating the end of the Second World War in Europe 80 years ago and performed in a concert hall built on the same grounds where the Nazi regime was rallying (Nuremberg, May 8).

THE FISHER CENTER AT BARD COLLEGE, SOSNOFF THEATER

Transcription as Translation: A Carnegie Hall Preview Concert
Saturday, February 8, 2025, at 7 PM
Sunday, February 9, 2025, at 2 PM
Leon Botstein, conductor
Mily Balakirev: Chopin Suite
Bedřich Smetana (orch. Szell): From My Life (String Quartet in E Minor)
Beethoven (orch. Weingartner): Hammerklavier (Piano Sonata No. 29)
In 1910, the last year of his life, Russian composer and pianist Mily Balakirev transcribed four pieces into an orchestral suite to celebrate the centenary of Chopin’s birth. To honor another centenary in 1927, that of Beethoven’s death, Austrian conductor and composer Felix Weingartner crafted a full orchestration of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 29, the Hammerklavier. While teaching composition at Mannes College of Music in 1940, acclaimed Hungarian-born American conductor George Szell created an orchestral transcription of Smetana’s E-minor String Quartet, From My Life.
This program will be performed at Carnegie Hall on February 11

Spring Benefit: TŌN + ABT Studio Company
Friday, February 28, 2025, at 7:30 PM
Saturday, March 1, 2025, at 7:30 PM
Charles Barker, conductor
American Ballet Theatre Studio Company
Tarantella: George Balanchine, choreography; Music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Crimson Flame: Madison Brown, choreography; Music by Philip Glass
Birthday Variations (Pas de Deux): Gerald Arpino, choreography; Music by Giuseppe Verdi
Night Falls: Brady Farrar, choreography; Music by Frederic Chopin
Swan Lake Act III (Pas de Deux): Kevin McKenzie, choreography, after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov; Music by Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Human: Yannick Lebrun, choreography; Music by Blick Bassy
U Don’t Know Me: Houston Thomas, choreography; Music by Avro Pärt
Plus additional works to be announced.
Two of New York’s finest artistic training programs join forces as the graduate musicians of The Orchestra Now welcome the dancers of American Ballet Theatre Studio Company to the Fisher Center at Bard for a performance of music and dance.

Weber & Laterna Magica
Saturday, April 5, 2025, at 7 PM
Sunday, April 6, 2025, at 2 PM
Leon Botstein, conductor
Miles Wazni, clarinet
Kaija Saariaho: Laterna Magica
Carl Maria von Weber: Clarinet Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 74
Albéric Magnard: Symphony No. 4
The final performance of TŌN’s 10^th season at the Fisher Center begins with Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s Laterna Magica (The Magic Lantern), inspired by filmmaker Ingmar Bergman’s autobiography of the same name, and commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic and the Lucerne Festival. As she read the book, Saariaho said her composition was inspired by “the Laterna Magica, the first machine to create the illusion of a moving image: as the handle turns faster and faster, the individual images disappear and instead the eye sees continuous movement.” The work’s 2009 world premiere was given by the Berlin Philharmonic and Simon Rattle. The Orchestra is then joined by clarinetist Miles Wazni, a winner of the 2023 Bard Conservatory Concerto Competition, for Carl Maria von Weber’s virtuosic three-movement Clarinet Concerto No. 2, written for the notable clarinetist Heinrich Baermann, the soloist at the 1813 premiere. The concert closes with composer Albéric Magnard’s final symphony. Often referred to as the “French Bruckner,” his work is fully rooted in late 19th-century French Romantic tradition. Magnard became a national hero in 1914 when he died defending his property from German invaders.
Tickets, priced at $15 - $35, are available online at fishercenter.bard.edu, or by calling the Fisher Center at 845.758.7900.

THE ORCHESTRA NOW IN GERMANY
TŌN performs two concerts in Germany, marking the Orchestra’s first visit abroad on the occasion of its 10^th anniversary. The May 6 concert in Koblenz is part of the Koblenz IMUKO Festival (Internationale Musik-Kontakte), which has a dedicated focus on multicultural engagement, bringing together artists from different genres and cultures to perform, collaborate, and share their musical traditions to strengthen a sense of global community. The featured soloist is acclaimed cellist Benedict Kloeckner, artistic director of the IMUK0 Festival.

The May 8 performance in Nuremberg, at the invitation of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, commemorates the date exactly 80 years ago, when the Second World War in Europe ended in 1945. The memorial concert features music by Mendelssohn, whose music was banned during the Nazi era owing to his Jewish heritage. By featuring Mendelssohn’s music, the concert seeks to recall the hope that the 1945 victory in Europe over Nazism would bring peace and tolerance in a new world without war. The program spotlights Polish violinist Anna Reszniak, concertmaster of the Nürnberger Symphoniker, and award-winner of the Poznan Wieniawski Competition and the Sion-Valais Shlomo Mintz competitions, among many others.
The May 8 concert in Nuremberg will be broadcast live on German radio by Bayerischer Rundfunk.

Tuesday, May 6, 2025, at 7:30 PM
Koblenz, Germany, Rhein-Mosel Halle
Leon Botstein, conductor
Benedict Kloeckner, cello
Max Bruch: Adagio on Celtic Melodies for cello and orchestra, Op. 56
Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 97, “Rhenish”
Max Bruch: Ave Maria for cello and orchestra, Op. 61
Felix Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5, “Reformation”

Thursday, May 8, 2025, at 8:00 PM
Nuremberg, Germany, Musiksaal der Kongresshalle
Leon Botstein, conductor
Anna Reszniak, violin
Chamber Choir of the Nuremberg University of Music, directed by Peter Dijkstra
All-Felix Mendelssohn Program:
Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64
Symphony No. 5 in D major/D minor, Op. 107, “Reformation”
Choral Cantata Verleih uns Frieden

For detailed information about the 2025 winter/spring season, visit ton.bard.edu.