Upcoming Events and Performances
Annual Scholarly Conference and Yaji ('Elegant Gathering')
Sunday, April 14, 2024 | 10:30 am – 4:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 | Bard Hall
Asian Studies Program; Bard College Conservatory of Music presents
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
SESSION 1
10:30 AM TO 12:00 PM
GRADUATE FORUM – Thesis Exhibitions from the First Graduating Class of the MA in Chinese Music and Culture
Beitong Liu
Wenrui Shi
Lu Xi
Bryan (Zhe) Wang
LUNCH BREAK
NOON TO 1:00 PM
Light lunch will be served on site to registered participants and invited guests.
SESSION 2
1:00 PM TO 2:00 PM
SCHOLARS FORUM
Xia Jing, guzheng scholar and musician
Introducing a System of Teaching Chinese Music in the West
Yazhi Guo, Chinese winds virtuoso and inventor
Instrument Invention Demonstration: Guzheng and Hulusi
OPEN DISCUSSION
2:00 PM TO 2:30 PM
Chinese tea and snacks will be served.
SESSION III
2:30 PM TO 4:00 PM
YAJI (‘ELEGANT GATHERING’) – Classical Chinese Poetry, Calligraphy, Music and Painting
Faculty and Students of the Bard Chinese Ensemble, Classical Chinese Poetry, and Chinese Calligraphy courses
Contact: Kathryn Wright
Phone: 845-758-7026
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: https://www.barduschinamusic.org/events/yaji-2024
Annual Scholarly Conference and Yaji ('Elegant Gathering')
Sunday, April 14, 2024 | 10:30 am – 4:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 | Bard HallPresented by the US-China Music Institute, the Master of Arts in Chinese Music and Culture Program, and the Asian Studies Program at Bard College
The US-China Music Institute’s annual scholarly conference will be a day-long exploration of music and the creative arts, in collaboration with the Asian Studies program. Free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
SESSION 1
10:30 AM TO 12:00 PM
GRADUATE FORUM – Thesis Exhibitions from the First Graduating Class of the MA in Chinese Music and Culture
Beitong Liu
Wenrui Shi
Lu Xi
Bryan (Zhe) Wang
LUNCH BREAK
NOON TO 1:00 PM
Light lunch will be served on site to registered participants and invited guests.
SESSION 2
1:00 PM TO 2:00 PM
SCHOLARS FORUM
Xia Jing, guzheng scholar and musician
Introducing a System of Teaching Chinese Music in the West
Yazhi Guo, Chinese winds virtuoso and inventor
Instrument Invention Demonstration: Guzheng and Hulusi
OPEN DISCUSSION
2:00 PM TO 2:30 PM
Chinese tea and snacks will be served.
SESSION III
2:30 PM TO 4:00 PM
YAJI (‘ELEGANT GATHERING’) – Classical Chinese Poetry, Calligraphy, Music and Painting
Faculty and Students of the Bard Chinese Ensemble, Classical Chinese Poetry, and Chinese Calligraphy courses
Contact: Kathryn Wright
Phone: 845-758-7026
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: https://www.barduschinamusic.org/events/yaji-2024
Degree Recital: Yixin Wang, guzheng, with Nomin Samdan, piano
Sunday, April 14, 2024 | 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 | Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space
Bard College Conservatory of Music presents
Website: https://bard.edu/conservatory
Degree Recital: Yixin Wang, guzheng, with Nomin Samdan, piano
Sunday, April 14, 2024 | 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 | Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space Free and open to the public. E-mail: [email protected]Website: https://bard.edu/conservatory
Degree Recital: Bryan Wang, guqin
Friday, April 26, 2024 | 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 | Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space
Bard College Conservatory of Music presents
Degree Recital: Bryan Wang, guqin
Friday, April 26, 2024 | 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 | Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space Free and open to the public. Website: https://bard.edu/conservatoryDegree Recital: Jinou (Anastasia) Dong, pipa
Saturday, May 18, 2024 | 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 | Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space
Bard College Conservatory of Music presents
Degree Recital: Jinou (Anastasia) Dong, pipa
Saturday, May 18, 2024 | 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 | Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space Free and open to the public. E-mail: [email protected]Events Archive
2024
Monday, March 11, 2024
Bitó Conservatory Building 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Students perform selections from a wide range of solo and chamber works. Free and open to the public. Download: Noon Concert Program Details.pdf |
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Fisher Center, Sosnoff Theater 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST/GMT-5
Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld) welcomes the audience to a world of humans, gods and goddesses that seems all too familiar. This is Olympus High, a place where the tipping scales of popularity and power provide the perfect backdrop for a tale of love, jealousy, and intrigue. This is prom and circumstance for the ages, a lively, witty operetta springing from the genius of a young, aspiring Jacques Offenbach in 1858, playing out here in the year 1986, where relationships and hierarchy haven’t changed a bit.Sung in French with English supertitles, dialog in English. |
Saturday, March 9, 2024
Seven pianists perform works by Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) and Fryderyk Chopin (1810-49).
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm EST/GMT-5 Free and open to the public. Download: Scarlatti:Chopin Program.pdf |
Friday, March 8, 2024
Fisher Center, Sosnoff Theater 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm EST/GMT-5
Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld) welcomes the audience to a world of humans, gods and goddesses that seems all too familiar. This is Olympus High, a place where the tipping scales of popularity and power provide the perfect backdrop for a tale of love, jealousy, and intrigue. This is prom and circumstance for the ages, a lively, witty operetta springing from the genius of a young, aspiring Jacques Offenbach in 1858, playing out here in the year 1986, where relationships and hierarchy haven’t changed a bit.Sung in French with English supertitles, dialog in English. |
Thursday, March 7, 2024
Recent works for trumpet and brass quintet.
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm EST/GMT-5 Free and open to the public. Download: Joel Guahnich Degree Recital Program.pdf |
Sunday, March 3, 2024
Shutong Li, conductor
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm EST/GMT-5 Celebrate the coming of Spring with the Bard Chinese Ensemble! The program features concerto soloists Yixin Wang '24 on guzheng and Yijie Yin '25 on zhongruan, as well as several new arrangements prepared by conductor Shutong Li especially for the ensemble. FREE and open to the public. View the livestream at youtube.com/watch?v=DijT1NLqp6w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DijT1NLqp6w |
Sunday, March 3, 2024
Shutong Li, conductor
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EST/GMT-5 The Bard Chinese Ensemble presents its fourth and final concert of the academic year. Conductor Shutong Li once again offers new arrangements of a selection of Chinese works especially for the ensemble. FREE and open to the public. |
Friday, March 1, 2024
Debussy in Paris: Poets, Politics, and the Piano Intertwined
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm EST/GMT-5 Pianist Catherine Kautsky presents a lecture-recital placing Debussy's piano music in the context of fin-de siècle Paris. We’ll look at fairies and clowns, writers and painters, arabesques and castanets, and along the way we’ll encounter the many issues of race, gender, colonialism, and nationalism that affected (and afflicted) Paris c. 1900. Catherine Kautsky, Chair of Keyboard at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI, has been lauded by the New York Times as “a pianist who can play Mozart and Schubert as though their sentiments and habits of speech coincided exactly with hers … The music spoke directly to the listener, with neither obfuscation nor pretense.” Her recording of the Debussy Preludes, released by Centaur in September, 2014, was said to “bring out all the power, majesty, and mystery of Debussy’s conception.“ Ms Kautsky has just released a 24 video set, “Great Works for the Piano” for Great Courses/Wondrium, and is also presenting courses on piano literature for the Juilliard Extension Division and the 92nd Street Y of New York City. Free and open to the public. Download: Catherine Kautsky biography.pdf |
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space 4:00 pm EST/GMT-5
Kurtág and the Chamber Music Tradition Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672) Selections from Kleine geistliche Konzerte Erhöre mich, wenn ich rufe, SWV 289 O lieber, Herre Gott, SWV 287 Habe deine Lust an dem Herren, SWV 311 Jaclyn Hopping and Megan Maloney, sopranos Sarah Martin, cello Renée Anne Louprette, organ György Kurtág (b. 1926) Six Moments Musicaux for String Quartet, Op. 44 Chris Nelson, Isabel Chin Garita, violins Jessica Ward, viola Ethan Young, cello György Ligeti Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet Tori Conner, oboe Mohammad AbdNikfarjam, clarinet Monika Dziubelski, flute Sabrina Schettler, horn Adelaide Braunhill, bassoon Intermission Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023) From the Grammar of Dreams for two sopranos Sarah Nalty, soprano Abbegael Greene, mezzo-soprano Robert Schumann (1810–56) Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47 Sostenuto assai – Allegro ma non troppo Scherzo – Molto vivace Andante cantabile Finale – Vivace Carmit Zori, violin Melissa Reardon, viola Peter Wiley, cello Benjamin Hochman, piano Live Streamed on Bard Conservatory's YouTube Channel Here FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! Kurtág Festival curator: Benjamin Hochman Download: BCOM_ConcertProgram 2_14_24.pdf |
Saturday, February 24, 2024
Chapel of the Holy Innocents 7:00 pm EST/GMT-5
Eszter Kökény - violin Péter Tornyai - viola Tamás Zétényi – cello J.S. Bach: Sinfonia in C major György Kurtág: Perpetuum mobile J.S. Bach: Sinfonia in E minor J.S. Bach: Sinfonia in B minor J.S. Bach: Sinfonia in D major György Kurtág: A Very Slow Waltz for Walter Levin J.S. Bach: Sinfonia in F Major J.S. Bach: Sinfonia in A minor György Kurtág: Signs VI J.S. Bach: Sinfonia in C minor György Kurtág: A Flower for Dénes Zsigmondy - In Memoriam Annelise Nissen-Zsigmondy J.S. Bach: Sinfonia in E-flat Major J.S. Bach: Sinfonia in B-flat Major György Kurtág: Hommage a J. S. B. J.S. Bach: Sinfonia in F Minor György Kurtág: A Flower We Are - for Miako J.S. Bach: Sinfonia in G minor J.S. Bach: Sinfonia in G major György Kurtág: Hommage a György Ránki J.S. Bach: Sinfonia in D minor György Kurtág: Ligatura Y J.S. Bach: Sinfonia in E major J.S. Bach: Sinfonia in A major - intermission- Mozart Divertimento in E-flst Please note that this program takes place in the Bard Chapel of the Holy Innocents. Free and open to the public. Kurtág Festival curator: Benjamin Hochman Download: BCOM_ConcertProgram 2_14_24.pdf |
Saturday, February 24, 2024
Short works for piano by Kurtág, paired with works by Bach, Shostakovich, Schubert, Bartók, and more.
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space 3:00 pm EST/GMT-5 Performances by Bard student pianists of all ages. Live Streamed on Bard Conservatory's YouTube Channel Here Free and open to the public. Kurtág Festival curator: Benjamin Hochman Download: BCOM_ConcertProgram 2_14_24.pdf |
Friday, February 23, 2024
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm EST/GMT-5
Gábor Csalog, piano. The Hungarian Lineage: A Piano Recital by Gábor Csalog Kurtág: Games, Selections from Book 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 Liszt: Bagatelle without Tonality S.216a Ligeti: Etude No. 10 Der Zauberlehrling Intermission Ligeti: Dansuri (1943) US Premiere Nocturne (1943) US Premiere Kromatische Fantasia (1956) US Premiere Kurtág: Kolozs Robi emlékezete US Premiere Kakukk-keringő World Premiere Szeretettel Wallner Györgynek World Premiere Maros Gyuri emlékezete World Premiere A felejthetetlen Peskó Tünde World Premiere ...le chien.../ Gyuri 66-nak az ő édesapja US Premiere Kolozs Robi emlékezete US Premiere Bartók: Dance Suite Live Streamed on Bard Conservatory's YouTube channel Here Free and open to the public. Kurtág Festival curator: Benjamin Hochman Download: BCOM_ConcertProgram 2_14_24.pdf |
Friday, February 23, 2024
Prelude - The Art of the Cimbalom
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space 6:30 pm EST/GMT-5 András Szalai, cimbalom Péter Tornyai, violin and viola Tamás Zétényi, cello F. Couperin: Les Rozeaux J. S. Bach: Duet in F major BWV 803 F. Couperin: Le Bavolet Flotant J. S. Bach: Duet in E minor BWV 802 Kurtág György: Eight Duos for Violin and Cimbalom Op. 4 F. Couperin: Le Réveil-Matin J. S. Bach: Duet in G major BWV 804 Tornyai Péter: H.G. Sonaten (2022), Eight Duos for Viola and Cimbalom F. Couperin: Le Tic-Toc-Choc; ou Les Maillotins J. S. Bach: Duet in A minor BWV 805 F. Couperin: Le Dodo, ou L'Amour au Berceau Kurtág György: Márta ligaturája Live streamed on Bard Conservatory's YouTube Channel Here Free and open to the public. Kurtág Festival curator: Benjamin Hochman Download: BCOM_ConcertProgram 2_14_24.pdf Concert Program |
Friday, February 23, 2024
Wind quintet performs recent works by contemporary women composers.
Olin Hall 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm EST/GMT-5 The one-hour program includes: Alyssa Morris, Dumbarton Oaks Amanda Harberg, Suite for Winds Jennifer Higdon, Autumn Music Valerie Coleman, Afro Cuban Concerto Grace Ann Lee (Heritage Winds Commission), The Woman Air Force Service Pilots Free and open to the public. |
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Olin Hall 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm EST/GMT-5
Free and open to the public. The West Point Brass Quintet is the primary chamber ensemble of the Army’s oldest musical organization, the West Point Band. Stationed at the United States Military Academy at West Point, the Quintet provides support for West Point ceremonies as well as other outreach events throughout the Northeast. |
Saturday, February 17, 2024
Solo piano works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Janáček, and Schumann
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm EST/GMT-5 Nita Vemuri is a fifth-year student at Bard College Conservatory, pursuing degrees in piano performance and economics. She currently studies with Gilles Vonsattel and previously studied with Benjamin Hochman and Dr. Clive Swansbourne. Nita was a finalist in the Mika Hasler Competition at Rice University (2024) and the 2022 Conservatory Concerto Competition. Nita has been on the Bard College honors list and was awarded the Gilman Scholarship to study abroad in France in 2023. An avid chamber musician, Nita attended the International Music Festival of the Adriatic in the summer of 2023, performing chamber music throughout Northern Italy and Slovenia. Nita has taken part in masterclasses led by Anna Polonsky, Michael Brown, Victor Rosenbaum, Logan Skelton, and Wayman Chin. Live streamed on Bard Conservatory's YouTube Channel Here Free and open to the public. Download: Nita Vemuri Degree Recital Program .pdf |
Sunday, February 11, 2024
Works by Beethoven, Iman Habibi, Jocelyn Morlock, and Jeffrey Ryan.
Olin Hall 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm EST/GMT-5 This is not your typical St. Valentine’s concert. Our partnership began with Lieder, drawing us away from our home of British Columbia, Canada, to pursue studies in Germany. Through the veil of an unfamiliar language and culture, we felt the pull of home, and a wish to express our feelings of connection to each other and our shared geography through music. These song cycles reflect the quarter century we have spent together on and off the stage. They tell a story of a complicated, messy, lasting, and wonderful collaboration, through the incredible music of Beethoven, Habibi, Morlock, and Ryan and the inspiring poetry of Zwicky, Ashton, Khayyãm, and Jeitteles. “Home, the ache of the invisible” – Jan Zwicky. Free and open to the public. |
Sunday, February 11, 2024
A Chinese New Year Concert with The Orchestra Now, Presented by the US-China Music Institute
Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall, The Shops at Columbus Circle, NYC 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm EST/GMT-5 The Sound of Spring returns to Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City to celebrate the year ot the Dragon. Now in its fifth year, The Sound of Spring is an authentic Chinese New Year concert featuring dramatic orchestral works and world-class Chinese instrument soloists. This year’s program presents a new selection of festive Chinese music to welcome in the lunar new year, with exciting solo performances by erhu virtuoso Zhang Haiyue and dizi virtuoso Feng Tianshi from the Central Conservatory of Music in China. Famed winds master Guo Yazhi will perform a world-premiere suona concerto by composer Xinyan Li. For tickets and program information visit barduschinamusic.org/events/spring24. This program will also be performed at the Fisher Center at Bard on February 10 at 3pm. Press Release: View |
Saturday, February 10, 2024
A Chinese New Year Concert with The Orchestra Now
Fisher Center, Sosnoff Theater 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST/GMT-5 2 pm • Pre-concert Chinese instrument demonstration and Lunar New Year activities 3 pm • PerformanceCelebrate the Year of the Dragon with The Orchestra Now, conducted by Jindong Cai. Now in its fifth year, The Sound of Spring is an authentic Chinese New Year concert featuring dramatic orchestral works and world-class Chinese instrument soloists. This year’s program presents festive Chinese music specially selected to welcome the lunar new year, including solo performances by virtuosos Zhang Haiyue (erhu) and Feng Tianshi (dizi) from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Also on the program is famed winds master Guo Yazhi, performing a world-premiere suona concerto composed by Bard faculty member Xinyan Li. For more program information, visit www.barduschinamusic.org. |
Sunday, February 4, 2024
Disco and Deception at the Opera
Fisher Center, LUMA Theater 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST/GMT-5 The popular Bard Opera Workshop returns again this year with student singers performing a selection of scenes from the operatic canon. The performance is directed by Bard alum Emily Cuk ’11 and accompanied by an orchestra of Bard students. |
Sunday, February 4, 2024
Recent works for cello and piano by Harold Meltzer, Tania Leon, John Tavener, Lera Auerbach, Eric Moe, and Jonathan Chenette
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST/GMT-5 Free and open to the public. Bard Conservatory faculty member Raman Ramakrishnan performed across North America, Europe, India, Japan, and in Hong Kong while a member of the Horszowski Trio. In addition to solo recitals in New York, Boston, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., he has performed chamber music at Caramoor, at Bargemusic, with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, and at the Aspen, Bard, Charlottesville, Four Seasons, Kingston, Lincolnshire (UK), Marlboro, Mehli Mehta (India), Oklahoma Mozart, and Vail Music Festivals. He has toured with Musicians from Marlboro and has performed, as guest principal cellist, with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. As a guest member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, he has performed in New Delhi and Agra, India and in Cairo, Egypt. He has served on the faculties of the Taconic and Norfolk Chamber Music Festivals, as well as at Columbia University. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvard University and a Master’s degree in music from The Juilliard School. His principal teachers have been Fred Sherry, Andrés Díaz, and André Emelianoff. American pianist Thomas Sauer performs regularly as soloist, chamber musician, and recital partner. His large and varied repertoire encompasses Bach to the present day and includes both staples and neglected masterworks. Audiences and critics alike praise his playing for its clarity, expressivity, and assured stylistic sense. Mr. Sauer regularly performs the music of today both as soloist and chamber musician and in recent seasons has premiered works by Philippe Bodin, Robert Cuckson, Sebastian Currier, Keith Fitch, David Loeb, Donald Martino, David Tcimpidis, and Richard Wilson. A graduate of the Curtis Institute, Mannes College of Music, and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, his major teachers included Jorge Bolet, Edward Aldwell, and Carl Schachter. Download: February 4 Recital Program .pdf Recital Program |
Saturday, February 3, 2024
Disco and Deception at the Opera
Fisher Center, LUMA Theater 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm EST/GMT-5 The popular Bard Opera Workshop returns again this year with student singers performing a selection of scenes from the operatic canon. The performance is directed by Bard alum Emily Cuk ’11 and accompanied by an orchestra of Bard students. |
Friday, February 2, 2024
Disco and Deception at the Opera
Fisher Center, LUMA Theater 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm EST/GMT-5 The popular Bard Opera Workshop returns again this year with student singers performing a selection of scenes from the operatic canon. The performance is directed by Bard alum Emily Cuk ’11 and accompanied by an orchestra of Bard students. |
Friday, February 2, 2024
Three Violin Sonatas by Mozart, Strauss, and Weinberg
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm EST/GMT-5 Laurie Smukler began her studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Her first public performance with a major symphony orchestra was as a violin soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra at 14. She earned her BM from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Ivan Galamian. Other teachers who have had a powerful influence on Ms. Smukler's development are Donald Weilerstein, Robert Mann, Rudolf Serkin, and Menahem Pressler. She is a professor at The Juilliard School. She has been on the faculties of Purchase College Conservatory of Music, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival and School, the Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College, and the Bard College Conservatory. Ms. Smukler is a founding member of the Mendelssohn String Quartet and has been co-director of the Collection in Concert series at the Pierpont Morgan Library. She has performed and toured with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society and Music From Marlboro along with other celebrated groups. Laurie Smukler plays a Petrus Guarnerius violin made in Venice in 1738. Pianist Robert McDonald has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America, and the Far East both as solo recitalist and, for many years, as recital partner to Isaac Stern and other distinguished instrumentalists. He has appeared with major orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. As a chamber musician, he has performed with the Juilliard, American, Takacs, Muir, Brentano, St. Lawrence, Vermeer, Borromeo, and Shanghai string quartets, as well as with Musicians from Marlboro. He is a member of the piano faculty at the Juilliard School. In addition to being the artistic director of the Taos School of Music and Chamber Music Festival in New Mexico, he has participated in the Bergen, Besancon, Lucerne, Montreux, Salzburg, Aldeburgh, and Schleswig-Holstein festivals in Europe, the Marlboro, Brevard, and Caramoor festivals in the United States, as well as the Banff Center in Canada. Robert McDonald studied at the Curtis Institute, the Juilliard School, and the Manhattan School of Music. His teachers include Theodore Rehl, Rudolf Serkin, Seymour Lipkin, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Beveridge Webster, and Gary Graffman. FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC Download: Laurie Smukler and Robert McDonald Program.pdf |