Performing is the central means of artistic self-discovery in the Vocal Arts Program. Most of the classes require weekly in-class participation at a performance level and culminate in public concerts. Throughout the course of the program, each singer is offered opportunities to perform works drawn from the song, oratorio, and operatic repertoires. Singers work in collaboration with pianists, instrumentalists, and orchestra—in recital, oratorio, and fully-staged operatic productions. The Vocal Arts Program curriculum connects the young singer with a larger artistic world through frequent performances in the surrounding area and New York City.
VAP First Year Students:
Songs, Arias, and Ensembles
Handel Aria Project
Rest In Pieces: In Memory of Opera, 2020
The Creative Operatic Community
While recognizing the importance of role study and performance of operas, the Bard opera experience focuses on the creative community. This community embraces the individual spirit and talents of each student, and how their ideas and experiences inform the operatic world, helping this extraordinary art form speak to audiences today in a more universal and relevant language. This process recognizes the importance of foundational and historical study, but encourages artists to approach performance and production in fresh, innovative and thoughtful ways, allowing artists to take musical and dramatic risks in a safe and supportive setting.
The Creative Operatic Community
Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen Double Bill: The Medium and Seven Deadly Sins Rest in Pieces: In Memory of Opera, a devised opera Triple Bill: Pulcinella, A Full Moon in March, and Svadba Candide Double Bill: Higgelty, Piggelty, Pop! and The Magic Flute: Redux Double Bill: The Turn of the Screw and Payne Hollow
Opera Workshop During the Covid-19 Pandemic with Howard Watkins
Opera Workshop
In addition to complete opera productions, all students participate in Opera Workshop during the fall semester of each year, culminating in a fully-staged performance with piano at the end of the semester. In conjunction with the Core Seminar I curriculum, the course focuses on German and French opera scenes. In the spring semester of every other year, all students also study and prepare scenes from Mozart and Da Ponte’s operas, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Cosi fan tutte.
Opera Workshop
Past Scenes:
La fille du régiment Pelléas et Mélisande Der Rosenkavalier Die Fledermaus Werther Cendrillon
Campus Orchestral Concerts
Students in the Vocal Arts Program have multiple opportunities throughout their studies to perform concert works with both the Bard Conservatory Orchestra and The Orchestra Now. In addition to the wide variety of full concert works, VAP singers are featured in the conservatory’s annual Winter Songfest, performed in the Bard Fisher Center, in a holiday-themed work with orchestra.
Campus Orchestral Concerts
Past concert works: St. John Passion by J. S. Bach The Messiah by G. F. Handel Gloria by Vivaldi Requiem by W. A. Mozart Die Schöpfung by Haydn Et in terra pax by Finzi
Bard Music Connects
Bard Music Connects fosters relationships with local communities by presenting outreach performances and participating in engagement events. Students of the Bard Conservatory undergraduate and graduate programs have the opportunity to experience, first-hand, the deep and healthful benefits of musical communication. Partnerships with local professional ensembles such as the Albany Symphony and Kinderhook Concerts in the Village, care and educational institutions including Northern Dutchess Hospital, underserved communities, and civic organizations, train participants to meet the specific needs of a variety of audiences and to engage in public service with the musical skills they hone at Bard.
Bard Music Connects
With the Albany Symphony: Scenes from W.A .Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Der Schauspieldirektor J.S. Bach Jesu, der du meine Seele, BWV 78 Young People’s Concert Series (opera excerpts) Andre Myers’ Good Fred Clara Schumann Chamber Music Festival
With Kinderhook Concerts in the Village: J.S. Bach Coffee Cantata, BWV 211 G.F. Handel’s Acis and Galatea French Romantic concert works by Berlioz, Chausson, Duparc, Canteloube, Ravel
Curricular Recitals
Another central form of artistic discovery in the Vocal Arts Program is recital performance. Each semester, singers are paired with a Collaborative Piano Fellow, giving students the opportunity to learn how to form meaningful artistic partnerships. By performing recitals at Bard, throughout the Hudson Valley and in New York City, students are encouraged to find their own unique, expressive voice.
Covid-19 has both exposed the fragility of today's world and underlined the vital importance of human connections through digital experiences. Realizing that trends in virtual presentation will not disappear with the advent of a vaccine, our curriculum is adapting to help students learn to navigate the complexities of producing concerts for digital audiences, including recording and streaming technologies, audience retention, remote production, and more.
Curricular Recitals
In Diction and Phonetics Workshop, students perform a public concert at Beattie-Powers Place in Hudson, New York, in conjunction with Core Seminar I: Poetry Into Song. Core Seminar II: First Songs explores the music of established, living composers. As part of the course, students perform premieres of these pieces in Boston, Massachusetts, and New York City. Finally, during Core Seminar III: Creating Unique Performance Opportunities second-year students are put in groups, in which they prepare and perform recitals off of Bard’s campus. Every aspect of the creation of the recital is coordinated by the students themselves, allowing them to develop their entrepreneurial and artistic skills. Information about recent projects for Core Seminar III may be found here.
At the culmination of their time at Bard, each student presents a degree recital, which is carefully prepared throughout the second semester of their second year in Recital Class. Through weekly musical presentations and class discussion, along with an exploration of research materials, this class provides a forum for an in-depth exploration of the repertoire programmed on the degree recital. The degree recital also enables students to create unique and personal interpretations of their selected works.
