The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College and Upstate Films Present Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo 
 

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.— The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College and Upstate Films present Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo with Bernard Herrmann’s score performed live by the Bard College Conservatory of Music Orchestra.  The program will be performed on Saturday, September 16 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, September 17 at 2 p.m. in the Fisher Center’s Sosnoff Theater.  All proceeds will benefit scholarships at the Bard Conservatory of Music. Tickets are $25–75 with a $125 Upstate Films’ 45th anniversary ticket which includes a membership to Upstate Films. Tickets can be ordered online at fishercenter.bard.edu or by calling the box office at 845-758-7900.
 
Each screening will be introduced by a special local guest, who will give their perspective on the artistry, history, and impact of Vertigo and the Hitchcock canon: actress, director, and producer Mary Stuart Masterson on Saturday, September 16; and Oscar-nominated screenwriter and producer James Schamus on Sunday, September 17.
 
Named the “Greatest Film of All Time” by the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound, this romantic, psychological thriller hypnotizes audiences on the big screen, accompanied by Bernard Herrmann’s haunting score performed live by the Bard College Conservatory Orchestra and conducted by James Bagwell. Starring James Stewart and Kim Novak, this Hitchcock classic (released in 1958) follows a detective forced to retire after his fear of heights causes the death of a fellow officer and the girl he was hired to pursue. This leads into a cycle of madness and lies, resulting in a definitive Hitchcock work of obsession, manipulation and fear. This program is presented in partnership with Upstate Films to benefit the Bard College Conservatory of Music.

“Right from the famous title sequence of “Vertigo,” we are in the presence of something marvelous,” writes music critic Alex Ross. “Saul Bass created a hypnotic design of spirals rotating in space, overlaid with a few uncanny shots of Kim Novak's eyes. The music rotates in tandem: endless circles of thirds, major and minor, interspersed with shuddering dissonances. Herrmann did not invent this off-center tonality; it was used often by Rimsky-Korsakov, Debussy and Ravel. But the relentlessness is all Herrmann's. The music literally induces vertigo: it finds no acceptable tonal resolution and spirals back on itself. Herrmann has told us what the movie is about.”

For more information go to fishercenter.bard.edu or call the box office at 845-758-7900.
 
The Bard College Conservatory Orchestra has performed twice at Lincoln Center in New York City, at Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre, and completed three international concert tours: one in 2012 to Asia with concerts in Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjing, Guangzhou, and Wuhan and one in 2014 to Europe with concerts in Warsaw, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Budapest, Vienna, Bratislava, Prague, and Berlin; and one to Cuba in 2016. The orchestra consists of 90 gifted students. The Conservatory Orchestra performs several concerts annually with Music Director Leon Botstein and noted guest conductors in the Sosnoff Theater of The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College.

Upstate Films opened in May of 1972 as a single-screen non-profit cinema staffed by its three founders, with an eclectic mix of classic Hollywood and foreign films reflecting a wide-ranging diversity of themes, styles, countries, and eras. Upstate came of age with the “independent” film movement, screening sought-after indie features and documentaries along with films that were rarely screened in this country, much less in a semi-rural area. Over the decades, Upstate has shown thousands of films and hosted hundreds of filmmakers and critics, on it’s way to becoming a critically-acclaimed destination. Just as important as bringing renowned and emerging artists to our community, Upstate serves as a public forum, hosting speakers and varied community organizations to address topics of interest, from fracking to farming, to local history to Lyme disease. These programs are often offered free of charge to help reinforce their mission and introduce our theaters to new audience members. Supporting education is also part of the mission, as Upstate hosts filmmaking workshops for students and works with teachers in local school districts. Attracting over 75,000-plus filmgoers annually, and with programming on both sides of the Hudson, in Woodstock as well as Rhinebeck, Upstate explores and highlights important social realities, cultural phenomena, and aesthetic 
movements.

For high resolution images please go to: http://fishercenter.bard.edu/press/photos/?gid=897312#a_media
 
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This event was last updated on 09-11-2017

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