ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, NY— In fall 2022, the Bard College Conservatory of Music will welcome its first class of students to the new Graduate Instrumental Arts Program, a two-year graduate-level program leading to a Master of Music degree. This innovative master’s degree in instrumental performance combines academic and practical studies of music, with a strong emphasis on music as a means of engaging with, and serving, the broader community beyond the campus. Through this degree program, students develop the core value of music and musicians in service of society. 

The Graduate Instrumental Arts Program’s three core components of performance, academic, and practical studies will prepare graduates to embark on a career in the professional music world, or to pursue a terminal music degree at another school. Complementing the Conservatory’s current graduate programs, this new program creates rich opportunities for collaboration and artistic projects among all the music graduate programs at Bard—the Graduate Vocal Arts Program, Graduate Conducting Program, and The Orchestra Now.

“We are so excited to welcome this new instrumental master’s degree program to the range of degree offerings at the Bard Conservatory. The Instrumental Arts Program aims not only to deepen students’ musical and instrumental skills but also to broaden their understanding of the role of music in civil society, and to develop their ability to connect with—and serve—the larger community through their art,” says Frank Corliss, director of the Bard College Conservatory of Music.

For more information about the Graduate Instrumental Arts Program, visit bard.edu/conservatory/iap/. For application and audition information, visit bard.edu/conservatory/iap/applying/. To open an application, visit here. Full information about the faculty for the Graduate Instrumental Arts Program may be found at bard.edu/conservatory/iap/faculty/. 

PHOTO CAPTION: Bard Conservatory Orchestra’s 2019 performance of Tan Dun's Martial Arts Trilogy, conducted by Tan Dun with faculty soloists Benjamin Hochman, Daniel Phillips, and Peter Wiley. Photo by Karl Rabe.

The Bard College Conservatory of Music expands Bard’s spirit of innovation in arts and education. The Conservatory, which opened in 2005, offers a five-year, double-degree program at the undergraduate level and, at the graduate level, programs in vocal arts and conducting. At the graduate level the Conservatory also offers a nondegree-granting Advanced Performance Studies program and a two-year Postgraduate Collaborative Piano Fellowship. The US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music, established in 2018, offers a unique degree program in Chinese instruments; and the Creative Center for Film Music, a 2021 initiative, supports the study of film scoring and composition for film. In fall 2022, two new graduate programs will be added, a Master of Music in Instrumental Performance and a Master of Arts in Chinese Music. bard.edu/conservatory

Founded in 1860, Bard College is a four-year, residential college of the liberal arts and sciences located 90 miles north of New York City. With the addition of the Montgomery Place estate, Bard’s campus consists of nearly 1,000 parklike acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with majors in more than 40 academic programs; graduate degrees in 11 programs; nine early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 161-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard College has expanded its mission as a private institution acting in the public interest across the country and around the world to meet broader student needs and increase access to liberal arts education. The undergraduate program at our main campus in upstate New York has a reputation for scholarly excellence, a focus on the arts, and civic engagement. Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders. For more information about Bard College, visit bard.edu.

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(09/30/21)