Bard College Launches the Gernsheim Rediscovery Initiative With Celebratory Festival on September 18–20
The Masterful Music of German Composer Friedrich Gernsheim (1839-1916) was banned by the Nazis in the 1930s
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.— Bard College is pleased to announce it is launching the Gernsheim Rediscovery Initiative, a far-reaching program dedicated to restoring 19th-century German composer Friedrich Gernsheim’s standing as a master composer and to promote the incorporation of his masterworks into the classical music canon. A grant from E&V ProArte will support the three-year effort by The Orchestra Now (TŌN) to revive the neglected musical works of Gernsheim, who was a contemporary and peer of Johannes Brahms.Inspired by the renowned Bard Music Festival and its extensive history, the initiative will hold its first public program of events in the form of The Gernsheim Festival: Rediscovering a Master, taking place from September 18–20 at Bard College’s campus in Annandale. Tickets and reservations will be available starting August 7. For more information, please visit ton.bard.edu/gernsheim.
“The Gernsheim Rediscovery Initiative is an extraordinary opportunity for TŌN and our musicians. We believe the next generation of artists must be more than exceptional performers—they must be ambassadors for music, inspiring curiosity, creating connections, and championing works that deserve to be heard,” said Executive Director of TŌN Kristin Roca. “We are thrilled that our students are leading the rediscovery of Friedrich Gernsheim's extraordinary music. Through their passion, artistry, and spirit of exploration, they are bringing a forgotten voice back to life and inviting audiences to share in the excitement of discovering a remarkable composer whose music deserves a lasting place on today's concert stage.”
Once a leading figure of the European music scene, Gernsheim’s legacy was all but erased by the Nazi regime in the 1930s due to his Jewish heritage, leaving his extensive body of work largely unheard today. TŌN seeks to restore his legacy through a series of orchestra and chamber concerts, panel discussions, a new album, and other projects.
GERNSHEIM FESTIVAL EVENTS:
Epic Narratives: Gernsheim and Brahms
Orchestra Concert
Friday and Saturday, September 18 and 19, at 7 pm at the Fisher Center at Bard
Gernsheim’s Zu einem drama and Symphony No. 3, “Song of Miriam,” and Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1
Leon Botstein, conductor, and Orion Weiss, piano
The Life and Legacy of Friedrich Gernsheim
Panel Discussion
Saturday, September 19, at 11 am at Olin Hall at Bard College
Panelists include Enrique Lombrozo, Leon Botstein, Peter Laki, and others.
Gernsheim at the Piano
Chamber Concert
Saturday, September 19, at 1 pm at Olin Hall at Bard College
Gernsheim’s Piano Quartet No. 3 and Piano Quintet No. 2
The TŌN Chamber Players and TŌN pianist Francis Chung-Yang Huang.
The Romantic Arc
Chamber Concert
Sunday, September 20, at 11 am at Olin Hall at Bard College
Gernsheim’s String Quartet No. 2 and String Quintet No. 2
The TŌN Chamber Players
Friedrich Gernsheim (1839–1916) was a Jewish German conductor, pianist, and prolific composer, particularly of orchestral, chamber and instrumental music. Born in Worms, of an old Rhineland family, Gernsheim was a child prodigy, both as performer and composer. He taught and conducted at Cologne and Rotterdam, and from 1890 in Berlin. He later became director of a master class in composition at the Prussian Academy of Fine Arts. During his early years as conductor he promoted the works of Brahms. His own compositions, which number over a hundred, include piano and chamber works, four symphonies, cantatas, choral compositions, and songs. His work was later banned in Nazi Germany, and his papers and a biography written about him by Karl Holl were removed from music libraries. The greater part of his surviving papers and manuscripts were donated in 1966 to the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem.
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About The Orchestra Now (TŌN)
Founded in 2015 by Bard College and led by Leon Botstein, TŌN is a graduate program that is training the next generation of music professionals. It offers young musicians a full-tuition fellowship toward a master’s degree or an advanced certificate. TŌN’s curriculum combines rehearsal, performance, recording, and touring with seminars, masterclasses, professional development workshops, teaching, and more. The members of the orchestra are graduates of the world’s leading conservatories, and hail from countries across North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Many have gone on to have successful careers in orchestras around the world.
TŌN performs dozens of concerts a year at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Fisher Center at Bard. In 2025, TŌN performed two concerts in Koblenz and Nuremberg, Germany marking 80 years since the surrender of Nazi Germany. In 2023, TŌN appeared in the Academy Award-nominated film Maestro, and was featured on the Grammy-winning Deutsche Grammophon soundtrack, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The orchestra has performed with numerous distinguished guest conductors and soloists, including Leonard Slatkin, Gil Shaham, Neeme Järvi, Stephanie Blythe, Fabio Luisi, Vadim Repin, Joseph Young, Peter Serkin, Naomi Woo, Peter Moore, Tan Dun, and JoAnn Falletta.
Among TŌN’s many albums on the Hyperion, Sorel Classics, and AVIE labels are 2024’s Exodus and The Lost Generation, and rare recordings of Othmar Schoeck’s Lebendig begraben and Bristow’s Arcadian Symphony. Fall 2025 releases include Premieres with violinist Gil Shaham and Transcription as Translation. Recordings of TŌN’s live concerts from the Fisher Center can be heard regularly on Classical WMHT-FM and WWFM The Classical Network, and the orchestra has appeared over 100 times on Performance Today, broadcast nationwide. More info at ton.bard.edu.
Founded in 2015 by Bard College and led by Leon Botstein, TŌN is a graduate program that is training the next generation of music professionals. It offers young musicians a full-tuition fellowship toward a master’s degree or an advanced certificate. TŌN’s curriculum combines rehearsal, performance, recording, and touring with seminars, masterclasses, professional development workshops, teaching, and more. The members of the orchestra are graduates of the world’s leading conservatories, and hail from countries across North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Many have gone on to have successful careers in orchestras around the world.
TŌN performs dozens of concerts a year at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Fisher Center at Bard. In 2025, TŌN performed two concerts in Koblenz and Nuremberg, Germany marking 80 years since the surrender of Nazi Germany. In 2023, TŌN appeared in the Academy Award-nominated film Maestro, and was featured on the Grammy-winning Deutsche Grammophon soundtrack, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The orchestra has performed with numerous distinguished guest conductors and soloists, including Leonard Slatkin, Gil Shaham, Neeme Järvi, Stephanie Blythe, Fabio Luisi, Vadim Repin, Joseph Young, Peter Serkin, Naomi Woo, Peter Moore, Tan Dun, and JoAnn Falletta.
Among TŌN’s many albums on the Hyperion, Sorel Classics, and AVIE labels are 2024’s Exodus and The Lost Generation, and rare recordings of Othmar Schoeck’s Lebendig begraben and Bristow’s Arcadian Symphony. Fall 2025 releases include Premieres with violinist Gil Shaham and Transcription as Translation. Recordings of TŌN’s live concerts from the Fisher Center can be heard regularly on Classical WMHT-FM and WWFM The Classical Network, and the orchestra has appeared over 100 times on Performance Today, broadcast nationwide. More info at ton.bard.edu.
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About Bard College
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 and Massena properties, Bard’s campus consists of more than 1,200 parklike acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with majors in nearly 40 academic programs; advanced degrees through 14 graduate programs; 10 early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 166-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 the 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.
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 and Massena properties, Bard’s campus consists of more than 1,200 parklike acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with majors in nearly 40 academic programs; advanced degrees through 14 graduate programs; 10 early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 166-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 the 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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This event was last updated on 08-10-2026
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