Announcing the Launch of the Bard College Community Orchestra
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, NY—The Bard College Orchestra is expanding to become an orchestra for the entire local community by welcoming players of all orchestral instruments and all ages from high school and above. Membership is free and by informal audition.Bard students, faculty and staff, local high school players, and community members of level 5 New York State School Music Association standard and up are all welcome to audition. Rehearsals will take place in Bard's Olin Hall on Monday evenings from 7:30-10 p.m.
There will be an open rehearsal on Monday, September 12th at 7:30 pm in Bard’s Olin Hall, where interested musicians can find out more and enjoy an informal play-through. For additional questions, please send an email to Greg Armbruster at [email protected].
Join conductors Zachary Schwartzman, Bard faculty and assistant conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra; Erica Kiesewetter, Bard faculty and concertmaster of the American Symphony Orchestra; with director of strings Kathryn Aldous, Bard faculty and American Symphony Orchestra violinist, as we rehearse and perform a season of exciting orchestral music.
The Bard College Community Orchestra currently has three programs planned for the year, with music to include Grieg’s popular Peer Gynt, Charles Ives’s enigmatic The Unanswered Question, and Bruch's beautiful Double Concerto in E-minor for clarinet and viola with faculty soloists Laura Flax and Marka Gustavsson.
There will also be an opportunity to collaborate with students from the Bard College music program, in a staged opera performance. The annual Concerto Competition offers the opportunity to audition to perform a solo with the orchestra. Concerts will be performed at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and at other venues around the Bard campus.
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 on the east bank of the Hudson River. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with concentrations in more than 40 academic programs; graduate degrees in 11 programs; 9 early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on a 150-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard College’s mission has expanded across the country, around the world, and to meet broader student needs. The undergraduate program at our main campus in the Hudson River Valley of upstate New York retains 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.
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