A MARATHON CONCERT ON SUNDAY, JULY 27, WILL FEATURE SIX M.F.A. CANDIDATES OF THE CONDUCTORS INSTITUTE AT BARD COLLEGE Gala Graduation concert will include works by Beethoven, Copland, Mozart, Ravel, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and Tchaikovsky

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.— The second class of candidates for the master of fine arts degree in conducting of the Conductors Institute at Bard will take the podium for a gala graduation concert on Sunday, July 27. The concert will take place in Olin Hall from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. and from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. The conductors will each lead the Institute Orchestra for approximately 40 minutes in six individual concerts. The event is free and open to the public, and the audience is welcome to attend all or any part of the performance.

The program will include Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3 and Symphony No. 7; Copland’s Appalachian Spring; Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) Overture; Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2; Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5; Stravinsky’s L’Oiseaux de feu (Firebird) Suite; and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, as well as the world premieres of compositions by the M.F.A. candidates.

The six conductors—Richard Haglund, Alexandra Ludwig, Rafael Nava Curto, Takuya Nishiwaki, Marc Williams, and Seth Winterhalter—are completing the 15-month M.F.A. program of the Conductors Institute. They hail from the United States, Mexico, and Japan.

This is the second consecutive summer during which the six candidates have participated in the Institute’s six-week program and served as interns with the Bard Music Festival. They have also completed required course work at Bard during the intervening academic year, including classes in composition; basic orchestral repertoire of the 18th, 19th, and 20^th centuries; languages; a "second" instrument (string or piano); and ear training. In addition, they have had private studies and master classes in technical score study and analysis with Maestro Harold Farberman, as well as podium time with the Institute string quintet and conducting opportunities with the Bard College Community Orchestra, Chorus, and Vocal Ensembles.

Harold Farberman founded the Conductors Institute 24 years ago to fill a void in the United States with a summer training program for conductors. "I hit on a formula that remains the same to this day—vigorous technical training and promotion of American music in a cooperative atmosphere," he said. The Conductors Institute is in its fifth year at Bard College, and this year marks the third that the master of fine arts degree in conducting is being offered.

The structure of the six-week summer Institute provides new instructors and new repertoire each week, assuring the participants exposure to a variety of expert opinions. The 2003 faculty include maestri Leon Botstein, Apo Hsu, and Karen Lynne Deal; composers Harold Farberman and Jennifer Higdon; and maestro Eduardo Navega, associate conductor, who directs the Institute's Discovery Program, designed for beginning conductors.

Artistic director Harold Farberman is a noted conductor, composer, and musician. His earliest composition, Evolution, has been recorded four times, once by Leopold Stokowski. After hearing Evolution, Aaron Copland invited Farberman to study composition with him at Tanglewood. Farberman was music director of the Colorado Springs and Oakland Symphony Orchestras and principal guest conductor of the Denver Symphony Orchestra and the Bournemouth (Great Britain) Sinfonietta. He has been a frequent guest conductor and recording artist with such orchestras as the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, and Stockholm Philharmonic. A prolific composer of music for orchestra, ballet, film, chamber ensemble, and opera, he was awarded the Ives Medal for his dedication to the music of Charles Ives. In November 2000, Farberman's cello concerto was premiered by the American Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. Farberman founded the Conductors Guild and is the author of The Art of Conducting Technique, published by Warner Brothers.

For further information, call 845-758-7425 or visit the website <www.bard.edu/ci>.

This event was last updated on 08-15-2003

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