BARD'S FIRST-YEAR SEMINAR FALL SERIES FEATURES A FREE PROGRAM WITH THE AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ON SEPTEMBER 20 AT THE RICHARD B. FISHER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

Monday afternoon series, “What Is Enlightenment? The Science, Culture, and Politics of Reason,” will include concerts, performances, lectures, films, and panel discussions

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—On Monday afternoons from September 6 through December 13, Bard’s fall 2004 First-Year Seminar program, “What Is Enlightenment? The Science, Culture, and Politics of Reason, ” will offer a series of concert programs, performances, lectures, films, and panel discussions. All the events are free and open to the public and will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Olin Hall (with the exception of the September 20 event).
On September 20, the program with Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra titled “Between Centuries: The Classic and the Romantic” is a highlight of the series. The free event includes a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major and begins at 4:30 p.m. in the Sosnoff Theater of The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Following the performance, Botstein and the orchestra will take questions from the audience. For information on this program only, contact the Fisher Center box office at 845-758-7900.
Other events that will feature Bard faculty include lectures on September 6, “Gimme One Reason,” with Daniel Berthold; October 4, “Competing Views of the Cosmos in Galileo’s Time,” with Matthew Deady; October 18, “Artisanal Knowledge: Dutch Artists and Optics in 17th-Century Holland,” with Susan Merriam; November 8, “The Persistence of Classicisms in Architecture from the 18th Century to the Present,” with Noah Chasin; and November 22, “Mozart’s Final Reconciliation: The Magic Flute and The Enlightenment,” with Christopher Gibbs.
In addition, there will be two panel discussions: the first on October 25, “Machiavelli and Politics,” with James Chace, Nina Cannizzaro, and Joel Kovel (moderated by Elaine Thomas); and November 29, “Panel Discussion on Equiano and the Transatlantic Slave Trade,” led by Myra Young Armstead. Two films will be screened: the first on November 15, documenting a performance of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and a “celebratory” film on December 13. On December 6, Elizabeth Smith’s Voice and Performance class will perform “Merrymaking at Mansfield Park: A Reading of Lovers’ Vows.”
There are also lectures by distinguished outside scholars, including Vassar College professor Bryan Van Norden, who will discuss “Three Trends in the Study of Confucius,” on September 13; on a lecture on Islamic society by Richard Bulliet of Columbia University on September 27; and “Adam Smith and ‘The Two Greatest Events in Human History,’” a lecture by Perry Merhling of Barnard College on November 1.
The fall lecture series is a part of the First-Year Seminar at Bard College, a required two-semester program for freshman students that introduces them to worldwide, intellectual, artistic, and cultural traditions and to methods of studying those traditions. The lecture series provides a public forum for the students, the public, and leading scholars and artists to explore both contemporary and relevant issues, as well as the latest scholarship on enduring questions.
All events are free and open to the public. For more information about the American Symphony Orchestra event on September 20, call the Fisher Center Box Office at 758-7900. For information about all other events, call 758-7512 or visit inside.bard.edu/firstyear/.
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The American Symphony Orchestra was formed in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski with a mission to “perform concerts of great music within the means of everyone.” Today, under music director Leon Botstein (who assumed the post in 1992), that mission has broadened into an effort to revitalize the concertgoing experience in order to maintain it as a vibrant force in contemporary culture. As part of Lincoln Center Presents Great Performers, the American Symphony Orchestra performs thematically organized concerts at Avery Fisher Hall, linking music to the visual arts, literature, politics, and popular culture, often in collaboration with museums and other cultural institutions. The American Symphony Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the new Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, where it participates in a winter concert series as well as the summer Bard Music Festival. The American Symphony Orchestra also offers a variety of music education programs at high schools in Manhattan and New Jersey.
Leon Botstein is music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra; founder and coartistic director of the Bard Music Festival; and president of Bard College. He is also the music director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Botstein is editor of The Musical Quarterly and has published several books, including The Compleat Brahms and Jefferson’s Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture.
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Schedule of Events: All events will take place in Olin Hall on Mondays at 4:30 p.m. (unless otherwise noted)
September 6, “Gimme One Reason” Lecture by Daniel Berthold, Bard College
September 13, “Three Trends in the Study of Confucius” Lecture by Bryan Van Norden, Vassar College
September 20: “Between Centuries: The Classic and the Romantic” Lecture and program by Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra [Sosnoff Theater, The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, box office: 845-758-7900]
September 27, Lecture on Islamic Society Richard Bulliet, Columbia University
October 4, “Competing Views of the Cosmos in Galileo’s Time” Matthew Deady, Bard College
October 18, “Artisanal Knowledge: Dutch Artists and Optics in 17th-Century Holland’” Susan Merriam, Bard College
October 25, Panel Discussion on “Machiavelli and Politics” Panelists James Chace, Nina Cannizzaro, and Joel Kovel, Bard College; moderated by Elaine Thomas, Bard College
November 1, “Adam Smith and ‘The Two Greatest Events in Human History” Perry Mehrling, Barnard College
November 8, “The Persistence of Classicisms in Architecture from the 18th Century to the Present” Noah Chasin, Bard College
November 15, Film Screening of Mozart’s The Magic Flute
November 22, “Mozart’s Final Reconciliation: The Magic Flute and The Enlightenment” Christopher Gibbs, Bard College
November 29, Panel Discussion of “Equiano and the Transatlantic Slave Trade” Led by Myra Young Armstead
December 6, “Merrymaking at Mansfield Park: A Reading of Lovers’ Vows” By Elizabeth Smith’s Voice and Performance class
December 13, Celebratory Film Screening
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Website: https://inside.bard.edu/firstyear/

This event was last updated on 08-30-2004

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