BARD COLLEGE CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC’S FALL CONCERT AND LECTURE SERIES OFFERS TWO FREE PROGRAMS IN DECEMBER

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Conservatory Concerts and Lectures Series, presented by the Bard College Conservatory of Music, offers two programs in December. All performances are free and open to the public. No reservations are necessary. On Sunday, December 4, at 3:00 p.m. in Olin Hall, pianist Melvin Chen and violinist Arnold Steinhardt will perform Beethoven’s Sonata No. 6 for violin and piano, and sonatas by Janáček and Richard Strauss. Chen, associate director of the Conservatory, has performed at major venues in the United States, including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Weill Recital Hall, the Frick Collection, and the Kennedy Center, in addition to other appearances throughout the country, Canada, and Asia. He has collaborated with Ida Kavafian, Steven Tenenbom, David Shifrin, Robert White, Pamela Frank, Peter Wiley, and members of the St. Lawrence, Mendelssohn, Miami, Orion, Borromeo, and Arditti Quartets. He was selected to be a member of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society Two, and has performed at Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Chautauqua, Music from Angel Fire, and Bard Music Festival, among others. He can be heard on Discover, Nices, and KBS label compact discs with violinist Juliette Kang. Since 1964, Steinhardt has been the first violinist of the internationally acclaimed Guarneri String Quartet. He has recorded extensively for RCA Victor, Philips, Arabesque, and Sheffield Lab, among other labels. He has appeared throughout America and Europe as a recitalist and soloist with various orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra. He serves on the faculty of the Conservatory. On Sunday, December 11, at 3:00 p.m. in Olin Hall, students of the Bard College Conservatory of Music will perform a program of chamber music including works by Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorak, Ravel, Loeffler, and Milhaud. The students of the Conservatory, now in their first year at the College, hail from five countries in addition to the United States, and from five states within the U.S. The chamber ensembles have been coached throughout the fall semester by faculty of the Conservatory. For further information about the Conservatory Concerts and Lectures, call 845-758-7425. # Building on its distinguished history of innovation in the arts and education, Bard College has launched the Bard College Conservatory of Music. This innovative, five-year double-degree program is guided by the principle that musicians should be broadly educated in the liberal arts and sciences to achieve their greatest potential. While training and studying for the bachelor of music degree with world-class musicians and teachers and performing in state-of-the-art facilities, such as the Frank Gehry–designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard Conservatory students also pursue a bachelor of arts degree at Bard, one of the nation’s leading liberal arts colleges. The Conservatory’s instrumental and composition faculty includes world-class musicians and composers, including violinists Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, Weigang Li, Laurie Smukler, and Arnold Steinhardt; violists Steven Tenenbom, Michael Tree, and Ira Weller; cellists Sophie Shao and Peter Wiley; double bassist Marji Danilow; pianists Melvin Chen, Jeremy Denk, Peter Serkin, and piano master classes with Richard Goode; oboist Laura Ahlbeck; flutist Tara Helen O’Connor; clarinetists Laura Flax and David Krakauer; bassoonist Marc Goldberg; horn players Julie Landsman and Jeffrey Lang; and trombonist John Rojak. The Colorado Quartet and Da Capo Chamber Players are in residence. Members and principals of the American Symphony Orchestra are also available for instruction, coaching, and leading of sectional rehearsals in the Conservatory Orchestra. In 2006–07, the Conservatory will introduce three additional programs: the Vocal Arts Graduate Program, directed by Dawn Upshaw; The Conductors Institute and its graduate program in conducting, directed by Harold Farberman; and the Composition Program, directed by Joan Tower and George Tsontakis. “The mission of the Conservatory at Bard is to provide the best possible preparation for a person dedicated to a life immersed in the creation and performance of music,” says Robert Martin, director of the Conservatory and vice president for academic affairs at Bard College. “We believe deeply in the value of an education in the liberal arts and sciences, not as a luxury, but as the best preparation for functioning competitively and creatively.” According to Chen, associate director of the Conservatory and professor of music and science at Bard College, “Music, like all art, engages the mind and the heart. It redefines boundaries and questions limits in order to make a meaningful statement about the human condition. The education of the mind is therefore as important as the education of the fingers or voice. The greatest musicians not only have the technical mastery to communicate effectively, but also are deeply curious and equally adept at analytical and emotional modes of thought.” For more information about the Bard College Conservatory of Music, call 845-758-7196, e-mail [email protected], or log onto the program’s website, www.bard.edu/conservatory. # # # (11/23/05)

This event was last updated on 12-12-2005

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