Many consider Martinů’s eighth opera to be his finest work. Based, like Ariane, on a French play by Georges Neveux, Julietta is a surreal psychological drama that explores the intersection of dreams and reality. In 2019, Leon Botstein helmed the opera’s overdue American premiere at Carnegie Hall, where he led “a winning cast and the American Symphony Orchestra in a vibrant concert performance” that was selected as a “Critic’s Pick” by The New York Times. Now, the Festival presents the conductor and ASO in a semi-staged revival of the opera, featuring three members of that same winning cast: tenor Aaron Blake and bass-baritones Philip Cokorinos and Alfred Walker, who also appears in this year’s mainstage SummerScape opera. So too does soprano Erica Petrocelli, who headlines Julietta, lending her “searing intensity” (Los Angeles Times) to the opera’s title role. Anchored by Botstein and the ASO, their performance draws the Bard Music Festival—and all seven weeks of Bard SummerScape—to a gripping close.

EPSG:4326

Bard Music Festival — Program 11

Sosnoff Theater

This program comprises choral and orchestral music by Martinů and perhaps his finest student, Moravia’s Jan Novák. Set to his own Latin text, Novák’s moving cantata Ignis pro Ioanne Palach commemorates a desperate young activist who immolated himself to protest the end of the Prague Spring. As a former professional violinist, Martinů wrote for the instrument with intimate understanding, and his Second Violin Concerto stands among his mature masterpieces. It was commissioned by the great Mischa Elman, who premiered the work with Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony, before performing it for many years, as did Isaac Stern and Josef Suk. Completing the program are an aria from Martinů’s one-act opera Ariane, a surrealist take on the Theseus myth that was inspired by Maria Callas, and The Epic of Gilgamesh, the composer’s only large-scale oratorio. Scored for narrator, soloists, choir, and orchestra, this takes its text from an English translation of the Mesopotamian saga, and is notable for some of Martinů’s most inspired choral writing.

Bard Music Festival — Program 9

Experience the gripping drama of Bedřich Smetana’s Dalibor, a powerful Czech opera that weaves themes of revenge, love, and fate. Set against a backdrop of medieval intrigue, Dalibor follows its titular tragic hero as he faces a desperate struggle for redemption. With sweeping orchestral music and unforgettable arias, Dalibor captivates with its emotional depth and stirring melodies. Director Jean-Romain Vesperini (Henri VIII) returns to Bard SummerScape to helm this first fully staged American production of a rarely heard masterpiece.

Dalibor at Bard SummerScape

TŌN’s tenth season at the Fisher Center concludes with a program of dazzling and colorful music by three European composers. The concert begins with Kaija Saariaho’s Laterna Magica, inspired by the autobiography of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. Then the orchestra is joined by clarinetist Miles Wazni, a winner of the 2023 Bard Conservatory Concerto Competition, for Carl Maria von Weber’s virtuosic Clarinet Concerto No. 2. We close with the luminous and beautifully crafted final symphony of French composer Albéric Magnard.

Weber & “Laterna Magica”

Fisher Center at Bard

Podcast link: https://youtu.be/4hagYvrYbuM

The Artelize Podcast and Kasper Holten - Pedefining Opera for the modern world

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d36M5Hi6O80

The Artelize Podcast - A legacy of innovation in Opera: Celebrating Marc A. Scorca

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59E40S_EQSY

The Artelize Podcast: A love letter that was never sent

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THv6htilWtI

The Artelize Podcast and Adolfo Corrado: Mediterranean flavors, opera and social media

Two of New York’s finest artistic training programs join forces as the talented graduate musicians of The Orchestra Now welcome the exceptional dancers of American Ballet Theatre Studio Company to the Fisher Center at Bard for an exhilarating performance of stirring music and beautiful dance.

Spring Benefit: TŌN + ABT Studio Company

TŌN performs three orchestral transcriptions of works by master composers Beethoven, Chopin, and Smetana. In 1910, the last year of his life, composer Mily Balakirev transcribed four pieces into an orchestral suite to celebrate the centenary of Chopin’s birth. To honor another centenary in 1927, that of Beethoven’s death, Austrian conductor and composer Felix Weingartner was moved to make a full orchestration of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 29, the Hammerklavier. While teaching composition at Mannes College of Music in 1940, acclaimed conductor George Szell created an orchestral transcription of Smetana’s E-minor String Quartet, From My Life. Hear this program at the Fisher Center just days before TŌN performs it at Carnegie Hall.

Transcription as Translation

A winter and holiday-infused cabaret spectacular with Stephanie Blythe and the Singers of the Graduate Vocal Arts Program with the Conservatory Piano Fellows.

Come Out of the Cold

A concert by the Bard Conservatory Orchestra with maestro Leon Botstein and soloists from Bard Vocal Arts Program.

Bard Conservatory Orchestra

Choreographed by rising artists in the Bard College Dance Program, this concert of Senior Projects represents the culmination of four years of intensive choreographic inquiry and research. Their concepts have been realized with the support of a professional staff of designers.

Fall Senior Dance Concert

Join Bard students and the International Student Organization (ISO) for a celebration of cultural diversity through music, singing, and dancing. Here’s your ticket to a two-hour worldwide adventure, featuring performances by thirteen different groups!

ISO Cultural Show

Join Bard students and the International Student Organization (ISO) for a celebration of cultural diversity through music, singing, and dancing! Here’s your ticket to a two-hour worldwide adventure.

ISO • Cultural Showcase

Bard College

Leon Botstein and TŌN celebrate the sesquicentennial of one of the most quintessential American composers, Charles Ives. With baritone William Sharp and preeminent Ives scholar J. Peter Burkholder, this program explores the way the composer created unique works from familiar tunes. Before each piece, Sharp and the orchestra will highlight these classic songs, including  “Bringing in the Sheaves” and “Wake Nicodemus”.

Charles Ives’ America

Bard's celebration of the sesquicentennial of quintessential American composer Charles Ives continues with this scripted playlet by historian Joseph Horowitz that uses the songs of Ives to tell the story of his life. The piece will be performed by baritone and actor William Sharp, widely regarded as a supreme exponent of Ives' songs, along with Bard Theater and Performance BFA candidate Charlotte Ferguson. The event includes music by pianist Donald Berman and commentary by Berman, Richard Aldous, J. Peter Burkholder, Kyle Gann, and Joseph Horowitz.

Charles Ives: A Life in Music

The Bard College Dance Program presents works by students of the Dance Program, with special guest performances by alumni.

Fall Dance Concert

Bard Conservatory finalists compete for the opportunity to perform with the Conservatory Orchestra and The Orchestra Now (TŌN).

Concerto Competition Fall ’24

Bard's celebration of the sesquicentennial of quintessential American composer Charles Ives kicks off with a free concert of piano music. Donald Berman, piano department chair at the Longy School of Music of Bard College and president of the Charles Ives Society, presents an all-Ives recital that features Berman's singular version of the "Concord Sonata" and other works based on his three-volume critical edition The Complete Shorter Works of Charles E. Ives. With readings from Emerson and Thoreau, paintings by Carl Ruggles, and the participation of Leon Botstein, Kyle Gann, and Joseph Horowitz.

Ives and the Piano

Drawing music and sound into dialogue with a wide range of cultural, political, scientific, and literary currents, the impact of his musical thinking and innovations is felt to this day. The 2024 Bard Music Festival will explore the many strands of Berlioz’s contributions and his crucial role in the musical life of nineteenth-century Europe and of today.

Bard Music Festival: Berlioz and His World

Works by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908); Claude Debussy (1862–1918); Richard Strauss (1864–1949); Edgard Varése (1883–1965); Olivier Messiaen (1908–92)

Program Ten • Berlioz’s Transformation of the World of Sound

Program Eleven • Faust and the Spirit of the 19th Century

Works by Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47); Robert Schumann (1810–56); Franz Liszt (1811–86); Ferdinand Hiller (1811–85); Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829–69)

Events in Annandale-On-Hudson, NY

Bard Music Festival — Pro...

American Symphony Orchestra

Bard Music Festival — Pro...

American Symphony Orchestra

Dalibor at Bard SummerSca...

American Symphony Orchestra

Weber & “Laterna Magica”

Bard College

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast - A ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast: A l...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

Spring Benefit: TŌN + ABT...

Bard College

Transcription as Translat...

Come Out of the Cold

Bard College

Bard Conservatory Orchest...

Bard College

Fall Senior Dance Concert...

Bard College

ISO Cultural Show

Bard College

ISO • Cultural Showcase

Bard College

Charles Ives’ America

Bard College

Charles Ives: A Life in M...

Bard College

Fall Dance Concert

Bard College

Concerto Competition Fall...

Bard College

Ives and the Piano

Bard College

Bard Music Festival: Berl...

American Symphony Orchestra

Program Ten • Berlioz’s T...

Bard College

Program Eleven • Faust an...

Bard College

Program Eight • Literary ...

Bard College