Bard Conservatory of Music News Archive

A New Day, a cello concerto released in 2021 by Joan Tower, Asher B. Edelman Professor in the Arts at Bard College, was featured in Times Union. The work, which began as a commission by the Colorado Music Festival, Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra, was written while Jeff Litfin, her late husband of 50 years, was dying. “I was in real bad shape,” Tower said. “So I decided to write. In fact, all the music I've been writing since then is about him.” The concerto, which will be performed by Albany Symphony in Troy on November 16 and 17, contains four movements: “Daybreak,” “Working Out,” “Mostly Alone” and “Into the Night.” The titles are intentionally simple, allowing for many interpretations of a single day, she told Times Union.

The Bard College Conservatory of Music is pleased to present a celebration of the new album release by renowned pianist and conductor Benjamin Hochman, a lecturer at Bard College Berlin. The event, which takes place on November 8, 2024 at 7 pm in the Bitó Conservatory Building on Bard’s campus, will begin with a reception followed by a piano concert of Hochman’s album Resonance. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit here.

Resonance will be released by Avie Records on November 1, 2024. It features Beethoven Piano Sonatas Op. 109 and 110, George Benjamin’s Shadowlines, and works by Josquin de Prez and John Dowland. “This program is a journey from darkness to light, a study in contrasts that nevertheless finds resonance across the centuries, ultimately finding transcendence and even triumph,” Hochman writes.

Born in Jerusalem in 1980, Hochman’s chamber music collaborations have taken him to Berlin, Budapest, Vancouver, Boston, Seattle, Dallas, Charlottesville, the Clark Art Institute in Massachusetts, and Brown University. He currently curates the Kurtág Festival, a three-day event inspired by the musical explorations of György Kurtág, at Bard College in Annandale.

The China Now Music Festival, a collaboration between the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music and the Central Conservatory of Music, China, was reviewed in China Daily. The festival, now in its seventh season and with the theme Composing the Future, performed on Saturday at Carnegie Hall in New York City, where Sun Yuming, a composer and lecturer on electronic music composition at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, introduced his piece “Starry Night.” The composition featured AI-driven visuals which were rendered in real time to blend physical and virtual instruments. “This approach combines the unique characteristics of traditional instruments with the innovations of electronic music, integrating AI throughout the entire performance—not only in sound but also in the visual effects on stage.” Sun told China Daily.

The US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music and the Central Conservatory of Music, China, announce the seventh season of the China Now Music Festival, titled Composing the Future, from October 12 to 19. The festival’s major concerts will take place at Carnegie Hall in New York City and at Bard College.

The China Now Music Festival is dedicated to promoting an understanding and appreciation of music from contemporary China through an annual series of concerts and academic activities. In the previous six seasons, China Now has attracted more than 10,000 live audience members, and nearly 100,000 viewers have participated in online programs. The seventh season features contemporary works on the cutting edge of music with two concerts at Carnegie Hall, in Stern Auditorium on October 12 and Zankel Hall on October 19, to look at the intersection of technology and music.

Artistic Director Jindong Cai says: “Generations of composers in China have been paving the way for the future of classical music. Some are now experimenting with rapidly developing technologies, like AI, that can provide us with new ways to enhance musical expression. This year, China Now explores these new frontiers in music with some of the greatest living composers from China. But even as we venture into this brave new world, we remain certain that, at its core, music-making must always come from the creative heart and imaginative mind of a human being.”

On October 12, Conductor Jindong Cai leads The Orchestra Now in a future-focused program of new symphonic works by contemporary Chinese composers in the opening concert of China Now in Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall. The richly varied program features Juilliard-trained composer and pianist Peng-Peng Gong’s Of Peking and Opera, an abridged version of his magnificent Tenth Symphony. The Tenth Symphony was originally co-commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and was praised as “a sweet, sentimental, and direct work with highly original sounds presented in a series of vivid episodes” by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

From the inspiration of Peking Opera to a tribute to American jazz master Ray Charles, the program also presents New York–based Pulitzer Prize winner Du Yun’s Hundred Heads (In Tribute to Ray Charles). The musical theme hints at Charles’s best-known tune, “Georgia on My Mind,” and his trademark brass rhythms, while drawing on Buddhist mythology to represent the essence of Charles’ musical gifts.

In keeping with the future-focused theme of this year’s festival events, China Now asked the Department of Music Artificial Intelligence of the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) to contribute orchestral pieces composed in part by AI, as well as works that experimentally incorporate AI technology in live performances. Highlights of this segment of the program include Li Xiaobing’s use of a ‘Cloud Chorus’ of 1,000 voices gathered from around the world, and a piece by Sun Yuming where a traditional ‘guzheng’ zither is played on stage without the performer touching the instrument.

Rounding out the dynamic program are two captivating symphonic pieces by Qin Wenchen and Yao Chen from the composition faculty of CCOM, locus of some of the most forward-thinking and innovative composers of our time.

A pre-concert event at the Rohatyn Room at Carnegie Hall from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm brings together an illustrious panel of composers and music researchers convene for the 2nd annual US-China Music Forum to explore how technology and music can intersect in new music composition. Note that seating is limited for the forum and advance reservations are required.

The China Now Music Festival concludes with a second concert on October 19 at Carnegie’s intimate Zankel Hall with a chamber opera by visionary composer Hao Weiya, performed by the China Now Chamber Orchestra and conductor Jindong Cai. Unlike the October 12 concert program, which highlights the fusion of music and technology, Hao Weiya’s AI’s Variation: Opera of the Future confronts us with a series of chilling questions relating to the ethics of science and technology merging with human creativity. A science fiction-themed drama for three voices and a chamber orchestra, AI’s Variation tells the story of a troubled artist who allows his identity to be ‘enhanced’ by AI but then struggles with the consequences in his personal life.

The program at Zankel Hall also features a performance by the dynamic young musicians of the Bard East/West Ensemble, whose unique combination of Chinese and Western instruments has been widely enjoyed by the audience of the China Now Music Festival in past years. They will be joined by Duo Chinoiserie, a unique pairing that combines the Chinese guzheng and the European classical guitar, to perform French composer Mathias Duplessy’s Zhong Kui’s Regrets and Zhong Kui’s Journey in a new arrangement for the Duo and the Bard East/West Ensemble.

The Ensemble further advances into imaginative spaces with Chinese composer Jia Guoping’s Ripples in Spacetime, inspired by pulsar signals in deep space, and Shi Fuhong’s Vital Momentum. Commissioned by the China Now Music Festival and inspired by the cicada, Shi’s hope-filled piece delves into profound themes of life, vitality, humanity, nature, heaven, earth, and time. Another commission for the Bard East/West Ensemble by young composer Yan Yan, from China Now’s Emerging Composers Discovery Project, presents a new re-imagining of the classic ghost story Painted Skin, composed especially for the Bard East/West Ensemble.

Note: This program will also be performed in a free concert at Bard’s Fisher Center for the Performing arts on Friday, October 18 at 7 pm.

EVENT DETAILS AND TICKETING

CONCERT 1:
COMPOSING THE FUTURE: THE ORCHESTRA NOW (TŌN) CONDUCTED BY JINDONG CAI

Saturday, October 12 at 7:30 pm
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
Tickets: $25/$40/$60
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
57th Street and Seventh Ave, New York, NY, 10019
For tickets, visit: https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2024/10/12/Composing-the-Future-A-Concert-with-The-Orchestra-Now-Jindong-Cai-Conductor-0730PM


CONCERT 2:
COMPOSING THE FUTURE: THE CHINA NOW CHAMBER ORCHESTRA AND THE BARD EAST/WEST ENSEMBLE
Featuring AI’S VARIATION: OPERA OF THE FUTURE
Jindong Cai, conductor

Friday, October 18 at 7 pm
Sosnoff Theater, Fisher Center at Bard College
FREE and open to the public.
For more information, visit: https://fishercenter.bard.edu/events/composing-the-future/

Saturday, October 19 at 7:30 pm
Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall
Tickets: $25/$35/$45/$60
Seventh Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets, New York, NY, 10019
For tickets, visit: https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2024/10/19/Composing-the-Future-A-Concert-with-the-China-Now-Chamber-Orchestra-and-the-Ba-0730PM

US-CHINA MUSIC FORUM: COMPOSING THE FUTURE
Saturday, October 12 from 5:30 pm to 7 pm
Rohatyn Room at Carnegie Hall
57th Street and Seventh Ave, New York, NY, 10019
The US-China Music Forum is free and requires reservations via Eventbrite. Seating is limited.
For more information about the China Now Music Festival and for full programming details, please visit: barduschinamusic.org/composing-the-future

Mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce VAP ’19, alumna of the Bard Conservatory Vocal Arts Program, has won third prize in Operalia 2024, the world opera competition founded by Plácido Domingo in 1993 to discover and help launch the careers of the most promising young opera singers of today. Operalia’s goal is to attract singers between the ages of 20 and 32, of all voice types from and all over the world, to have them audition and be heard by a panel of distinguished international personalities, in the most prestigious and competitive showcase in the world. 

The international jury, presided by Plácido Domingo, listens to each of the chosen participants during two days of quarterfinals. Twenty participants are then selected to continue on to the semifinals, and ten singers are chosen for the finals. The quarterfinals and semifinals are carried out in audition form, but the final round is presented in the form of a gala concert accompanied by a full orchestra. This year, Operalia was held at The National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai, India, September 15–21.

The Bard College Conservatory of Music announces the appointment of Satoshi Okamoto to the faculty in double bass. Okamoto has been a member of the New York Philharmonic since 2003. He served as an acting principal and assistant principal in 2013–16. Prior to the Philharmonic, he was an assistant principal double bassist in the San Antonio Symphony for eight years and a member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra for a year. As a soloist, he was a finalist of the International Society of Bassist Solo Competition and the Izuminomori International Double Bass Competition, also a twice winner of the Aspen bass competition. He was a faculty member at Stonybrook University from 2023–24. He has given master classes at institutions such as The Juilliard School Pre-College, Toho school of music, LSU at Baton Rouge, TCU, Aichi University of fine arts, and Pyongyang Conservatory. He received his master’s degree from The Juilliard School, and a bachelor’s degree from Tokyo University of Fine Arts.

Despite China’s status as a major world leader, few American students are returning to study abroad in China. Last semester, only about 700 US students were in China, compared to more than 11,000 prior to the pandemic. In opposition to this trend, Bard is expanding its engagement in China. 

Malia Du Mont ’95, Bard’s Vice President for Strategy and Policy and the first person to earn a BA in Chinese from Bard, stated, “The US and China will play a major role in determining the future of the planet we share, so it is our responsibility as educators to create opportunities for young people from both countries to learn from each other. In the context of challenging political relations and the rise of artificial intelligence, we must strengthen our commitment to the humanities and nurture many forms of communication, including through music and the arts.”

Underscoring the College’s commitment, President Leon Botstein returned to China in June to spend two weeks in the cities of Xiamen and Ningbo, where he conducted concerts and met with high school and university students and administrators. President Botstein also attended a concert in Ningbo conducted by Oscar-winning composer and Dean of the Bard College Conservatory of Music Tan Dun.

In July, Bard College Conservatory of Music Director Frank Corliss taught for a week at the Shandong University of the Arts (SUA) in Jinan, concluding with a performance by the students and Corliss with members of the faculty and the director of SUA. The director of SUA, GQ Wang, is eager for continued visits by Bard Conservatory faculty and a trip by Graduate Vocal Arts Program Associate Director Kayo Iwama is planned for the coming academic year.

Following the week in Jinan, Frank Corliss traveled to Changsha where he joined Bard Conservatory Dean Tan Dun and four percussion students of the Conservatory (Maddy Dethof, Jonathan Collazo BM/BA ’19, APS ’24, Estaban Ganem MM ’24; Arnav Shirodkar BM/BA ’24) for concerts with Tan Dun and the Changsha Symphony Orchestra. Tan Dun led the students and Frank Corliss in two of his pieces for voice, piano, and percussion ensemble, and in his recent arrangement of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring for two pianos and percussion. The students, with the Changsha Symphony, also gave the premiere of a piece by Tan Dun “Noa Concerto” for four percussionists and orchestra. The students played on specially made replicas of ancient bronze bells recently discovered in Changsha. The week of concerts also included a performance featuring the Bard String Quartet: Bard Director of Asian Recruitment and Institutional Relations Shawn Moore BM/BA ’11, Fangxi Liu BM/BA ’16, Lin Wang BM/BA ’12, and Zhang Hui APS ’17.  There was also a panel discussion at the Changsha Symphony on Education and Music with Tan Dun, Frank Corliss, and Changsha Symphony President Wang Zhi.
 At a time when language instruction is being cut in many American high schools and institutions of higher education, Chinese language is offered throughout the Bard Early College network. This summer, student cohorts from both Bard High School Early College Baltimore (Bard Baltimore) and Bard High School Early College DC (Bard DC) traveled separately to China. From July 21 to August 5, Bard Baltimore students visited Baltimore's sister city of Xiamen, Maryland’s sister province of Anhui, and China’s capital Beijing as part of the Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee 2024 Youth Ambassadors Program. Their two-week study tour included living and interacting with Chinese peers from local schools in Xiamen, cultural immersion experiences, and meetings with local leaders. They had the opportunity to visit cultural sites including Gulangyu Island (a UNESCO World Heritage site), Lingling Zoo (a local zoo where they saw two twin brother pandas), and Xiamen’s first mangrove-themed ecological coastal wetland park Xiatanwei. Their trip also included travel to the famous Yellow Mountains of Anhui Province and China’s capital Beijing, where they visited the Great Wall, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, as well as the US Embassy to attend a panel discussion on the career path of a diplomat.
Bard DC Chinese language students had the opportunity to visit China this summer too. They spent two weeks at Yunnan Normal University in the city of Kunming, taking language classes and enjoying local food, tea, traditional dance, and other cultural experiences such as a visit to the hot springs. Interacting with local Chinese students was a key part of the program for both the Bard Baltimore and Bard DC student groups.

As part of the Chinese language program at the Bard College main campus, Bard undergraduate students from Annandale also went to China this summer, for an eight-week intensive at Qingdao University, which has hosted Bard’s summer immersion courses for over a decade. In addition to taking language classes, participants studied Kung Fu and painting, lived with a host family for one week, and conducted cultural tours in Beijing, Tai’an, and Qingdao.

Jacquelyn Stucker ’13, an alumna of Bard’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program, was reviewed in the New York Times for her role as Delilah in the opera Samson at the Aix-en-Provence festival. Samson, a never-performed opera by Voltaire and Rameau, two of Enlightenment France’s most important cultural figures, was performed as an updated production with pieces drawn from other Rameau works to replace the original score, which was lost some 250 years ago. The Aix production “retains the hypnotic continuity of Rameau’s complete operas, their steadiness and also their variety, veering from festive to soulful, from raucous dances to hushed, hovering arias and radiant choruses,” writes Zachary Woolfe for the New York Times.  “The mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre (Timna) and the soprano Jacquelyn Stucker (Dalila) are both exquisitely sensitive in their floating music.”

Bard College will receive a $50,006 grant as part of New York State’s Higher Education Capital Matching Grant Program, which supports projects at colleges and universities across the state by providing construction and renovation of laboratory and research spaces, the purchase of instructional technologies and equipment, and other significant investments. The grant will support the purchase of pianos and equipment for Bard’s László Z. Bitó Conservatory building. The equipment will be available to Bard’s community of students, faculty, and staff, as well as to the greater Hudson Valley community that participates in the opportunities Bard provides for learning, enrichment, and enjoyment. “New York’s colleges and universities are second to none, offering students unparalleled opportunities to learn, explore, and prepare to launch their careers,” Governor Hochul said. “With this funding, my administration is reaffirming our commitment to providing our students—including those at our private, not-for-profit institutions—with a top-tier, New York education with the best possible resources and facilities that will help them succeed inside and outside of the classroom.”

Soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon, visiting faculty in vocal arts at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, has been awarded a 2024 fellowship from the Borletti-Buitoni Trust (BBT) in support of her professional projects. The BBT Fellowship Program rewards musical excellence demonstrated by outstanding young musicians—for individuals and ensembles that have been selected from over 32 countries—with fellowships in 2024 being given to seven artists, including Fitz Gibbon. BBT winners are awarded between £20,000 and £30,000. There are no set criteria for how artists spend their budget. Winners are encouraged to be creative and to use their awards in a way that will help to establish and build their careers. Over the next three years, BBT’s fellowship funding will support Fitz Gibbon in the commissioning of new works, performances, and recordings. BBT also will provide advice, guidance, contacts, and public relations exposure. BBT artists join a supportive family that helps to advance their careers.

“I am overwhelmed with gratitude to have received one of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust’s 2024 Artist Fellowships. The nomination process asked me to dream about what I could accomplish with the kind of latitude that this funding and administrative support would represent, but I found the range of possibilities almost too tantalizing to imagine, as if I could permit myself only an oblique gaze at what might be,” wrote Fitz Gibbon upon receiving the fellowship.

Lucy Fitz Gibbon is noted for her “dazzling virtuoso singing” (Boston Globe) and believes that creating new works and recreating those lost in centuries past makes room for the diversity of voices integral to classical music’s future. Spotlighted as a Rising Star of Classical Music for 2024 in the February 20, 2024, edition of the British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) Music Magazine, Fitz Gibbon is one of 15 young classical musicians that the BBC has identified worldwide who are making a prominent stamp on the industry, whether with concert performances, opera roles, or dazzling new recordings.

In a profile of the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music for China Daily, Minlu Zhang spoke with Director Jindong Cai and several current Bard Conservatory students. “Our faculty comprises top experts in their fields, which naturally fosters interaction and collaboration,” Cai told China Daily. “At Bard, students studying Chinese music and Western music work closely together, becoming friends and often forming duets, trios, or learning each other’s instruments. This integration creates a vibrant musical community.” Zhang also spoke with Bard students Andrew Chan ’24 MA ’25, Kendall Griffith ’26, Beitong Liu ’24 MA ’25, and Yixing Wang ’25 about their artistic practices and love of traditional Chinese music. Griffith, who was able to study at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China, last semester, said she learned more about her passion and was able to move beyond her comfort zone. “There was an interesting lecture that talked about how most Chinese music emulates things in calligraphy,” Griffith said. “There’s a lot of empty space, and I can now incorporate that feeling into a lot of the music I play.” One of the goals of the US-China Music Institute is to create opportunities for these kinds of cross-cultural exchanges. “Globally, music is the most effective way to connect people,” Cai said. “When you look at various cultures or regions, you often see conflicts. However, when you consider music, it has a way of connecting everyone.”