VOCAL CONCERTS AT BARD FEATURE MUSIC FROM ENGLAND ON DECEMBER 1 AND VIVALDI'S GLORIA ON DECEMBER 11
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.?The Bard College Vocal Ensemble and the Bard College Community Chorus will each perform concerts, conducted by James Bagwell, in December. The vocal ensemble concert, featuring music from England dating from the 16th to the 20th century, will be held on Saturday, December 1, at 8:00 p.m. in the Chapel of the Holy Innocents. The Bard College Community Chorus will perform on Tuesday, December 11, at 8:00 p.m. in Olin Hall. Both these concerts are free and open to public and are presented by the Music Program at Bard College.
The vocal ensemble is under the direction of Bagwell for the second year and, with 30 students, is the largest it has ever been. They will perform works by English composers, including Britten, Byrd, Tallis, and Holst.
The community chorus, composed of 85 Bard students and community members, will perform Vivaldi's Gloria and a coronation anthem composed for George II by Handel. The chorus will be accompanied by a full orchestra, under the direction of Bagwell.
Jay Harvey writes in the Indianapolis Star that "Bagwell displayed a fine sense of detail and proportion. . . . His cues and encouragement to soloists, the choir, and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra had an electrifying intensity that seemed to yield a full measure of commitment to the music by all concerned." Bagwell, an assistant professor of music and director of choral music at Bard, was recently appointed music director of the Light Opera of Oklahoma. He maintains an active schedule throughout the United States as a conductor of choral, operatic, and symphonic literature. Bagwell is the principal guest conductor and artistic adviser of the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, which he conducted this season in a performance of Bach's B Minor Mass, and serves in the same capacity with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and the Indianapolis Chamber Singers, a professional ensemble that he founded. Bagwell is also the music director of Cincinnati's May Festival Youth Chorus and director of the May Festival Summer Chorus. He has trained choruses for several major American orchestras including the Cincinnati Symphony, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and Indianapolis Symphony. This past summer, Bagwell conducted a concert with the New York Virtuoso Singers at the Bard Music Festival's "Debussy and His World."
For further information about the concerts, call the Music Program at 845-758-7250.
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(11.14.01)