DECEMBER 12TH CONCERT AT BARD FEATURES PERFORMANCE BY BARITONE JACK HUNTER AND PIANIST ELIZABETH RODGERS Hunter will also give talk on December 11th about Mahler and Des Knaben Wunderhorn
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.--The German Studies Program and the Conductors Institute at Bard College will present a concert by baritone and clarinetist Jack Hunter and pianist Elizabeth Rodgers on Wednesday, December 12, at 7:30 p.m. in Olin Hall. Hunter will also give a talk on the topic "Mahler and Des Knaben Wunderhorn" on Tuesday, December 11, at 11:30 a.m. in Room 104 of the Olin Humanities Building. Both the concert and the talk are free and open to the public.
The program features performances of six songs from Gustav Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth's Magic Horn): "Wo die schoenen Trompeten blasen," "Verlorne Mueh," "Urlicht," "Rheinlegendchen," "Das irdische Leben," and "Wer hat das Liedlein erdacht?" Also on the program are Witold Lutoslawski's Dance Preludes and Robert Schumann's Fantasy Pieces, both for piano and clarinet.
Jack Hunter, a master's degree candidate in the M.F.A. in Conducting Program at Bard, graduated from De Paul University with an undergraduate degree in music performance (with emphasis in clarinet and conducting). He was a member of the Tanglewood, Grand Teton, Johanessen, and Centre Acanthes music festivals and has appeared with such leading musicians as Charles Rosen, John Bruce Yeh, and Jim Ross. Hunter has also performed with members of the Chicago, St. Louis, National, Houston, Bavarian Radio, and NHK symphony orchestras. While an undergraduate, he was a member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, directed by Margaret Hillis, which performed and recorded with Pierre Boulez, Sir Georg Solti, James Levine, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniel Barenboim, and Andrew Schenk. Hunter has studied voice with Todd Duncan, Julian Patrick, and Kyle Pfortmuller.
Pianist Elizabeth Rodgers has performed with soprano Judith Raskin at new music festivals in Oslo, Berlin, and New York; and in Washington, D.C., at the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center. She has prepared and performed for operas with Little Orchestra Society, Center for Contemporary Opera, American Opera Projects, and Music Under Construction. At the Berkshire Choral Festival, Rodgers performed premieres of works by Miriam Gideon, Dean Drummond, Marc-Antonio Consoli, Robert Dennis, and Wendy Griffiths. She can be heard on the Opus I, Grenadilla, New World, and Musical Heritage record labels.
This is the third year of the Conductors Institute's affiliation with Bard College and the first year that it offers a master of fine arts degree in conducting. The six-week summer Institute is designed so that there are new visiting faculty each week, which assure the participants exposure to a variety of expert opinions. Since 1999, visiting faculty in the summer program have included maestri Leon Botstein, Apo Hsu, Daniel Lewis, Amy Mills, George Rothman, Alfred Savia, and James Setapen, and composers Peter Boyer, George Crumb, Anthony Korf, Roberto Pace, Conrad Pope, George Perle, and Raymond Wojcik. This year the summer program faculty will include maestri Botstein, Hsu, Larry Rachleff, Nan Washburn, and Eduardo Navega (director of the Discovery Program), and composers Pope and Melinda Wagner.
Harold Farberman, director, founded the Conductors Institute 22 years ago, seeking to fill a void in the United States with a summer training program for conductors. "I hit on a successful formula that remains the same to this day--vigorous technical training and promotion of American music in a cooperative atmosphere," he says.
For further information about the talk or the concert, call 845-758-7425.
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(11.27.01)