CONDUCTORS INSTITUTE AT BARD COLLEGE ANNOUNCES DATES FOR ITS SUMMER 2003 PROGRAM "No serious conductor should miss the opportunity to study at the Institute." -Marin Alsop, music director, Colorado Symphony Orchestra
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Conductors Institute (CI) at Bard is pleased to announce the dates of its 2003 summer program, which will take place from June 23 to August 1. The Institute, founded and directed by conductor and composer Harold Farberman, offers programs for professional and semiprofessional conductors and composers.
Twenty-four years ago, Farberman founded the Conductors Institute at the University of West Virginia in Morgantown, 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. Participants in the six-week summer program work directly with Maestro Farberman, who anchors the faculty of conductors and composers in residence. New visiting faculty and new repertoire each week assure all Institute participants of exposure to a variety of expert opinions. In addition, there are evening lectures with internationally known scholars, composers, and conductors. The repertoire this summer will include works of Leos Janácek, in conjunction with the 2003 Bard Music Festival, "Janácek and His World."
The Institute offers a variety of study combinations that enable students to tailor their own programs. These include the Visual Score Study/Baton Placement/Body Movement Technique, which unites the study of Institute repertoire with instruction in the Alexander Technique as it relates to the enhancement of performance skills and expression. The Conducting Program for Fellows and Colleagues is organized so fellows work with the Institute Orchestra during morning sessions, while colleagues work with the Institute String Quintet during afternoon sessions and with the Institute Orchestra on Fridays. The Discovery Program is designed for conductors with limited experience who wish to improve their skills. Participants work with a string quartet in afternoon sessions for two weeks and attend all morning and evening sessions of the Conducting Program. And the coda to the Institute is the Composer-Conductor Program, where each composer is paired with a conductor—a master's degree candidate or Institute conductor—who is responsible for preparing the composer's work for, and conducting the work in, a public performance.
The CI, now in its third decade of existence and its fifth year at Bard College, offers a 15-month master of fine arts degree program in conducting. For two consecutive summers, M.F.A. degree candidates participate in the Institute's six-week program and serve as fellows with the Bard Music Festival. Candidates also complete required course work at Bard during the intervening academic year, including classes in composition, basic orchestral repertoire, languages, a "second" instrument (string or piano), and solfège. Participants in the 15-month program have private studies and master classes in technical score study and analysis with Maestro Farberman as well as podium time, including conducting opportunities at Bard, during the academic year. The program culminates in a completion concert with the Institute Orchestra.
Merit-based scholarships are available for a limited number of qualified applicants. The deadline for application to both the six-week Conductors Institute and the M.F.A. program in conducting is April 1, 2003. Bard College is located in New York's Hudson River Valley, 90 miles north of New York City and one hour from Tanglewood. For further information and an application, call the Conductors Institute at 845-758-7425, e-mail [email protected], or visit the website, www.bard.edu/ci.
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(9.19.02)