THE BARD MUSIC PROGRAM PRESENTS TWO FREE CONCERTS THIS DECEMBER AT THE RICHARD B. FISHER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS AT BARD COLLEGE December 10 and 16 Concerts Feature the Bard College Community Chorus, Community Orchestra, and Chamber Singers
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Bard Music Program will present two concerts, on Wednesday, December 10, and Tuesday, December 16, at The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. Free and open to the public, both programs will begin at 8:00 p.m. in the Sosnoff Theater.
The Bard College Community Chorus and Chamber Singers, under the direction of James Bagwell, assistant professor of music and director of choral music at Bard, will perform Britten's Ceremony of Carols and Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass on Wednesday, December 10. The chorus is composed of students and community members. The women of the chamber singers will perform the Ceremony of Carols.
The Bard College Community Orchestra, with the chamber singers, will perform Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 11, and his Da nobis pacem; and Bach's Cantata 131, Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir, on Tuesday, December 16. The orchestra, founded four years ago by Joan Tower, is composed of 34 students and five community members and is now under Bagwell's direction. Master's degree students from Bard's Conductors Institute work with Bagwell to coach and prepare for the performance.
Maestro Bagwell notes that this year, "We are very excited to perform in the new Fisher Center, which has such superb acoustics. This is a very exciting opportunity for the students to perform in such a distinguished concert hall."
Reservations are not required, but may be made by calling the Fisher Center Box Office at 845-758-7900.
About the Director:
Jay Harvey wrote in the Indianapolis Star, "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 was recently appointed chorus master of the Bard Music Festival. He maintains an active schedule throughout the United States as a conductor of choral, operatic, and symphonic literature. Bagwell is music director of the Light Opera of Oklahoma. He is the principal guest conductor of and artistic adviser to the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and Indianapolis Chamber Singers, a professional ensemble that he founded. Bagwell also serves as 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.
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(10.27.03)