BARD MUSIC PROGRAM OFFERS FIVE FREE CONCERTS IN DECEMBER
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.-The Music Program at Bard College will offer five free concerts in December. For further information, call 845-758-7250 (except as noted below).
On Wednesday, December 3, the Da Capo Chamber Players and the Colorado Quartet will perform an evening of new compositions and orchestrations by Bard composers. The program-coordinated by Patricia Spencer, flutist of Da Capo and visiting associate professor of music at Bard-will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Bard Hall.
On Thursday, December 4, there will be a concert by the Bard College Jazz Ensembles. Performing will be the Improvisation Ensemble, directed by Erica Lindsay; the Percussion Ensemble, directed by Thurman Barker, associate professor of music at Bard; and the Bard College Big Band, playing the music of guitarist, composer, and guest conductor James Emery. The New York Times wrote, "Emery is a fleet guitarist with a personal touch and sound . . . mercurial, poised and thoroughly satisfying." This program will begin at 8:00 p.m. in the multipurpose room of the Bertelsmann Campus Center (please note new location).
On Tuesday, December 9, there will be a performance by the Bard College Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, directed by Richard Teitelbaum, professor of music at Bard. This program will begin at 8:00 p.m. in Bard Hall.
On Wednesday, December 10, the Bard College Community Chorus and Chamber Singers, directed by James Bagwell, assistant professor of music at Bard, will perform Britten's Ceremony of Carols and Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass. This program will begin at 8:00 p.m. in the Sosnoff Theater of the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. For further information, call the box office at 845-758-7900.
On Tuesday, December 16, the Bard College Community Orchestra and Chamber Singers, also under Bagwell's direction, will perform Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 11 and Da nobis pacem, as well as Bach's Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir. This program will begin at 8:00 p.m. in the Sosnoff Theater of the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. For further information, call the box office at
845-758-7900.
About the Guest Artist:
Guest composer and conductor James Emery is a virtuoso guitarist and composer who has been active on the international contemporary music and jazz scene since 1975. He has recorded 23 CDs of his compositions as a leader or coleader and has performed his works in 25 countries worldwide. Emery received international critical acclaim for leading various ensemble formations, and he is also recognized for his work with the String Trio of New York, a veritable institution of jazz and creative music that he cofounded in 1977. He has become known for his distinctive and highly original approach to both improvisation and composition. His sound and ideas are immediately recognizable, leading the distinguished music critic Francis Davis to observe, "Absolutely nobody sounds like Emery." His sensibility as a musician draws in nearly equal measures on formal notions of structure and technique and a robust willingness to improvise, experiment, and follow his musical intuition. In July 2003 Down Beat chose Emery as one of "66 great six-stringers," joining the likes of Jim Hall, Kenny Burrell, George Benson, Pat Metheny, Robert Fripp, and B. B. King.
# # #
(11.20.03)