THE BARD MUSIC PROGRAM PRESENTS TWO CONCERTS THIS MAY AT THE RICHARD B. FISHER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS AT BARD COLLEGE May 4 and 11 concerts feature the Bard College Chamber Singers, Community Chorus, and Orchest

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Bard Music Program presents two concerts, on Wednesday, May 4, and Wednesday, May 11, at The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. Admission is $5, free for Bard students, staff, and faculty, and for children 12 and under, Bard students, staff, and faculty. Both programs begin at 8:00 p.m. in the Sosnoff Theater. The Bard College Chamber Singers and Community Chorus, under the direction of James Bagwell, associate professor of music and director of orchestral and choral music at Bard, will perform Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana on Wednesday, May 4. Soloists for this event are Amy Justman, soprano, Scott Williamson, tenor, and Rod Gomez, baritone. The combined choruses will present the work in Orff’s own two-piano and percussion arrangement, with Bari Mort and James Fitzwilliam at the pianos. On Wednesday, May 11, The Bard College Orchestra will perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C, Op. 21; Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 in D; Kol Nidre by Max Bruch; and “The Flower Song” from Gounod’s Faust. Student soloists include Alexandra Stefans, Max Scheinen, and Elizabeth Przybylski. The orchestra, founded six years ago by Joan Tower, 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 Frank Gehry–designed Fisher Center, which has such superb acoustics. This is a very exciting opportunity for the students to work in such a distinguished concert hall.” Reservations are recommended. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Call the Fisher Center Box Office at 845-758-7900. About James Bagwell: 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.” James Bagwell maintains an active schedule throughout the United States as a conductor of choral, operatic, and symphonic literature. He is the chorus master of the Bard Music Festival; music director of the New York Repertory Singers, Cappella Festiva Chorus and Orchestra, Light Opera of Oklahoma, and May Festival Summer Festival and Chorus, Cincinnati; and 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 director of the May Festival Summer Chorus. He has prepared choruses nationwide for numerous prominent conductors, including Robert Shaw, Raymond Leppard, James Conlon, and Leon Botstein. # # # (4/19/05)

This event was last updated on 05-12-2005

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