Bard College Conservatory of Music Undergraduate Brochure

THE BARD COLLEGE CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC Undergraduate Study

Tour rehearsal at the Taipei National University of the Arts

For the curious, the musical, the intellectual, it’s a great choice, as the message here—both by intent and example—is that there are no boundaries between art and academics, and that the study of both may bring the fullest potential to each.

Marc Goldberg, bassoon faculty

Music, like all art, engages the mind and the heart. It redefines boundaries and questions limits in order to make a meaningful statement about the human condition. The education of the mind is, therefore, as important as the education of the fingers. The greatest musicians not only have the technical mastery to communicate effectively, but also are deeply curious and equally adept at analytical and emotional modes of thought.

Since 2005, the mission of The Bard College Conservatory of Music has been to provide the best possible preparation for a person dedicated to a life immersed in the creation and performance of music. Located on Bard’s beautiful campus in the Mid Hudson Valley, the Conservatory undergraduate program accepts applications from students of composition and the following instruments: piano, violin, viola, cello, bass, harp, percussion, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn, trumpet, trombone, and tuba.

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Ani Kavafian and students in a master class, Olin Hall

OUTSTANDING FACULTY The Bard Conservatory’s faculty members are renowned performing musicians whose artistry is featured in the world’s great concert halls. They are on campus weekly for lessons, chamber music coaching, master classes, studio classes, and sectional rehearsals of the orchestra. On occasion, the Conservatory arranges for students to travel to New York City or elsewhere in the Hudson Valley for lessons. The curricular resources of the Bard College Music Program are also available to Conservatory students.

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BARD CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC

UNDERGRADUATE FACULTY Robert Martin, Director VIOLIN Shmuel Ashkenasi Eugene Drucker Yi-Wen Jiang Ida Kavafian Soovin Kim Weigang Li Daniel Phillips Laurie Smukler Arnold Steinhardt Ani Kavafian, master classes

FLUTE Nadine Asin, master classes Tara Helen O’Connor OBOE Laura Ahlbeck Richard Dallesio Elaine Douvas Nicholas Stovall CLARINET Laura Flax David Krakauer Anthony McGill

VIOLA Steven Tenenbom Michael Tree Ira Weller

BASSOON Marc Goldberg Patricia Rogers

CELLO Sophie Shao Peter Wiley

HORN Julie Landsman Jeffrey Lang Julia Pilant

DOUBLE BASS Marji Danilow Leigh Mesh

TRUMPET Carl Albach

HARP Sara Cutler Bridget Kibbey

TROMBONE Demian Austin John Rojak

PIANO Jeremy Denk Jeffrey Kahane* Matti Raekallio Peter Serkin Melvin Chen, master classes Richard Goode, master classes

TUBA Derek Fenstermacher PERCUSSION So¯ Percussion: Eric Beach Josh Quillen Adam Sliwinski Jason Treuting

Daniel Druckman, associate Jonathan Haas, associate Tzong-Ching Ju, associate Garry Kvistad, associate Jan Williams, associate Greg Zuber, associate COMPOSITION Joan Tower George Tsontakis Da Capo Chamber Players, in residence CHAMBER MUSIC** Edward Carroll Marka Gustavsson Robert Martin Blair McMillen Raman Ramakrishnan ORCHESTRAL STUDIES Leon Botstein Erica Kiesewetter PERFORMANCE STUDIES Luis Garcia-Renart PERFORMANCE PRACTICE ADVISERS Raymond Erickson Stephen Hammer MUSIC THEORY AND HISTORY Leon Botstein Christopher H. Gibbs John Halle Peter Laki ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE Alexander Farkas

* Professor of Music and the Humanities in the Conservatory and the College ** Performance faculty also coach chamber music

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Conservatory brass students in orchestra rehearsal

ORCHESTRA The Bard Conservatory Orchestra performs several concerts each semester and at least four times each year in the Frank Gehry–designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. The orchestra also performs annual side-by-side concerts with members of the American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, and performs regularly at the Eastern New York Correctional Facility as part of the Bard Prison Initiative. In addition to its performances at Bard the orchestra has performed at Alice Tully Hall in New York City and Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre. In spring 2012, the Conservatory Orchestra gave its first tour of greater China. The three-week tour, a collaboration with the Bard Music Festival, took the orchestra to the major halls of Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Wuhan, and Guangzhou.

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BARD CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC

Conservatory students in performance with faculty members Robert Martin (cello) and Laura Flax (clarinet)

CHAMBER MUSIC AND SOLO OPPORTUNITIES Students perform in chamber music and special contemporary music concerts throughout the year. Students and faculty perform together in the Conservatory Sundays series at the Fisher Center’s Sosnoff Theater, and in regional chamber music series.

Students also give shared or full-length solo recitals, with their teacher’s permission.

Each year, as many as three winners of a concerto competition perform as soloists with the American Symphony Orchestra in the orchestra’s Fisher Center series.

Conservatory students have also been soloists with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, and other professional ensembles.

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Biology professor Felicia Keesing (right) with students

A WELL-ROUNDED EDUCATION The unique curriculum of The Bard College Conservatory of Music is guided by the principle that musicians should be broadly educated in the liberal arts and sciences to achieve their greatest potential. All Conservatory students pursue a five-year program leading to two degrees: the bachelor of music and the bachelor of arts in a field other than music. The pursuit of these two degrees at Bard is thoroughly integrated.

Conservatory students live, eat, and attend most classes with non-Conservatory students, and are fully part of the academic and social life of the College.

The bachelor of music program contains many innovative components: all performance majors study composition, and the Conservatory Seminar integrates music theory and music history with special emphasis on their relation to performance.

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BARD CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC

Faculty member John Rojak works with trombonist János Sutyák ’13

The curricula of the Conservatory and the College are flexible, allowing each student to create the sequence of music and other courses that best suits his or her interests and needs. The aim of the Conservatory and the College is to foster a unified learning environment where the serious study of music goes hand in hand with the education of the whole person.

INTIMATE SIZE The Conservatory’s undergraduate student body numbers approximately 90 students.

Bard’s total undergraduate annual enrollment, including non-Conservatory liberal arts students, is approximately 1,900. This intimate size allows Bard to offer personalized, nurturing attention to each of its students, including such signature opportunities as mixed faculty-student performances for its Conservatory students and the full-year Senior Project for all majors. bard.edu/conservatory

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We have had the wonderful opportunity to create, right here, a world-class conservatory within a distinguished liberal arts college, with a supportive president who makes it possible. Our students perform on campus and at venues around the world, and we are very proud that members of recent classes have been accepted for graduate studies in music performance at distinguished graduate programs throughout the United States and abroad. —Robert Martin, Vice President for Academic Affairs; Director, The Bard College Conservatory of Music; Professor of Philosophy and Music

The Bard Conservatory Orchestra in performance

I had amazing opportunities here, from performing with faculty members to having master classes with great musicians. Some of my best memories at Bard are of chamber music: I’ve had truly inspiring coachings, groups filled with incredibly talented peers, and rehearsals where I’ve learned almost as much diplomacy as music.

Tina Zhang ’09, Rice University ’11, associate principal second violin, Houston Symphony

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BARD CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC

A RECORD OF SUCCESS Conservatory undergraduates have distinguished themselves through:

Graduate School Acceptances, Music Performance

Music Festival Acceptances

Boston University

Atlantic Music Festival

The Colburn School

Banff Summer Arts Festival

Curtis Institute of Music

Bowdoin International Music Festival

Indiana University

Castleton Festival

The Juilliard School

Colorado Music Festival

Manhattan School of Music

European American Musical Alliance

Mannes College The New School for Music

Aspen Music Festival and School

Summer Composition Program Kent/Blossom Music and Arts Festival

New England Conservatory

Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival

Northwestern University

Manchester Music Festival

Rice University

Music Academy of the West Summer

SUNY Stony Brook

Festival

University of Michigan

New York String Orchestra Seminar

University of Southern California

Pacific Rim Music Festival

Yale School of Music

Pierre Monteux School Quartet Program Round Top Festival Institute

Other Graduate and Professional School Acceptances

Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Steans Music Institute

California Institute of Technology

Tanglewood Music Center

Global M.B.A. Program at Yonsei

Verbier Festival

University, Seoul, South Korea Johns Hopkins University

West-Eastern Divan Orchestra Yellow Barn Music School and Festival

New York University Stern School of Business University of Amsterdam University of California, Berkeley University of California, Los Angeles University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University of Texas at Austin Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Competitions and Jobs Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra Young Artist’s Competition, first prize, 2011 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, silver medal, 2010 Houston Symphony, associate principal second violin Michael Hill International Violin Competition, finalist, 2011

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OUTSTANDING FACILITIES The various rehearsal and performance spaces on campus are ideally suited to the needs of Conservatory students. The new state-of-the-art Bitó Conservatory Building, made possible by a gift from László Z. Bitó ’60, contains teaching studios, classrooms, and a recital hall. Practice rooms are available in a new dedicated practice room building. More practice rooms are available in the Edith C. Blum Institute and in Robbins House residence hall; in addition, unused classrooms may be used for practice. The Conservatory Orchestra rehearses and performs in the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Other Conservatory events are held in the 400-seat Olin Hall, Blum Hall, Bard Hall, and the College chapel.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Distinct from the Conservatory, the Music Program of Bard College offers a full curriculum leading to a B.A. degree that includes courses in music history, music theory, composition, electronic music, jazz studies, ethnomusicology, and a variety of workshops and ensembles, all of which are open to Conservatory students. The Conservatory and Music Program share classroom, performance, and practice spaces and work together on a variety of projects.

The Conservatory’s Postgraduate Collaborative Piano Fellowship brings to the campus recent graduates of distinguished conservatories to work with undergraduate and graduate students.

In addition to the B.M./B.A. dual degree, the Conservatory also offers M.M. degrees in voice and both orchestral and choral conducting, as well as a postgraduate certificate in advanced performance studies.

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BARD CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC

Artist’s conception of the new Bitó Conservatory Building

All three of my sons had opportunities to go to outstanding conservatories and universities for their music studies. They chose Bard because they desired a well-rounded education in liberal arts along with music. They love the diversity at Bard, the professors are exceptional, and they especially enjoy being part of a growing, unique five-year program.

Elizabeth Moore, parent of Shawn ’11, Scot ’13, Stanley ’15

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IDEAL LOCATION The Conservatory is located on Bard’s beautiful 500-acre wooded campus along the Hudson River, 90 miles north of New York City. Majestic views of the Catskill Mountains across the river can be seen from the grounds and from many student residences. Bard’s pastoral setting is ideal for undistracted study, yet within easy reach of New York City’s vibrant cultural riches.

Bard College hosts concerts throughout the year, offering music for every taste, from classical to jazz, opera, cabaret, rock, and folk music. The Bard Music Festival, founded in 1990, offers an in-depth look at the world of a prominent composer through a two-weekend program of performances, panel discussions, and lectures.

ABOUT BARD COLLEGE Founded in 1860, Bard is an independent, nonsectarian, residential, coeducational college offering a four-year B.A. program in the liberal arts and sciences and a fiveyear B.S./B.A. degree in economics and finance, as well as the Conservatory of Music’s dual B.M./B.A. and graduate degrees. Bard and its affiliated institutions also grant the following degrees: A.A. at Bard High School Early College, a public school with campuses in New York City (Manhattan and Queens) and Newark, New Jersey; A.A. and B.A. at Bard College at Simon’s Rock: The Early College, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and through the Bard Prison Initiative at five penal institutions in New York State; M.A. in curatorial studies, M.S. in economic theory and policy, and M.S. in environmental policy and in climate science and policy at the Annandale campus; M.F.A. and M.A.T. at multiple campuses; M.B.A. in sustainability in New York City; and M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in the decorative arts, design history, and material culture at the Bard Graduate Center in Manhattan. Internationally, Bard confers dual B.A. degrees at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, St. Petersburg State University, Russia (Smolny College), and American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan; and dual B.A. and M.A.T. degrees at Al-Quds University in the West Bank.

Bard offers nearly 50 academic programs in four divisions. Total enrollment for Bard College and its affiliates is approximately 3,900 students. The undergraduate college has an enrollment of more than 1,900 and a student-to-faculty ratio of 10:1. For more information about Bard College, visit www.bard.edu.

The Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Center for Science and Computation (László Z. Bitó ’60 Auditorium and the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Science Laboratories) bard.edu/conservatory

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Achebe House (Bard Prison Initiative)

31 Hirsch Hall (residence hall)

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Albee (classrooms, Difference and Media

32 Hopson Cottage (Admission Office)

Project/Multicultural Affairs, MBA in Sustainability)

33 Keane House (Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane

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Alumni Houses (residence halls): Bluecher, Bourne, Honey, Leonard, Obreshkove, Rovere, Rueger, Shafer, Shelov, Steinway, Wolff

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Alumni/ae Center (Development and Alumni/ae

Dance Company) 34 Kline Commons (dining facility, Green Onion Grocer) 35 Libraries (Stevenson, Hoffman, Kellogg)

Affairs, Institutional Support, Two Boots Bard)

36 Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer Complex

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Anna Jones Memorial Garden

37 Ludlow (administrative offices, Institute for

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Annandale Hotel (Publications and Public Relations Offices) (not shown)

Writing and Thinking) 38 McCarthy House (Hannah Arendt Center,

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Aspinwall (classrooms and faculty offices)

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Avery Arts Center: Jim Ottaway Jr. Film

39 Music Practice Rooms

Center, Edith C. Blum Institute (Film and

40 Nursery School (Abigail Lundquist Botstein

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Human Rights Project)

Electronic Arts and Music Programs, Bard

Nursery School, Bard Community

College Conservatory of Music offices)

Children’s Center)

Bard College Farm

10 Bard College Field Station 11 Bard Hall (recital space) 12 Barringer House (Center for Civic Engagement) 13 Bertelsmann Campus Center (bookstore, café,

41 Old Gym (Safety and Security Office, student activity spaces) 42 Olin Humanities Building and Auditorium (Olin Hall) 43 Olin Language Center

post office, Weis Cinema, and Career

44 Ottaway Gatehouse for International Study (IILE)

Development, Student Activities, and Trustee

45 parliament of reality by Olafur Eliasson

Leader Scholar Program Offices)

46 President’s House

14 Bitó Conservatory Building

47 Preston Hall (classrooms, offices)

15 Blithewood (Levy Economics Institute)

48 Reem and Kayden Center for Science and

16 Brook House (Residence Life) 17 Buildings and Grounds, Financial Aid Office, Student Accounts 18 Carriage House (Central Services) 19 Center for Curatorial Studies and Hessel Museum of Art 20 Chapel of the Holy Innocents 21 Community Garden 22 Cruger Village (residence halls): Bartlett, Cruger,

Computation (Resnick Laboratories, Bitó Auditorium) 49 Robbins House (residence hall, Student Health and Counseling Services, BRAVE) 50 Rose Science Laboratories 51 Sands House (residence hall) Seymour: see Warden’s Hall 52 Shafer House (Written Arts Program) (not shown) 53 Sottery Hall (Center for Student Life and Advising)

Keen North, Keen South, Maple, Mulberry,

54 South Hall (residence hall)

Oberholzer, Sawkill, Spruce, Stephens, Sycamore

55 Stevenson Athletic Center

Fairbairn: see Warden’s Hall

56 Stone Row: North Hoffman, South Hoffman,

23 Feitler House (residence hall) (not shown) 24 Fisher Annex (MFA Program offices) 25 Fisher Center for the Performing Arts: Sosnoff

McVickar, Potter (residence halls, BEOP, Learning Commons) 57 Tewksbury Hall (residence hall)

Theater, Theater Two (Theater and

58 Tremblay Hall (residence hall)

Performance Program, Dance Program)

59 Village Dormitories

26 Fisher Studio Arts Building 27 Gahagan (Blind Spot magazine office) 28 Hegeman (classrooms, faculty offices, Bard Center for Environmental Policy, MBA in Sustainability Office) 29 Henderson Computer Resources Center 30 Henderson Technology Laboratories

60 Ward Manor (residence hall, Manor House Café, Bard Music Festival Office) 61 Ward Manor Gatehouse (Graduate Vocal Arts Program) 62 Warden’s Hall: Fairbairn, Hopson, Seymour (faculty and program offices, residences) 63 Woods Studio (Photography Program)

bard.edu/conservatory

THE BARD COLLEGE CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC PROGRAMS

Undergraduate Study Graduate Conducting Program Graduate Vocal Arts Program Preparatory Division Postgraduate Collaborative Piano Fellows Program Hungarian Visiting Fellows Program

For faculty biographies and information on admission, curriculum requirements, fees and expenses, financial aid, graduate and additional programs, and more, visit www.bard.edu/conservatory.

Application deadline: January 1

The Bard College Conservatory of Music PO Box 5000 Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000 845-758-7196 conservatoryadmission@bard.edu

Cover photo: The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College ©2012 Bard College. All rights reserved.

Photography ©Peter Aaron ’68/Esto: cover, 14; Ju Percussion Foundation: 1; Karl Rabe: 2–4, 7–10, back cover; Cory Weaver: 5; Don Hamerman: 6; Deborah Berke & Partners Architects LLP: 13 Illustration Mark Hess: 16–inside back cover

The Bard Conservatory Orchestra in performance

Bard College Conservatory of Music Annandale-on-Hudson, New York