The Bard College campus is awash in music; by all accounts, that fact is one of the school’s most distinctive features. The Music Program, one of the largest programs on campus, provides a wide range of musical concentrations, from classical composition and performance to jazz, electronic music, musicology, ethnomusicology, and music theory. The music faculty all maintain highly visible careers outside academia, many of us nationally or internationally. Many of our most active music students are majoring in something other than music, and all are welcome.
Photo by Karl Rabe
The Bard Conservatory
The Music Program is separate from the Bard College Conservatory of Music, which has a double-degree program and various graduate programs. The Conservatory's primary differences are as follows: focus on classical music performance and composition; secondary major required; five-year program; and audition required to apply. Despite the separation, many performance opportunities involve both Conservatory students and Music Program students.
Applying to the Program
Upcoming Events
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10/07WednesdayVarious Campus Locations
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10/09FridayChapel of the Holy Innocents
China Now Music Festival: Chasing Dreams at Bard Chapel
Chinese and American Folk Songs
Friday, October 9, 2026The Choir of the Music Education Institute, Central Conservatory of Music, China is joined by guest chorus, the Xinsheng Chinese Choir of New York, for an afternoon in which Chinese folk songs and North American ballads share a stage.
Chapel of the Holy Innocents
The festival is co-presented by the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music and the Central Conservatory of Music, China. Follow this link for more information about the event: https://www.barduschinamusic.org/events/2026/8/19/chinese-and-american-folk-songs
Sponsored by: Bard College Conservatory of Music
View Press Release
Contact: US-China Music Institute
Website: https://www.barduschinamusic.org/chasing-dreams
Phone: 845-758-7026
E-mail: [email protected]
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10/10SaturdayFisher Center, Sosnoff Theater
Chasing Dreams: The Orchestra Now Celebrates America's 250th Anniversary
Saturday, October 10, 2026
Fisher Center, Sosnoff Theater
The theme of this year’s China Now Music Festival, “Chasing Dreams,” celebrates America’s 250th anniversary. The program features Zhou Long’s Men of Iron and the Golden Spike, a powerful symphonic oratorio honoring the thousands of Chinese laborers who came to America in the 1860s to build the Transcontinental Railroad that connected our coasts and transformed our nation. This epic work by the Pulitzer Prize winning composer includes a full orchestra, 120 choristers, and six soloists. Also featured is the U.S. premiere of Li Shaosheng’s five-movement symphonic suite Chasing the Sky, honoring humanity’s pursuit of space exploration. The festival is presented by the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music in collaboration with the Central Conservatory of Music, China.
Learn more at https://www.barduschinamusic.org/chasing-dreams
Sponsored by: Bard College Conservatory of Music; Chinese Studies Program; Fisher Center; Music Program
Contact: Michelle Li
Phone: 732-535-0768
E-mail: [email protected]
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10/10SaturdayFisher Center, Sosnoff Theater
China Now Music Festival: Chasing Dreams at Fisher Center
The Orchestra Now Celebrates America's 250th Anniversary - Bard College
Saturday, October 10, 2026The theme of this year’s China Now Music Festival, Chasing Dreams, celebrates America’s 250th anniversary. The program features Zhou Long’s Men of Iron and the Golden Spike, a powerful symphonic oratorio honoring the thousands of Chinese laborers who came to America in the 1860s to build the Transcontinental Railroad that connected our coasts and transformed our nation. This epic work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer includes a full orchestra, 120 choristers, and vocal soloists. Also featured is the U.S. premiere of Li Shaosheng’s five-movement symphonic suite Chasing the Sky, honoring humanity’s pursuit of space exploration. Conducted by Jindong Cai, The Orchestra Now is joined by the China Now Chorus and soloists including suona player Zhang Weiwei, soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon, mezzo-soprano Ziqi Wang, tenor Li Yi, bass-baritone Yue Wu, bass Andrew Munn, and child soloist Wyatt Stephens.
Fisher Center, Sosnoff Theater
The festival is co-presented by the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music and the Central Conservatory of Music, China. Follow this link for tickets to the concert: https://fishercenter.bard.edu/events/china-now-music-festival-chasing-dreams/
Sponsored by: Bard College Conservatory of Music
View Press Release
Contact: US-China Music Institute
Website: https://www.barduschinamusic.org/chasing-dreams
Phone: 845-758-7026
E-mail: [email protected]
NEWSROOM
Composer in Residence Missy Mazzoli Featured in Opera News
“I try to make work that uses America as a lens through which to view issues and joys that are universal.”
Composer in Residence Missy Mazzoli Featured in Opera News
Opera News profiled Bard Composer in Residence Missy Mazzoli ahead of her opera's premier at the Met.
Opera News also details the challenges and doubts that Mazzoli has overcome in her stellar career, such as the professor who assured her that she would never achieve an academic position as a composer—Mazzoli is now a composer in residence at Bard—as well as promises from leading figures in opera that “the current crop of women composers were not ready for the “big leagues.” Mazolli is also the first woman to premier an opera at the Met, and her previous premier, The Galloping Cure, was hailed by the Times of London as “one of the greatest operas of the century.” The piece also introduced the mentorship program she co-founded with fellow composer Ellen Reid, in order to ensure other young composers do not face the same headwinds. “These comments have reverberated through my mind every time I applied for a job, every time I put myself out there,” says Mazzoli. “My success is indeed the sweetest form of revenge I can imagine.”
Mazzoli is faculty member in the Bard Music Program and the Bard College Conservatory of Music, whose mission is to provide the best possible preparation for a person dedicated to a life immersed in the creation and performance of music. She teaches classes on composition and new music, as well as giving private studio instruction for composition majors at Bard.
Post Date: 10-07-2026
Professor Joan Tower Profiled in WHMT and the Daily Catch
"We don’t try to burden our students with our style,” Tower said. “They develop their own voice, which I’m proud of.”
Professor Joan Tower Profiled in WHMT and the Daily Catch
Asher B. Edelman Professor of Music Joan Tower.
“[Tower] was larger than life for me [as a child],” Bard Artist in Residence and cellist Raman Ramakrishnan, who will perform at the celebratory concert, told the Daily Catch. “[Her music can be] stormy, serene, humorous, nostalgic, tender, or violent.” Tower said her goal as a professor is to help writers develop their own perspective. “We don’t try to burden our students with our style,” she said. “They develop their own voice, which is something I’m very proud of.”
The October 3 concert marks Tower’s 54 years at Bard with an evening of her music performed by Bard faculty, students, the Cassatt Quartet, and musicians of The Orchestra Now (TŌN). This celebratory concert is free and open to the public.
Post Date: 09-29-2026
Fisher Center Performance of The Egyptian Helen reviewed in Opera Magazine
“A performance [of The Egyptian Helen] as effective as this one makes one consider it in a new light.”
Fisher Center Performance of The Egyptian Helen reviewed in Opera Magazine
Hailey Clark (Helena) and the company of The Egyptian Helen. Photo by Maria Baranova
The Strauss opera, described as difficult for performers and audiences alike, was staged by Christian Räth, conducted by Leon Bostein, and featured the American Symphony Orchestra and the Bard Festival Choir. The review concludes by noting Botstein’s long association with this specific work, having written about and recorded it extensively, making for an “exciting” interpretation that, according to Myers, “overcame many of the work’s difficulties."
Post Date: 09-24-2026