More than 50 years after Donald Fagen and Walter Becker first met at Bard College, the College’s elite musicians come together for a first-of-its-kind concert celebrating the music of Steely Dan. Featuring a full rhythm section, horns, and background singers, the band will perform a selection of Steely Dan’s high-fidelity hits in exacting detail. Streamed live from Olin Hall in 2023.
Music Program Events
Music Program Newsroom
Bard Faculty Member Gwen Laster Awarded a MacDowell Fellowship
Gwen Laster, visiting artist in residence in music at Bard College, has been awarded a MacDowell Fellowship to the MacDowell Residency Program in the Music Composition category for spring/summer 2026. While in residence, Laster will complete work on her project, “Is My Black Still Beautiful: Reflections on a Childhood in Detroit,” a mixed-media staged play with original music, storytelling, dance, and projected visuals.
Bard Faculty Member Gwen Laster Awarded a MacDowell Fellowship
Gwen Laster, visiting artist in residence in music at Bard College, has been awarded a MacDowell Fellowship to the MacDowell Residency Program in the Music Composition category for spring/summer 2026. While in residence, Laster will complete work on her project, “Is My Black Still Beautiful: Reflections on a Childhood in Detroit,” a mixed-media staged play with original music, storytelling, dance, and projected visuals.
Laster’s project explores the global complexities of Colorism, a discriminatory practice within one’s own ethnic group based on a person’s complexion and skin tone, through the lens of a Black girl reared during the post–civil rights movement in Detroit. The music spans various genres from contemporary classical to Motown, blues, soul, R&B, and jazz—both free and traditional. “Is My Black Still Beautiful” will premiere in New York City on July 23 at Mabou Mines,and on September 26–27 at the Philipstown Depot Theater.
The Music Program, one of the largest programs on Bard’s campus, provides a wide range of musical concentrations, from classical composition and performance to jazz, electronic music, musicology, ethnomusicology, and music theory.
Franz Nicolay, visiting instructor of music at Bard College, spoke at a Congressional hearing about a Live Nation/Ticketmaster antitrust case, reported Chronogram. The case concerned the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster which has resulted in a monopoly on event ticket sales in the United States.
Bard Musician Franz Nicolay Testifies in Congress
Franz Nicolay, visiting instructor of music at Bard College, spoke at a Congressional hearing about a Live Nation/Ticketmaster antitrust case, reported Chronogram. The case concerned the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster which has resulted in a monopoly on event ticket sales in the United States. “Live music hasn’t been a healthy competitive market,” said Nicolay during the hearing. “Instead, a vertically integrated corporation that controls venues and tour promotion and ticketing and artist management, to the almost total control of many music markets, is, to a comical degree, the epitome of the kind of monopolistic power that antitrust law was created to address.”
“We, as artists, simply don’t have the range of city-to-city, venue-to-venue choices that would constitute a healthy ecosystem,” Nicolay continued. “It’s a problem of affordability, in an economic climate which, through drastically increasing gas prices, airfare, postage and international shipping fees for merchandise, and hardening borders, is making the touring on which our livings depend increasingly unaffordable for musicians. And that increased overhead… has a corresponding effect on affordability and access for fans.”
The Music Program, one of the largest programs on Bard’s campus, provides a wide range of musical concentrations, from classical composition and performance to jazz, electronic music, musicology, ethnomusicology, and music theory.
Bard Composer in Residence Missy Mazzoli was profiled in a New York Times article about the Luna Composition Lab, the mentorship program she founded with fellow composer Ellen Reid. The Lab, which turns 10 this year, matches young and experienced composers who are female, nonbinary or gender nonconforming, and mentees receive eight months of mentorship and attend a music festival in New York.
Composer in Residence Missy Mazzoli Profiled in the New York Times
Bard Composer in Residence Missy Mazzoli was profiled in a New York Times article about the Luna Composition Lab, the mentorship program she founded with fellow composer Ellen Reid. They founded the lab after they realized they’d never experienced female mentorship in composing. “We took a good hard look at what we wished we had had,” said Mazzoli, and the two asked themselves, “What can we do to make this more diverse, more vital, more alive, more fun?” The Lab, which turns 10 this year, matches young and experienced composers who are female, nonbinary or gender nonconforming, and mentees receive eight months of mentorship and attend a music festival in New York. Now, Mazzoli and Reid are organizing musical events for LunaLab@10, an anniversary celebration of the program and its expanded reach. “We want the field to expand,” said Mazzoli, “and so bringing in gender diversity, racial diversity, economic income diversity, geographic diversity helps [the] field survive and thrive.”
Mazzoli is a Grammy-nominated composer and musician who has written operas including Lincoln in the Bardo and Proving Up that are based on contemporary literature. She teaches in the Bard College Conservatory of Music, which provides the best possible preparation for a person dedicated to a life immersed in the creation and performance of music.
James Bagwell Named Principal Conductor of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra and Berkshire Bach Society
Professor of Music James Bagwell, director of the music program at Bard College and director of performance studies in the Bard College Conservatory of Music, has been announced as the principal conductor of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, as well as principal conductor and director of choral music at the Berkshire Bach Society. Bagwell will assume a central artistic leadership role with Tulsa Symphony, helping shape programming and performances as the orchestra continues to expand its artistic vision and community impact. Bagwell was recognized by both organizations for the role he has played over the past two decades in creating a consistent record of excellence in choral performance. “These two appointments mark the culmination of a long artistic association with the Tulsa Symphony and Berkshire Bach,” said Bagwell. “I look forward to many more years of artistic collaborations with these two prestigious organizations.”
He has been a regular guest conductor for the Tulsa Symphony since 2007, leading it in performances of Mozart’s Requiem and Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, returning in subsequent seasons to conduct Britten’s War Requiem, and Mahler’s First Symphony. “We are thrilled to welcome James Bagwell as principal conductor of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra,” said Morgan Walker, executive director of Tulsa. “His long-standing relationship with the orchestra, combined with his depth of experience and artistic leadership, makes him the ideal partner as we look ahead to an exciting new chapter.”
Bagwell, who additionally serves as codirector of the Bard Conservatory Graduate Program in conducting and is associate conductor of The Orchestra Now (TŌN), also frequently appears as a guest conductor for orchestras around the country and abroad, including the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Interlochen Music Festival, and the Jerusalem Symphony. “I’ve long admired James Bagwell’s work as a choral conductor,” said Eugene Drucker, artistic director of Berkshire Bach, “specifically in the Berkshire Bach Society vocal concerts for which I’ve had the pleasure of serving as his concertmaster, and more generally in his meticulous preparation of the chorus for opera productions at Bard College’s Summerscape and for oratorio performances with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.”
The Music Program, one of the largest programs on Bard’s campus, provides a wide range of musical concentrations, from classical composition and performance to jazz, electronic music, musicology, ethnomusicology, and music theory.
Professor Franz Nicolay Reviews Burning Down the House, A New Book About the Talking Heads, for the Wall Street Journal
“To make a music scene you need four things,” writes Franz Nicolay, visiting instructor of music at Bard College: “cheap housing, recent art-school graduates, a stage where anyone can play, and a small clique of young critics eager to discover a new subculture.” The Talking Heads, the subject of Burning Down the House by Jonathan Gould, had all four. In a review of Gould’s book for the Wall Street Journal, Nicolay praises the work’s unwillingness to oversimplify, saying Gould is “especially interested in skewering the mythology of downtown.” While the book “remains a largely unflattering portrait of the band,” it tracks the “almost magical, barely explicable, transformation of a group” that, says Nicolay, “has to be a candidate in the perennial conversation about the greatest American rock band.”
The Music Program 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, nationally and internationally.
Bard Conservatory and Music Faculty and Alumni/ae Nominated for 2026 GRAMMY Awards
A Bard College Music Program faculty member and three Conservatory of Music alumni/ae have been nominated for the 2026 GRAMMY Awards. Gwen Laster, visiting artist in residence, is nominated in the category of Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for Lights on a Satellite recorded with Sun Ra Arkestra. Devony Smith VAP ’14, is nominated in the category of Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for her album In This Short Life with pianist Danny Zelibor. Julia Bullock VAP ’11, is also a featured artist on the album Schubert/Beatles, nominated in the same category. Eri Nakamura CPF ’15, a member of the Neave Trio, is nominated in the category of Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for their album, La Mer: French Piano Trios. The 2026 GRAMMYs, officially known as the 68th GRAMMY Awards, will take place on Sunday, February 1 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
The Bard College campus is awash in music—by all accounts, 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, and the Bard Conservatory aims to provide the best possible preparation for a person dedicated to a life immersed in the creation and performance of music.
Two Bard College Faculty Awarded New York State Council on the Arts Grants
Two members of the Bard College undergraduate faculty, Tanya Marcuse, associate professor of photography, and Sarah Hennies, assistant professor of music, have been awarded 2025 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships, a highly competitive program of the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Marcuse received a fellowship in the category of Photography for Portent, Part II of her larger project Book of Miracles, and Hennies received a fellowship in the category of Music/Sound for her ongoing work as a composer and percussionist exploring the intersections of sound, perception, and social identity. Marcuse is one of 24 Fellows in Photography, selected from 951 applicants; Hennies is one of 22 Fellows in Music/Sound, selected from 1,015 applicants.
In Portent, Marcuse visualizes phenomena that defy the laws of nature by staging fantastical scenes in swamps, rivers, and orchards near her home in the Hudson Valley. Conceived during the Covid-19 pandemic, her project reflects the instability of our world while expanding photography’s ability to navigate the ambiguous terrain between fact and fiction. She is currently preparing a book and several exhibitions of the project. In addition, Marcuse has been named one of five Joy of Giving Something (JGS) Fellows, which supports contributors to the photographic arts.
Throughout her fellowship, Hennies will continue to develop new pieces that challenge conventional boundaries between music, sound art, and lived experience. Her compositions often take the form of immersive, durational works that foreground subtle shifts in rhythm, resonance, and timbre. Her projects engage themes of queer and trans identity, psychoacoustics, and the politics of listening, inviting audiences into heightened awareness of time and embodiment. In a separate honor, Hennies has been named the 2025 Composer in Residence for the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, taking place in Huddersfield, England in November.
Each year, the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship provides a lens for contemporary artistic expression. The themes, ideas, and materials used by the 2025 Fellows reflect and respond to the larger social, political, and economic issues of today. Artists across categories are exploring topics including diasporic and immigrant identity; gender, race, and sexuality; environmental and disability justice; and civic engagement.
Bard Alumnus and Jazz Pianist Ran Blake ’60 Profiled in the Boston Globe
Jazz pianist and Bard College alumnus Ran Blake ’60 was interviewed by the Boston Globe for an article covering the artist’s career, which has spanned more than 60 years, and how he at 90 is preparing to perform a solo concert in Brookline, MA, this September. Blake, whose career has yielded over 40 recording credits on jazz albums, has also spent over 40 years teaching jazz at the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC), where he cofounded and led the Department of Third Stream, now called the Department of Contemporary Improvisation. “Ran gave me the freedom to find myself in jazz standards,” said Portuguese singer Sara Serpa, who studied with Blake at NEC and collaborated on an album with him, adding that he “really gave me permission to find myself in the songs, to create my own stories.”Blake also spent years bringing music programming to the public as NEC’s community services director, telling the Globe, “It was very important to send music to where the people are and encourage them to play.”
Annual Conference of the US–China Music Institute Featured in Xinhua
The seventh annual international conference of Bard Conservatory of Music’s US–China Music Institute was featured in Xinhua. The event, titled “Exploration and Resonance: Chinese Music in the West,” took place from May 1–3 at the China Institute in New York City as a three-day series of scholarly, interactive, and musical events exploring the rich tapestry of Chinese musical heritage and its resonance in the West. The conference was also part of the broader work of the US–China Music Institute to promote cultural bridges between the US and China through music, education, and performance.
“If you look at two countries, two regions, or two cultures through a political lens, you see conflict,” Jindong Cai, director of the U.S.-China Music Institute, told Xinhua. “But if you look at them through a cultural point of view, you find connection. Music, in particular, is impossible to decouple.” The evening programs also featured concerts by the Bard East-West Ensemble, which played a program of Chinese musical compositions specially arranged for the unique instrumentation of a Western string quintet, seven traditional Chinese instruments, and percussion. “Right now, we're seeing deep divisions across the globe,” said Xiaogang Ye, dean of the School of Music at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “In this increasingly polarized world, perhaps Chinese music can take on a new role, not just as an artistic tradition, but as a form of emotional mediation, a means of restoring clarity and calm.”
Online Event; Zoom3:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Join us for a discussion on "curatorial composing," focusing on works by John Cage, Heiner Goebbels, Pauline Oliveros, and others.
“Curatorial composing” is curatorial producer and researcher Ed McKeon’s term for the way John Cage shifts attention from musical works to musical encounters, and the consequences that follow. Rather than follow the hierarchical flow of composer, then performer, then listener, curatorial composition distributes the responsibility from that model to a situation in which all are equally present and responsible for the meaning of an encounter. This means that these compositions are neither anchored in historical time nor suited to “Historically Informed Performance” in the sense of a reconstruction.
These pieces (and we as listener-observers) are always undergoing change. Curatorial composing is post-canonic. It invites us to experience and understand historical time and historical significance differently.
Exemplified in many ways by Cage, this approach means that musical composition need no longer be limited to organizing sound, but can extend to text, typography, movement, visual elements ,etc. Contrary to visual art histories in which visual art loses its “medium specificity” to become “post-conceptual,” Cage shows that music can occur in and across any medium.
Cage was not alone in this. We’ll chat about the work of Heiner Goebbels, and perhaps as well about Pauline Oliveros and Jani Christou, among others. Curatorial composing marks a shift in historical ontology, and of how we might understand historical time (and the relation of "history" and "temporality").
Please register in advance on Zoom for the free event.
Sunday, May 17, 2026
Bard Hall5:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Erica Kiesewetter's studio class recital. All are welcome to attend!
Saturday, May 16, 2026
Bard Hall5:00 pm – 6:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 This is an opportunity for different “currents” in the music department to be in the same room for a minute and hear each other. Jazz groups, singers, violinists, oboists, cellists, flutists, pianists, musical saw artists – all are welcome, on a first-come first served basis.
Friday, May 15, 2026
Blum N211, the Jazz room5:00 pm – 6:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Class concert.
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Blum N211, the Jazz room8:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 Student moderation degree concert.
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Blum Hall8:00 pm – 9:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Jazz class concert.
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Bard Hall8:00 pm – 9:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Join us on May 14 for a performance of the Bard Accordion Orchestra, which will feature soulful new interpretations of various American immigrant musics: from klezmer to zydeco to polka to forró to the contemplative edge of accordion-based experimentalism, and more! This ensemble features the students enrolled in "Accordionology: Class, Race, and Migration in American Musics."The Bard Accordion Orchestra will be followed by a short set from local accordionist Matt Schreiber. Schrieber has been dedicated to the study and performance of Southeastern European folk traditions for over two decades, and blends improvisation, songcraft, and vernacular music into a single stream. Matt has performed on stages and in kitchens throughout the US and Europe, and his original music has been featured in Hollywood film and awarded in Bulgaria. Matt can be found performing regularly with Hinterlands, Krivo, and Anatole Trio. We will also have fabric paint and accordion stamps, so Bring Your Own T-shirt (BYOT) (or buy one of our limited supply) to support the maintenance of our accordions.
The Jazz Room, Blum N2119:00 pm – 10:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Jazz ensemble concert
Monday, May 11, 2026
Blum Hall8:00 pm – 9:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Ensemble Class concert
Monday, May 11, 2026
Blum Hall7:00 pm – 7:45 pm EDT/GMT-4 Class recital
Monday, May 11, 2026
with the Bard College Gamelan Bard Hall6:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 Performing new & traditional works for Balinese Gamelan Gong Kebyar Orchestra Featuring a Hands-on Demonstration with Audience Participation.
Artistic Director I Nyoman Suadin Administrative Director Sue Pilla
Free of Charge and Open to the Public
Supported in part by the Kvistad Foundation, Ulster Publishing and Hudson Valley One
Monday, May 11, 2026
The Glories of the Aria Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space6:00 pm – 8:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Come and hear stunning solos from oratorios and other sacred and semi-sacred music, sung by the outstanding soloists of Rufus Müller’s performance class. Excerpts from works like Handel’s Messiah, Haydn's Creation, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Verdi’s Requiem, as well as Mozart’s Davide Penitente, Bach’s St. John Passion, and Orff’s Carmina Burana.
“Image courtesy of Vecteezy.com”
Sunday, May 10, 2026
The Old Gym8:30 pm – 9:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 student degree recital
Friday, May 8, 2026
Blum N211, the Jazz room8:00 pm – 9:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Friday, May 8, 2026
Undergraduate Vocal Blum Hall12:30 pm EDT/GMT-4
Thursday, May 7, 2026
Blum Hall8:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 student degree recital
Thursday, May 7, 2026
Blum Hall7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Jazz class concert.
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
The Jazz Room, Blum N2119:00 pm – 10:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Jazz class concert.
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Blum Hall8:15 pm – 9:15 pm EDT/GMT-4 Class concert.
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Blum Hall7:00 pm – 8:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Class concert.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Spring Concert Olin Auditorium7:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 James Bagwell, Annabella Capaccio, Reid Shriver, Conducting Lexi Lanni, soprano, Soloists James Fitzwilliam, Piano
Bard Hall7:00 pm – 8:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 Join us for a rare solo performance by the legendary Yiddish singer, klezmer musician, researcher, and dancer Michael Alpert. A recipient of the 2015 National Heritage Fellowship, Alpert is internationally recognized for his essential contributions to the revival of East European Jewish music and culture since the 1970s. He has performed with pioneering groups such as Kapelye, Brave Old World, The An-Sky Ensemble, and others. He has graciously agreed to stop in at Bard on his way to a performance with Itzhak Perlman’s “In the Fiddler’s House” klezmer extravaganza hosted by The Philadelphia Orchestra.
Tuesday, April 28, 8pm in the Bard Chapel Chapel of the Holy Innocents8:00 pm – 10:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Join us to celebrate Virginia Woolf and music! Readers have often noted the “musical” quality of Woolf’s writing. E.M. Forster went so far as to call To The Lighthouse a “novel in sonata form.” Her fiction has, in turn, inspired composers to write works inspired by her writing and her life. We invite you to join us as we explore, through performance, the rich connections between Woolf and music. The evening will feature a performance of Dominick Argento’s Pulitzer Prize winning song cycle From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, as well as a reading of Woolf’s (very short) story “The String Quartet,” paired with a performance of the fourth movement of Schubert’s Trout Quintet, which inspired that story. No tickets or RSVP required; this event is free and open to the public. This event is supported by the Seniors to Seniors award from the Lifetime Learning Institute.
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Blum N211, the Jazz room8:00 pm – 9:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 student degree concert
Edward Elgar (1857–1934) Cello Concerto, op.85, E minor (1919) IV. Allegro; Moderato; Allegro, ma non troppo Eugenia Krim, cello soloist Erica Kiesewetter, associate conductor
Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) Symphony No.1, op.39, E minor (1899; rev 1900) Zachary Schwartzman, music director
Admission is free and all are welcome to attend!
Sunday, April 19, 2026
Olin Hall3:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Bridge Arts and Education presents a Jazz Appreciation Month Concert featuring outstanding student and community ensembles from across the Hudson Valley. The program includes performances by the Hudson Valley Youth Jazz Orchestra and Bridge Arts Jazz Lab, alongside a special guest appearance by the Bard Afro-Caribbean Ensemble. The concert highlights a wide range of jazz styles, from big band traditions to Afro-Caribbean influences, showcasing the creativity and energy of emerging musicians and educators. Admission is free; donations welcome.
Performers: Hudson Valley Youth Jazz Orchestra — Directed by Dan Shaut Bridge Arts Jazz Lab — Directed by Tristen Napoli Bard Afro-Caribbean Ensemble — Directed by Roland Vazquez
About Bridge Arts and Education: Bridge Arts and Education is a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding access to high-quality music education and performance opportunities for students and communities throughout the Hudson Valley. Through ensembles, workshops, and partnerships, the organization connects young musicians with experienced educators and professional artists.
Friday, April 17, 2026
Fisher Center, Resnick Theater Studio7:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 Come join the Bard undergraduates in Musical Theater Performance Workshop for an evening of songs from a century’s worth of musical theater from George Gershwin to Jeanine Tesori.
Friday, April 17, 2026
Bard Hall6:00 pm – 7:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 WORKS BY BARD STUDENT COMPOSERS:
Frankenberg Ta Rafai Liu Jones Mukhin Núñez Nazario
Thursday, April 16, 2026
Fisher Center, Resnick Theater Studio7:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 Come join the Bard undergraduates in Musical Theater Performance Workshop for an evening of songs from a century’s worth of musical theater from George Gershwin to Jeanine Tesori.
Thursday, April 16, 2026
Sara Serpa, voice featuring André Matos, guitar & Larry Grenadier, bass Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space7:30 pm – 9:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Free and open to the public
Live stream on Music Program You Tube channel here.
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space2:00 pm – 3:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 COMPOSERS Steven Bonacci Samuel Mutter Daniel Zlatkin Juan Diego Mora Jackson Spargur
PERFORMERS Elizabeth Chernyak Katherine Chernyak Ethan Young Sky Metting Jaime Blois Sophia Cornicello Gyuri Kim Stella Luan Evan McMahon Jacob Altrock Nomin Samdan Andrew Altrock Alfred Western Tess von Brachel
The Old Gym1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Student degree concert.
Saturday, April 11, 2026
The Old Gym1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Student degree concert.
Friday, April 10, 2026
The Old Gym7:30 pm – 8:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 Student degree concert.
Friday, April 10, 2026
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space7:00 pm – 8:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Artist-in-Residence Isabelle O'Connell presents a concert of music for piano and electronics by leading Irish and American composers as part of her Fulbright 2025-26 Alumni Project Award. Combining solo piano with fixed electronics, field recordings, and live audio processing, these compositions expand the capacities of both the instrument and performer, blending acoustic performance with immersive sound worlds.
The program includes solo works for piano and electronics by Matt Sargent, Missy Mazzoli, Chris Cerrone, Donnacha Dennehy, Karen Power and a US premiere by Gráinne Mulvey. Presented by the Fulbright Alumni Project Fund in association with the Bard Electronic Music Program.
Free and open to the public.
Saturday, April 4, 2026
Students and Alums of Erica Kiesewetter's Violin Studio Bard Hall4:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Featuring the music of Tan Dun, Joan Tower, George Tsontakis, Missy Mazzoli, Adrienne Eleisha, and Jesse Montgomery.
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space5:30 pm – 6:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 Acclaimed pianist Marcus Roberts and his trio will be visiting Bard next week. As part of their visit, Marcus Roberts will be hosting a Piano Salon on Tuesday, March 31, at 5:30 PM in the László Z. Bitó ’60 Conservatory Building Conservatory Performance Space.
We hope to see you there!
Saturday, March 28, 2026
Bard Hall6:30 pm – 7:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 A music workshop to overcome stage fright and performance anxiety. Presented by Erica Kiesewetter and Tatjana Myoko von Prittwitz und Gaffron.
Monday, March 23, 2026 – Tuesday, March 24, 2026
Blum Hall11:30 am – 1:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 "Open lessons" with four Bard Music Program piano students, with California-based pianist Ashley Zhang.
Friday, March 20, 2026
From Intimate Duos to Chamber Masterworks Olin Hall6:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Anchored by three marimba works and a series of virtuosic duos, this free concert highlights the striking timbral contrasts of modern chamber music. The program culminates in two substantial masterpieces—Beethoven’s Septet and Vaughan Williams’s Piano Quintet—bringing percussive brilliance and symphonic breadth together in one evening.
RavelAlborada del gracioso arranged for two marimbas Francisco Mignone Sonata No. 1 for two bassoons, mvt. 1, 3 Eric HesselSpiral Staircase for horn and marimba, mvt. 1, 3 Roger C. VogelSix Dialogues: Reflections on Plato for flute and horn, mvt. 1, 2, 4 Chris StearnReal & Unreal for bass trombone and marimba Johann Baptist Vanhal Divertimento in G Major for violin, viola, and double bass, mvt. 1, 4 Beethoven Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20, mvt. 1, 2 Vaughan Williams Piano Quintet in C Minor, mvt. 1, 2
Performed by members of The Orchestra Now
Free. No tickets or RSVP necessary.
Thursday, March 12, 2026
Bard Hall7:30 pm – 9:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Performances of new compositions for guitar, percussion, and live electronics by Matt Sargent (Bard) and Matthew Goodheart (RPI) with Taylor Long (percussion).
The event is free and open to all.
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
In concert with The Bard College Georgian Choir Chapel of the Holy Innocents7:30 pm – 8:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 Come experience the spine-tingling close a cappella harmonies of the Yale Women’s Slavic Chorus, together in concert with Bard’s own choir devoted to the rich polyphonic singing traditions of the Republic of Georgia!
Free and Open to the Public
Sunday, February 1, 2026
Undergraduate Opera Workshop Fisher Center, LUMA Theater2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST/GMT-5 The popular Bard Opera Workshop returns again this year with student singers performing a selection of scenes from the operatic canon. The performance is directed by Jay Lesenger and Rod Gomez, and accompanied by an orchestra of Bard students.
Saturday, January 31, 2026
Undergraduate Opera Workshop Fisher Center, LUMA Theater7:30 pm – 8:30 pm EST/GMT-5 The popular Bard Opera Workshop returns again this year with student singers performing a selection of scenes from the operatic canon. The performance is directed by Jay Lesenger and Rod Gomez, and accompanied by an orchestra of Bard students.
Friday, January 30, 2026
Undergraduate Opera Workshop Fisher Center, LUMA Theater7:30 pm – 8:30 pm EST/GMT-5 The popular Bard Opera Workshop returns again this year with student singers performing a selection of scenes from the operatic canon. The performance is directed by Jay Lesenger and Rod Gomez, and accompanied by an orchestra of Bard students.