Performing for Non-Orchestral Musicians

Non-orchestral performance majors in Composition, Piano Performance, and Vocal Performance are offered their own unique performance opportunities during their studies at Bard.

As an entirely undergraduate studio, composition majors are offered extensive opportunities to have their works performed by the Da Capo Chamber Players, Conservatory Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, and in special performances by fellow students are part of the contemporary music series Music Alive!, curated by Joan Tower.

Additionally, chamber music ensembles are encouraged to form special relationships with peer composers in Bard Conservatory.

Undergraduate singers are provided ample opportunities to perform in art song, choral, and chamber music settings. Students hone their stagecraft in the yearly, fully-staged with orchestra Undergraduate Opera Workshop in Bard's Fisher Center and in The Graduate Vocal Arts Program operas, performing in supporting and chorus roles.

In addition to chamber music, required of all students, ensemble opportunities for singers include the Bard Chamber Singers, Symphonic Chorus, and Bard Baroque Ensemble.

All piano performance majors present at least three solo recitals during their studies at Bard, and the piano studios also participate in semester-long performance projects.

Past performance projects have included performances in the annual Kurtág Festival: Signs, Games, and Messages, performances of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel's Das Jahr, Claude Debussy's Preludes, Book II, and a study of piano etudes of the 19th & 20th centuries by Choopin, Rachmaninoff, and Prokofiev.

Additionally, piano students participate in the annual Concerto Competition for a chance to perform with either the Bard Conservatory Orchestra, The Orchestra Now, or the American Symphony Orchestra. Pianists interested in collaboarative work with singers have this opportunity in the Undergraduate Double Degree Program through the Chamber Music and Diction & Pronunciation Workshops.

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