Special Event!

Bard Music West at Bard Music Festival

Movement, Miniatures, and Mysticism – the Influence of Chopin

Thursday, August 17, 2017, 8pm

Spiegeltent, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

Presented by Bard Music Festival

Tickets $15-40 | Buy tickets

On August 17 at 8pm, Bard Music West offers a special concert, Movement, Miniatures, and Mysticism, at its parent organization, the Bard Music Festival (BMF) in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. As part of BMF’s 2017 festival, Chopin and His World, Bard Music West traces the influence of Chopin up to the present day with dance, improvisation, and mazurkas across time and nationality. With this concert, Bard Music West showcases its adventurous spirit, modern aesthetic, and interdisciplinary programming.

Bard Music West artistic directors pianist Allegra Chapman and cellist Laura Gaynon perform alongside violinist Zenas Hsu, returning from his success at Bard Music West’s inaugural San Francisco festival, and newcomers to the festival pianist Ming Aldrich-Gan, dancer Jenna Pollack, and baritone Nathaniel Sullivan.

The performance takes place at Bard SummerScape’s Spiegeltent (“Mirror Tent”), a fantastical hand-hewn pavilion imported from Belgium. Built around a theater-in-the-round and lined with mirrors, this venue makes for an unforgettable experience.

PERFORMERS

Ming Aldrich-Gan, piano

Allegra Chapman, piano

Laura Gaynon, cello

Zenas Hsu, violin

Jenna Pollack, dance

Nathaniel Sullivan, baritone

PROGRAM

Improvised prelude
Ming Aldrich-Gan, piano

Aleksandr Scriabin (1872-1915)
Mazurka in C# minor, Op. 3, No. 6
Mazurka in E minor, Op. 25, No. 3
Ming Aldrich-Gan, piano

Thomas Adès (b. 1971)
From Three Mazurkas, Op. 27
Moderato, molto rubato
Prestisssimo molto espressivo
Allegra Chapman, piano

Marta Ptaszyńska (b. 1943)
Moon Flowers
Laura Gaynon, cello
Allegra Chapman, piano
Jenna Pollack, dancer and choreographer

From Mouvements du coeur: Suite de 7 mélodies en hommage à Chopin
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) - Mazurka
Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) - Ballade Nocturne
Jean Françaix (1912-1997) - Scherzo Impromptu
Nathaniel Sullivan, baritone
Ming Aldrich-Gan, piano

Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983)                                    
From Piano Trio
Allegro animato
Trés animé 
Allegra Chapman, piano
Laura Gaynon, cello
Zenas Hsu, violin

PAUSE

Henryk Górecki (1933-2010)
Blessed Raspberry Songs, Op. 43
“Each morning, when the shadows recede”
Nathaniel Sullivan, baritone
Ming Aldrich-Gan, piano

Agata Zubel (b. 1978)
Three Miniatures
Andantino delicato
Andante ad libitum
Allegro
Allegra Chapman, piano

György Ligeti (1923-2006)
From Musica Ricercata
Cantabile molto legato
Vivace. Energico 
Allegra Chapman, piano

Mikołaj Górecki (b. 1971)
From Six Bagatelles
Presto
Lento
Energico
Allegra Chapman, piano
Laura Gaynon, cello
Zenas Hsu, violin

Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969)
Sonata No. 2
Zenas Hsu, violin

Season 2 Announcement! The World of Henry Cowell

Henry Cowell: Autodidact, Innovator, Impresario

“Music is my weapon. I believe in music, in its spirituality, its exaltation, its ecstatic nobility, its humor, its power to penetrate to the basic fineness of every human being.”
                  —Henry Cowell

We are thrilled to announce that in April 2018 we will be back with our second season, "The World of Henry Cowell." 

Growing up in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Henry Cowell was a prolific composer who wrote nearly 1,000 compositions over his lifetime. As a child, he absorbed music from around the globe, hearing Chinese opera before he ever heard Puccini, as well as Tahitian and Japanese traditional music, and he became one of the earliest proponents of studying music of non-Western cultures. He was a lifelong autodidact and invented compositional techniques still in wide use today, including the cluster chord, "string" piano, and his "rhythm-harmony" system for correlating rhythm with the mathematical ratios of the overtone series. A natural connector and impresario, Cowell edited books, founded musical organizations, and promoted the work of other composers, building the image of what the world would come to understand as "American music."