Bard Music Festival: Weekend 1 of “Vaughan Williams and His World”

Ralph Vaughan Williams (photo: courtesy of Bard Music Festival)

The Bard Music Festival returns for its 33rd season with an intensive two-week exploration of “Vaughan Williams and His World.” In eleven themed concert programs over two weekends in August, Bard examines the great but frequently misunderstood English and Welsh composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, one of the 20th century’s preeminent symphonists, who spearheaded a new British renaissance in music. Weekend One (Aug 4 – 6) contextualizes the composer among his fellow Victorians, Edwardians, and Moderns.

To explore Vaughan Williams’s life and world in all their complexity, the Bard Music Festival once again anchors Bard SummerScape as in previous seasons, and promises to be “the summer’s most stimulating music festival” (Los Angeles Times). All events take place in the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and other venues on Bard College’s Hudson River campus. Six concerts will also stream live to home audiences worldwide on Upstreaming, the Fisher Center’s virtual stage.

Below are details of the Weekend One events; details of Weekend Two — which explores Vaughan Williams’s role in creating what may be considered A New Elizabethan Age? (Aug 10–13) — will follow next week.

Read more about Vaughan Williams and His World here. 

Bard Music Festival: Weekend One 
Fri, Aug 4 – Sun, Aug 6: “Victorians, Edwardians, and Moderns”

All performances in Fisher Center on Bard College campus, Annandale-on-Hudson, accessible by regular Amtrak trains. 

Friday, August 4

PROGRAM ONE: Vaughan Williams: Becoming an English Composer
Venue & time:
Sosnoff Theater + livestreamed at 7pm, with commentary by Leon Botstein
Artists:
Horszowski Trio and guests; William Ferguson, tenor; Theo Hoffman, baritone; Renée Anne Louprette, organ; Grace Park, violin; Sun-Ly Pierce, mezzo-soprano; Brandie Sutton, soprano; Bard Festival Chorale / James Bagwell, music director; The Orchestra Now / Leon Botstein, music director
Program: 
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: “Down Ampney (Come Down, O Love Divine)” from The English Hymnal; Quintet for piano and strings in C minor; Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis; Concerto in D minor for violin and strings; Serenade to Music; O taste and see; Songs
Arr. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Selections from Five English Folk Songs; “Old Hundredth Psalm Tune”
Tickets: 
Live in-person tickets: $29.50-$69.50; livestream: $20
For tickets and more info, visit: Fishercenter.bard.edu/events/vaughan-williams-becoming-an-english-composer/

Saturday, August 5

PANEL ONE: Composer and Nation
Venue & time:
Olin Hall at 10am
A panel discussion with scholars, including a short Q&A.
Participants to be announced.
Tickets: Free and open to the public
For more info, visit: Fishercenter.bard.edu/events/composer-and-nation/

PROGRAM TWO: Between Two Worlds: London and Berlin
Venue & time: 
Olin Hall at 1:30pm
Artists:
Ariel Quartet; Michael Stephen Brown, piano; Luosha Fang, viola; Horszowski Trio; Kayo Iwama, piano; Todd Palmer, clarinet; Sun-Ly Pierce, mezzo-soprano
Program:
PARRY: Suite No. 1, for violin and piano 
BRUCH: Romance, Op. 85, for viola and piano
STANFORD: Piano Trio No. 3 in A minor, “Per aspera ad astra”
SMYTH: Sarabande in D minor from Four Dances for piano
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Silent Noon; Orpheus and His Lute
BRIDGE: Cherry Ripe for string quartet; Sir Roger de Coverley “Christmas Dance” for string quartet
COLERIDGE-TAYLOR: Clarinet Quintet, Op. 10
Tickets:
Live in-person: $29.50–$59.50
1pm: pre-concert talk
For tickets and more info, visit: Fishercenter.bard.edu/events/between-two-worlds-london-and-berlin/

PROGRAM THREE: The Symphony and Composing for the Stage
Venue & time:
Sosnoff Theater + livestreamed at 8pm
Artists:
Danny Driver and Piers Lane, piano; The Orchestra Now / Leon Botstein, music director
Program: 
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Job, A Masque for Dancing; Concerto in C, for two pianos and orchestra; Symphony No. 4 in F minor
Tickets:
Live in-person tickets: $29.50–$79.50; livestream: $20
7pm: pre-concert talk
For tickets and more info, visit: Fishercenter.bard.edu/events/symphony-and-composing-for-the-stage/

Sunday, August 6

PROGRAM FOUR: Heirs and Rebels: British Art Songs
Venue & time: 
Olin Hall at 10am, with commentary by Byron Adams
Artists: 
Tyler Duncan, baritone; Maximillian Jansen, tenor; Katherine Lerner Lee, soprano; Hailey McAvoy, mezzo-soprano; Kayo Iwama and Erika Switzer, piano
Program:
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Selections from Songs of Travel; Four Poems by Fredegond Shove; and Four Last Songs
WHITE: “Last Year” from Two Songs
LEHMANN: Evensong 
QUILTER: Love’s Philosophy 
WARLOCK: My Own Country; Pretty Ring Time 
BUTTERWORTH: Selections from Six Songs from “A Shropshire Lad”
GURNEY: Selections from Five Elizabethan Songs
MACONCHY: Ophelia’s Song 
BOYLE: The Stolen Child
BRITTEN: Selections from Winter Words, Op. 52
FINZI: Let Us Garlands Bring, Op. 18
Tickets:
Live in-person tickets: $29.50–$59.50
For tickets and more info, visit: Fishercenter.bard.edu/events/heirs-and-rebels-british-art-songs/

PROGRAM FIVE: Entente Cordiale: Britain and France
Venue & time: 
Olin Hall at 1:30pm
Artists: 
Ariel Quartet; Michael Stephen Brown, piano; Danny Driver, piano; Luosha Fang, viola; Andrey Gugnin, piano; Piers Lane, piano; Nicholas Phan, tenor
Program:
IRELAND: Decorations
CLARKE: Morpheus
RAVEL: “La vallée des cloches” from Miroirs
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: On Wenlock Edge
DEBUSSY: Selections from Préludes, Book II
DELIUS: Violin Sonata No. 2 
BLISS: The Rout Trot
HOWELLS: Piano Quartet in A minor, Op. 21
Tickets:
Live in-person tickets: $29.50–$59.50
1pm: pre-concert talk with Daniel M. Grimley
For tickets and more info, visit: Fishercenter.bard.edu/events/entente-cordiale-britain-and-france/

PROGRAM SIX: London Calling! Fun in Cockaigne!
Venue & time: 
Sosnoff Theater + livestreamed at 5:00pm, with commentary by Christina Baade
Artists:
Martin Luther Clark, tenor; Theo Hoffman, baritone; Sun-Ly Pierce, mezzo-soprano; Ann Toomey, soprano; Bard Festival Ensemble; and others
Program:
A celebration of Music Hall and pop traditions, from Gilbert and Sullivan to the Beatles, with works by Arthur Sullivan; Roger Quilter; Percy Grainger; Gerald Tyrwhitt-Wilson, Lord Berners; Eric Coates; Ivor Novello; Noël Coward; Arthur Benjamin; and others
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Selections from The Poisoned Kiss
Tickets:
Live in-person tickets: $29.50–$69.50; livestream: $20
For tickets and more info, visit: Fishercenter.bard.edu/events/london-calling-fun-in-cockaigne/

For tickets and further info about all Bard Music Festival events, call Fisher Center box office at 845-758-7900 or visit Fishercenter.bard.edu/bmf.