Bard Music Festival: Weekend 2 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 contextualizes the composer among his fellow Victorians, Edwardians, and Moderns, and Weekend Two (Aug 10–13) explores Vaughan Williams’s role in creating what may be considered A New Elizabethan Age?

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. Three concerts in Weekend Two will also stream live to home audiences worldwide on Upstreaming, the Fisher Center’s virtual stage. Below are details of the Weekend Two events.

Read more about Vaughan Williams and His World here. 

Bard Music Festival: Weekend Two
Thurs, Aug 10–Sun, Aug 13: “A New Elizabethan Age?”

All performances are in the Fisher Center and other locations on the Bard College campus, Annandale-on-Hudson, which is accessible by regular Amtrak trains. Special events take place at the Episcopal Church of the Messiah in Rhinebeck. Program Eleven is serviced by round-trip bus from Manhattan: see below for details.

Thursday, August 10

SPECIAL EVENT: Music for School, Parish, and Home, Part 1: Music for the Classroom and Parlor

Venue & time:
Episcopal Church of the Messiah, Rhinebeck at 7pm, with commentary
Artists:
Liam Boisset, oboe; Andrey Gugnin, piano; Renée Anne Louprette, organ; Bard Festival Ensemble; Members of the Bard Festival Chorale, conducted by James Bagwell
Program:
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Six Studies in English Folksong; Household Music
Jean COULTHARD: Sonata for oboe and piano 

Songs and hymns by Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst, Martin Shaw, Frank Bridge, John Ireland, and Herbert Howells
Tickets:
Live in-person tickets: $29.50
For tickets and more info, visit: Fishercenter.bard.edu/music-for-parish-home-and-school-part-i/

Friday, August 11

SPECIAL EVENT: Music for School, Parish, and Home, Part 2: The Anglican Choral Tradition

Venue & time:
Episcopal Church of the Messiah, Rhinebeck at 3pm, with commentary
Artists: 
Renée Anne Louprette, organ; members of the Bard Festival Chorale, conducted by James Bagwell
Program:
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Mass in G minor; “Rhosymedre” from Three Preludes on Welsh Hymn Tunes; and Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Refuge
Benjamin BRITTEN: Rejoice in the Lamb

Motets, hymns, and organ music by Charles Villiers Stanford, Ethel Smyth, Charles Wood, Healey Willian, Herbert Howells, and Herbert Murrill
Tickets: Live in-person tickets: $29.50
For tickets and more info, visit: Fishercenter.bard.edu/music-for-parish-home-and-school-part-ii/

PROGRAM SEVEN: The Lark Ascending: British Music for Small Orchestra
Venue & time:
Sosnoff Theater + livestreamed at 8:00pm
Artists:
Luosha Fang, viola; Bella Hristova, violin; members of the Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; The Orchestra Now, conducted by James Bagwell and Zachary Schwartzman 
Program:
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Five Variants of “Dives and Lazarus”
Edward ELGAR: Serenade for Strings, Op. 20
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Flos Campi
Grace WILLIAMS: Elegy for String Orchestra
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: The Lark Ascending
Peter WARLOCK: Capriol Suite
Frederick DELIUS: Two Aquarelles
Gustav HOLST: St. Paul’s Suite, Op. 29, No. 2
Tickets:
Live in-person tickets: $29.50-$79.50; livestream: $20
7:30pm: preconcert talk with Imani Mosley
For tickets and more info, visit: Fishercenter.bard.edu/program-seven-the-lark-ascending-british-music-for-small-orchestra/

Saturday, August 12

PANEL TWO: The Artist in Time of War
Venue & time:
Olin Hall at 10am
A panel discussion with noted scholars, which includes a short Q&A. Participants to be announced.
Tickets: Free and open to the public
For more info, visit: Fishercenter.bard.edu/the-artist-in-time-of-war/

PROGRAM EIGHT: The Islands and the Continent
Venue & time:
Olin Hall at 1:30pm
Artists:
Martin Luther Clark, tenor; Brandon Patrick George, flute; Andrey Gugnin, piano; Piers Lane, piano; Lun Li, violin; Alec Manasse, clarinet; Parker Quartet
Program:
Gordon JACOB: Sonatina
Robert MÜLLER-HARTMANN: Selections from Sieben Skizzen, Op. 6 
BACH, arr. for piano by Harriet Cohen: Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier, BWV 731
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Hymn Tune Prelude on “Song 13” by Orlando Gibbons for piano 
Egon WELLESZ: Suite for flute solo, Op. 57
Arnold BAX: Sonata for clarinet and piano 
Howard FERGUSON: Four Short Pieces for clarinet and piano, Op. 6 
Béla BARTÓK: Second Rhapsody, S. 89
Edmund RUBBRA: Ave Maria Gratia Plena for tenor and string quartet 
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: String Quartet No. 2
Tickets:
Live in-person tickets: $29.50–$59.50
1pm: pre-concert talk with Christina Bashford
For more info, visit: Fishercenter.bard.edu/the-islands-and-the-continent/

PROGRAM NINE: A New Elizabethan Age?
Venue & time:
Sosnoff Theater + livestreamed at 8:00pm
Artists:
Brandie Sutton, soprano; members of the Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director 
Program:
Elizabeth MACONCHY: ProudThames, coronation overture 
William WALTON: Partita for Orchestra 
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Symphony No. 8 in D minor
SIBELIUS: Andante festivo
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Sinfonia Antartica (Symphony No. 7)
Tickets:
Live in-person tickets: $29.50-$79.50; livestream: $20
1pm: pre-concert talk with Michael Beckerman
For more info, visit: Fishercenter.bard.edu/a-new-elizabethan-age/

Sunday, August 13

PROGRAM TEN: Vaughan Williams’s Legacy
Venue & time:
Olin Hall at 11am
Artists:
Liam Boisset, oboe; Allegra Chapman, piano; William Hagen, violin; Parker Quartet; Orion Weiss, piano
Program:
Ruth GIPPS: The Piper of Dreams, Op. 12b
Michael TIPPETT: Piano Sonata No. 1
Samuel BARBER: Serenade, for string quartet 
Peggy GLANVILLE-HICKS: Pastorale
Constant LAMBERT: Elegiac Blues
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Sonata in A minor
Tickets:
Live in-person tickets: $29.50–$59.50
10:30am: pre-concert talk 
For more info, visit: Fishercenter.bard.edu/vaughan-williamss-legacy/

* PROGRAM ELEVEN: Vaughan Williams and Shakespeare: Sir John in Love
Venue & time:
Sosnoff Theater + livestream at 3pm
Artists:
Craig Colclough, bass-baritone, as Falstaff; Brandie Sutton, soprano, as Anne Page; Ann Toomey, soprano, as Mistress Page; Sarah Saturnino, mezzo-soprano, as Mistress Ford; Lucy Schaufer, mezzo-soprano, as Mistress Quickly; Joshua Blue, tenor, as Fenton; Keith Jameson, baritone, as Dr. Caius; William Socolof, bass-baritone, as Frank Ford; and others; Bard Festival Chorale; James Bagwell, choral director;
American Symphony Orchestra / Leon Botstein, music director; Alison Moritz, director
Program:
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Sir John in Love
Tickets:
Live in-person tickets: $29.50–$79.50; livestream: $20
2pm: pre-concert talk with Tiffany Stern
For more info, visit: Fishercenter.bard.edu/vaughan-williams-and-shakespeare-sir-john-in-love/

* Round-trip transportation from Manhattan to Bard is available for this performance. The round-trip fare is $75 and reservations are required; click here for details.