TŌN IN: Out of the Silence—Program Two

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This Throwback Thursday, revisit the second program from our recent series Out of the Silence, presented with the Bard Music Festival, the Bard College Conservatory of Music, and the Fisher Center at Bard. In this video, TŌN’s assistant conductor, Andrés Rivas, leads Jessie Montgomery’s Strum; associate conductor James Bagwell conducts Alvin Singleton’s After Choice; resident conductor Zachary Schwartzman leads Adolphus Hailstork’s Sonata da Chiesa; and music director Leon Botstein conducts the Serenade for Strings by Antonín Dvořák, who was the subject of the 1993 Bard Music Festival.

AUDIO FLASHBACK: Verdi’s Requiem

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Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi was born 207 years ago this month. We performed his profound Requiem last year with soprano Margaret Tigue, mezzo-soprano Chloë Schaaf, tenor Cooper Nolan, bass Wei Wu, the Bard College Chamber Singers, the Bard Festival Chorale, and members of the Bard College Conservatory Orchestra. You can now listen to the audio recording of that performance, conducted by Leon Botstein, and read the concert notes, written by TŌN clarinetist Ye Hu, by clicking here.

TŌN IN: Sunset Serenade at Old Dutch Church

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This Throwback Thursday, revisit our Sunset Serenade concert from four weeks ago, when woodwind musicians from The Orchestra Now performed short pieces outside of Old Dutch Church in Kingston, NY for a physically distanced audience. Enjoy music by Benjamin Britten, César Vivanco Sanchez, and several others, performed on flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon.

View the video by clicking here.
View the concert information by clicking here.

AUDIO FLASHBACK: Stravinsky’s Funeral Song

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Our second Audio Flashback today is our April 2018 performance of Igor Stravinsky‘s long-lost Funeral Song. This tender lament was written by a young Stravinsky in tribute to the passing of his teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov. The parts were thought to have been destroyed in a fire, and were discovered just five years ago. You can read the concert notes by clicking here.

AUDIO FLASHBACK: Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles

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Igor Stravinsky‘s Requiem Canticles premiered 54 years ago this Thursday. We performed the piece two years ago at the Fisher Center at Bard with conductor Leon Botstein, mezzo-soprano Katherine Pracht, baritone Jonathan Beyer, the Bard College Chamber Singers, and the Bard Festival Chorale. One of the TŌN musicians said, “In typical Stravinsky fashion, this piece is totally out there. It’s made up of dark, short vignettes with a sharp, crisp quality.” You can read the concert notes by clicking here.

TŌN IN: Out of the Silence—Program One

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This Throwback Thursday, revisit the opening program from our recent series Out of the Silence, presented with the Bard Music Festival, the Bard College Conservatory of Music, and the Fisher Center at Bard. In this video, TŌN’s associate conductor, James Bagwell, leads the elegiac Lyric for Strings by George Walker, the first African-American winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Then Music Director Leon Botstein conducts the exuberant String Symphony No. 8 by Felix Mendelssohn, who was the subject of the Bard Music Festival’s second season in 1991.

AUDIO FLASHBACK: Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin Suite

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Our second Audio Flashback this week comes from our 2017 performance of Béla Bartók‘s The Miraculous Mandarin Suite at the Fisher Center at Bard with conductor Leon Botstein. Debuting as a pantomime ballet in 1926, this risqué story caused such a urproar that it was suspended from production after the first performance! The concert suite has proven to be much more popular, and was performed by TŌN again last December with conductor Tan Dun. You can read the concert notes from our original performance, written by former TŌN oboist Zachary Boeding, by clicking here.

AUDIO FLASHBACK: Beethoven’s The Consecration of the House Overture

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Beethoven‘s The Consecration of the House Overture premiered 198 years ago this Saturday, at the opening of the new Theater in der Josephstadt in Vienna. The premiere went so well that Beethoven used this overture to open another concert, when he premiered his ninth symphony. Listen back to our performance of this overture this past February, under the baton of Leon Botstein at the Fisher Center at Bard. You can read the concert notes, written by former TŌN violinist Tianpei Ai, by clicking here. 

TŌN IN: Sunset Serenade on Flute

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As part of The Orchestra Now’s “Sunset Serenade” series, TŌN flutist Rebecca Tutunick performed César Vivanco Sanchez’s Fantasía Andina for a physically distanced audience at Old Dutch Church in Kingston, NY on September 11, 2020. Watch the full concert by clicking here.

AUDIO FLASHBACK: Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10

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Composer Dmitri Shostakovich was born 114 years ago this Friday. Today we’re revisiting our 2019 performance of his Tenth Symphony, under the baton of Leon Botstein. This piece spans a wide range of emotions, from the brooding, searching quality of the opening of the first movement, to the drive of the second movement, and the ominous clock-ticking of the third movement. Read the concert notes, written by TŌN cellist Lucas Button, by clicking here.