TŌN IN: Out of the Silence—Program Two

/in , , /by

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.

TŌN IN: Sunset Serenade at Old Dutch Church

/in , , /by

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.

TŌN IN: Out of the Silence—Program One

/in , , /by

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.

VIDEO FLASHBACK: Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade

/in , /by

This Thursday’s video feature is a flashback to our December 2016 performance of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov‘s Scheherazade with conductor JoAnn Falletta. Former TŌN violinist Holly Nelson introduces the piece at the top of the video, and you can read the concert notes, written by former TŌN violinist Grace Choi, by clicking here.

Introduction by Holly Nelson, violin 0:00
The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship 2:57
The Legend of the Kalendar Prince 12:56
The Young Prince and The Young Princess 25:19
Festival at Baghdad—The Sea—The Shipwreck 36:11

Watch Party: De Profundis

/in , /by

On Thursday, May 21, we hosted a watch party of our 2019 concert De Profundis on our Facebook page. This concert featured violinist Vadim Repin, soprano Elizabeth de Trejo, and the Bard Festival Chorale, conducted by Leon Botstein and James Bagwell. Viewers were able to chat live with TŌN musicians while they watched. You can re-watch the concert at https://www.facebook.com/watchparty/565302334423131/.

Video Flashback: Shostakovich, Michelangelo & The Artistic Conscience

/in , /by

In the hit series Sight & Sound at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Leon Botstein and The Orchestra Now explore the parallels between music and art. Now you can enjoy our 2018 performance of Shostakovich’s “Suite on Verses of Michelangelo” with baritone Tyler Duncan, which was live streamed on Facebook. Scroll down for more details, below the video.

Conductor and music historian Leon Botstein and The Orchestra Now (TŌN) explore Shostakovich’s “Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti” and works from The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition “Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer.” Recorded live at The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on February 11, 2018.
Tyler Duncan, baritone

Introduction 1:29
Remarks by Carmen C. Bambach, curator of the exhibition “Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer” 1:57
Discussion & Excerpts with Leon Botstein and The Orchestra Now 3:51
Review of artworks from the exhibition “Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer” 37:43
Performance of Shostakovich’s “Suite on Verses by Michelangelo Buonarroti” 46:05
Truth 47:43
Morning 52:03
Love 54:46
Separation 58:20
Anger 1:00:39
Dante 1:02:37
To the Exile 1:06:04
Creativity 1:10:45
Night 1:13:24
Death 1:17:54
Immortality 1:22:10
Q&A with the Audience 1:27:17

Dmitri Shostakovich
Born: 9/25/1906 in St. Petersburg
Died: 8/9/1975 at age 68 in Moscow

Written: 1974, at age 67

Premiered: 10/12/1975 at the Moscow Conservatory Bolshoi Hall in Moscow; USSR Radio and Television Orchestra; Maxim Shostakovich, conductor

Video Flashback: 2019 China Now Music Festival

/in , /by

Today Bard Music Connects and the Bard College Conservatory of Music are looking back at the 2019 China Now Festival, presented by the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory. Click here to revisit the festival, then watch TŌN’s performance at Stanford University below.

Video Flashback: Nielsen’s Aladdin Suite

/in , /by

This week for your listening pleasure, enjoy our 2016 performance of Carl Nielsen‘s Aladdin Suite, performed with conductor JoAnn Falletta at the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts at Lehman College in the Bronx on December 18, 2016.

Carl Nielsen Aladdin Suite
with remarks from TŌN violinist Lili Sarayrah
JoAnn Falletta conductor
>Concert notes by TŌN cellist Jinn Shin

Video Flashback: De Profundis: Out of the Depths

/in , /by

Staying home and in need of some music? Watch our April 2019 concert De Profundis: Out of the Depths.

World-renowned violinist Vadim Repin joined TŌN for this musical exploration of Psalm 130, which reads “Out of the depths, Oh Lord, have I cried unto Thee.” Repin performed the U.S. premiere of Lera Auerbach’s Violin Concerto No. 3, De Profundis. Lili Boulanger’s rendering of the psalm, performed with soprano Elizabeth de Trejo, is dedicated to the memory of her father and was composed at the early age of 22, just one year before her death. Also on the program are an a cappella choral interpretation by Pulitzer Prize winner Virgil Thomson, and the U.S. premiere of Joachim Raff’s setting for soprano, eight-part choir, and orchestra, which he dedicated to his former colleague, Franz Liszt.

Scroll down for program details and the video of the concert.

Virgil Thomson De Profundis
at timing mark 13:27 in the video
Bard Festival Chorale
James Bagwell Director
>Concert notes by TŌN trumpet player Guillermo García Cuesta

Joachim Raff Psalm 130: De Profundis (U.S. Premiere)
with remarks from TŌN bassoonist Adam Romey
at timing mark 17:52 in the video
Elizabeth de Trejo soprano
Bard Festival Chorale
Leon Botstein conductor
>Concert notes by TŌN horn player Emily Buehler

Intermission

Lera Auerbach De Profundis (Violin Concerto No. 3) (U.S. Premiere)
with remarks from TŌN violinist Drew Youmans
at timing mark 1:18:11 in the video
Vadim Repin violin
Leon Botstein conductor
>A poem by Lera Auerbach

Lili Boulanger Psalm 130: Du fond de l’abîme (De Profundis)
with remarks from TŌN trumpet player Anita Tóth
at timing mark 2:00:46 in the video
Elizabeth de Trejo soprano
Leon Botstein conductor
>Concert notes by TŌN clarinetist Rodrigo Orviz Pevida

Concert begins at 13:27; Intermission ends at 1:18:11