Weekend 2: 18th Annual Bard Music Festival

The fin-de-siècle was a period greatly occupied with questions of theology, science, ethics, aesthetics, politics, and psychology, which were discussed with tremendous urgency in the works of Elgar’s contemporaries, such as Oscar Wilde, the pre-Raphaelite painters, J.M. Barrie (of Peter Pan fame), John Ruskin, Walter Pater, George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, and John Singer Sargent. But these questions also left a mark on music. Elgar had mainly looked abroad for inspiration, and for the wide range of disparate influences that contributed to the evolution of his inimitable style, among them he music of Brahms, Wagner, Fauré, and Richard Strauss. These influences made him a remarkably cosmopolitan figure, especially within the insular context of the British musical world of his era.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 17

SYMPOSIUM
Charles Darwin and Cardinal Newman:
Religion, Science, and Technology in the Elgarian Era
MULTIPURPOSE ROOM, BERTELSMANN CAMPUS CENTER
10:00 am – 12 noon
1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Deirdre d’Albertis, moderator; and others
Free and open to the public

SPECIAL SHOWING
Elgar on Film
WEIS CINEMA, BERTELSMANN CAMPUS CENTER
4 pm
Free and open to the public

PROGRAM SIX
Elgar and the Salon
SOSNOFF THEATER

7:30 pm Preconcert Talk: Sophie Fuller
8:00 pm Performance: Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano; William Ferguson, tenor; Jupiter String Quartet; Jeremy Denk, piano; Piers Lane, piano

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Concert Allegro, Op. 46
Dream Children, Op. 43 (arr. for piano)
Echo’s Dance, from The Sanguine Fan, Op. 81 (arr. for piano)
May Song
Skizze
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924), La bonne chanson, Op. 61
Frank Bridge (1879–1941), Piano Quintet in D Minor
Songs by Maude Valerie White (1855–1937); Ethel Smyth (1858–1944); Hubert Parry (1848–1918); and Roger Quilter (1877–1953)

Tickets: $20, 35, 45

SATURDAY, AUGUST 18

PROGRAM SEVEN
“God Bless the Music Halls”: Victorian and Edwardian Popular Song in America and Britain
OLIN HALL

10 am Performance with commentary by Derek Scott, with William Ferguson, tenor; Thomas Meglioranza, baritone; Gloria Parker, mezzo-soprano; Tonna Miller, soprano; and others

Tickets: $30

PROGRAM EIGHT
The Great War and Modern Music
OLIN HALL

1 pm Preconcert Talk: Alain Frogley
1:30 pm Performance: Bard Festival String Quartet; Claremont Trio; Laura Flax, clarinet; Weston Hurt, baritone; Ieva Jokubviciute, piano; Jennifer Koh, violin; Scott Williamson, tenor

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Violin Sonata in E Minor, Op. 82
Carillon, Op. 75
Claude Debussy (1862–1918), Berceuse heroique, for piano; Noel des enfants qui n’ont plus de maison, for voice and piano
John Ireland (1879–1962), Piano Trio No. 2
Arthur Bliss (1891–1975), Clarinet Quintet
Songs by George Butterworth (1885–1916) and Ivor Gurney (1890–1937)

Tickets: $35

PROGRAM NINE
Elgar: The Imperial Self-Portrait
SOSNOFF THEATER

7 pm Preconcert Talk: Christopher H. Gibbs
8 pm Performance: American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Crown of India Suite, Op. 66
Falstaff, a symphonic study, Op. 68
Sospiri, Op. 70
Symphony No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 63

Tickets: $25, 40, 55

SUNDAY, AUGUST 19

PANEL THREE
Constructions of Masculinity from Dorian Gray to Father Brown
OLIN HALL
10 am–noon
Byron Adams, moderator; Leon Botstein; Richard Dellamora; Sophie Fuller
Free and open to the public

PROGRAM TEN
Elgar and Modernism
OLIN HALL

1 pm Preconcert Talk: Diana McVeagh
1:30 pm Performance: Carolyn Betty, soprano; Bard Festival String Quartet; Piers Lane, piano; Sophie Shao, cello; Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; Jeremy Denk, piano

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
String Quartet in E Minor, Op. 83
Frederick Delius (1862–1934), Sonata for cello and piano
Gustav Holst (1874–1934), Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, Third Group
Cyril Scott (1879–1970), Two Pieces, Op. 47, for piano
Herbert Howells (1892–1983), Piano Quartet in A Minor, Op. 21
William Walton (1902–1983), Three Façade Songs

Tickets: $35

PROGRAM ELEVEN
The Culture of Religion: The Dream of Gerontius
SOSNOFF THEATER

4:30 pm Preconcert Talk: Charles McGuire
5:30 pm Performance: Carolyn Betty, soprano; Vinson Cole, tenor; John Hancock, baritone; Jane Irwin, mezzo-soprano; Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Selections from The Kingdom, Op. 51
The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38

Tickets: $25, 40, 55