The Fisher Center at Bard Presents The Orchestra Now (TŌN) Performing Handel’s Messiah and SITI Company’s A Radio Christmas Carol This Holiday Season
On December 11 at 8 pm and December 12 at 2 pm, Bard’s musical forces combine for a holiday-season classic, Handel’s Messiah. Leon Botstein leads The Orchestra Now, soloists from the Bard Conservatory Graduate Vocal Arts Program, the Bard Festival Chorale, and the Bard College Chamber Singers in a performance of one of the most popular oratorios of all time. Performances will be held in the Fisher Center’s Sosnoff Theater. Tickets start at $30 for in-person and pay what you wish for virtual livestream.
On December 17 and 18 at 7:30 pm, and December 19 at 2 pm, Fisher Center LAB presents work-in-progress performances of SITI Company’s A Radio Christmas Carol. As part of the company’s 30th anniversary celebrations, SITI Company returns to the Fisher Center to develop a new live, in-person performance based on Orson Welles’ 1939 radio play of A Christmas Carol. Reimagining the intimacy and alchemy of that recording studio, SITI conjures the ghosts of the past, present, and future to speak to our society’s immediate need for gratitude, charity, fairness, justice, and equity. Codirected by Anne Bogart ’74 and Darron West, these special in-progress performances, presented live on stage in the Fisher Center’s Sosnoff Theater, are a preview of the world premiere coming up at the Fisher Center in December 2022. Tickets are $25, with $5 tickets for Bard students made possible by the Passloff Pass.
To purchase or reserve tickets for either event, visit fishercenter.bard.edu, call 845-758-7900 (Mon–Fri, 10 am–5 pm), or email [email protected].
“SITI Company and I are thrilled to return to Bard to share our encounter with Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol,” says Anne Bogart. “The last time that SITI appeared at the Fisher Center was in 2013—together with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company to perform A Rite, based upon Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. I graduated from Bard College in 1974 and my trajectory was deeply affected by all of my experiences there. Bard instilled in me a sense of adventure and an enduring curiosity.”
SITI Company’s A Radio Christmas Carol features Akiko Aizawa, Will Bond, Gian-Murray Gianino, Leon Inguslrud, Ellen Lauren, Kelly Maurer, Barney O’Hanlon, Stephen Webber with special guests Violeta Picayo and Donnell Smith. Set and costumes are by James Schuette, lights by Brian Scott, and sound by Darron West.
Fisher Center LAB's 2021-2022 season receives funding from members of the Live Arts Bard Creative Council, The Lucille Lortel Foundation, and the Fisher Center's Artistic Innovation Fund, with lead support from Rebecca Gold and S. Asher Gelman through the March Forth Foundation.
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About SITI
SITI was founded in 1992 by Anne Bogart, Tadashi Suzuki and a group of like-minded artists to redefine and revitalize contemporary theater in the United States through an emphasis on international cultural exchange and collaboration. We are a leader in the Suzuki and Viewpoints Methods of actor training and each year, we welcome over 100 artists into our studio and meet many more as we travel domestically and internationally to teach Workshops in these methods. SITI Company is committed to providing a space where the interaction of art, artists, audiences, and ideas inspire the possibility for change, optimism, and hope. Built on the bedrock of ensemble, we believe that through the practice of collaboration, a group of artists working together over time can have a significant impact on both contemporary theater and the world at large. As we near our 30th anniversary and begin the process of transitioning from a producing organization to a more open artist collective, we want to better reflect the diversity of the countries and communities that we work in. We want to ensure that our impact is actually reaching a wider audience and reflects our inclusive values. We want anti-racism, equity, diversity, and inclusion to not only be a matter of our social responsibility within our community, but to be the foundation on which we build our work. siti.org
About Fisher Center LAB
Fisher Center LAB is the Fisher Center’s artist residency and commissioning program, providing custom-made and meaningful support for innovative artists across disciplines. Since its launch in 2012, Fisher Center LAB has supported residencies, workshops, and performances for hundreds of artists, incubating new projects and engaging audiences, students, faculty and staff in the process of creating contemporary performance. LAB strives to provide artists with the environment, resources, and funding they need to experiment, dream, and fully realize their artistic potential. Where possible, Fisher Center LAB builds long-term relationships for artists, powering their work by taking on administrative and producing support of their practices and companies. Productions developed by Fisher Center LAB often premiere in the annual Bard SummerScape festival, and frequently tour around the country and across the world. Artists currently under commission from Fisher Center LAB include Pam Tanowitz, Suzan-Lori Parks, Lileana Blain-Cruz, Courtney Bryan, SITI Company, Justin Vivian Bond and Anthony Roth Costanzo, Raja Feather Kelly, Paul Soileau, Beth Gill, Sxip Shirey and Coco Karol, and Daaimah Mubashshir.
About The Orchestra Now (TŌN)
The Orchestra Now (TŌN) is a group of 65 vibrant young musicians from 13 different countries across the globe: Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Korea, Mongolia, Peru, Taiwan, and the United States. All share a mission to make orchestral music relevant to 21st-century audiences by sharing their unique personal insights in a welcoming environment. Hand-picked from the world’s leading conservatories—including the Yale School of Music, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Royal Academy of Music, and the Eastman School of Music—the members of TŌN are enlightening curious minds by giving on-stage introductions and demonstrations, writing concert notes from the musicians’ perspective, and having one-on-one discussions with patrons during intermissions. Conductor, educator, and music historian Leon Botstein, whom The New York Times said “draws rich, expressive playing from the orchestra,” founded TŌN in 2015 as a graduate program at Bard College, where he is also president. TŌN offers both a three-year master’s degree in Curatorial, Critical, and Performance Studies and a two-year advanced certificate in Orchestra Studies. The Orchestra’s home base is the Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Center at Bard, where it performs multiple concerts each season and takes part in the annual Bard Music Festival. It also performs regularly at the finest venues in New York, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and others across NYC and beyond. HuffPost, who has called TŌN’s performances “dramatic and intense,” praises these concerts as “an opportunity to see talented musicians early in their careers.”
About Bard College
Founded in 1860, Bard College is a four-year, residential college of the liberal arts and sciences located 90 miles north of New York City. With the addition of the Montgomery Place estate, Bard’s campus consists of nearly 1,000 parklike acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with majors in more than 40 academic programs; graduate degrees in 11 programs; nine early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 161-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard College has expanded its mission as a private institution acting in the public interest across the country and around the world to meet broader student needs and increase access to liberal arts education. The undergraduate program at our main campus in upstate New York has a reputation for scholarly excellence, a focus on the arts, and civic engagement. Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders. For more information about Bard College, visit bard.edu.
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This event was last updated on 11-23-2021