Image Credit: Courtesy of Dawn Upshaw

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – Acclaimed soprano Dawn Upshaw and singers of the Graduate Vocal Arts Program, pianist Kayo Iwama, Bard Conservatory Piano Fellows, and brass quintet Monstrare present a program of festive holiday-themed songs and ensembles to benefit the Scholarship Fund of The Bard College Conservatory of Music. “A Winter Songfest” will be performed as a family-friendly matinee concert on Sunday, December 16, at 3 p.m. in the Sosnoff Theater of The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. Tickets are $15, 25, 50, and $100. Guests at the $100 level are invited to join Dawn Upshaw and the performers onstage for a postconcert reception of spirits and sweets in the Sosnoff Theater immediately following the performance. Limited tickets are available for this exclusive opportunity; please reserve early. To purchase tickets or for more information, call the box office at 845-758-7900 or go to fishercenter.bard.edu.

Highlights for “A Winter Songfest” include Grammy Award–winner Upshaw performing two works that she has previously recorded: Vaughan Williams’s “This Is the Truth Sent from Above,” and Rodgers and Hart’s “Sing for Your Supper.”  The program also includes holiday classics such as Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” Walter Kent’s “I’ll be Home for Christmas,” Hebrew songs, and Argento’s “Winter” from Six Elizabethan Songs. Monstrare, a new brass quintet of advanced musicians from The Bard College Conservatory of Music, will perform excerpts from Monteverdi’s Madrigals in addition to other pieces.

About the Performers

Soprano Dawn Upshaw is Charles Franklin Kellogg and Grace E. Ramsey Kellogg Professor of the Arts and Humanities and the artistic director for The Bard College Conservatory of Music Graduate Vocal Arts Program. Upshaw made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1984 and has since achieved worldwide celebrity as a singer of opera and concert repertoire. Known for singing the great Mozart roles (Pamina, Ilia, Susanna, Despina) as well as works by Bach, Bartók, Stravinsky, Poulenc, Messiaen, Debussy, and John Adams, Upshaw has performed with James Levine, Sir Simon Rattle, Gilbert Kalish, Kronos Quartet, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the Cleveland, Chicago, and Philadelphia symphony orchestras, among others. She is the winner of three Grammy Awards and is featured on more than 50 recordings. Upshaw was the first singer to be named a “Perspectives” Artist by Carnegie Hall and is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (2007).  She has been at Bard since 2004. She earned a B.A. at Illinois Wesleyan University; M.A., Manhattan School of Music; and honorary doctorate, Yale University.

The Graduate Vocal Arts Program of The Bard College Conservatory of Music is a unique master of music program in vocal performance. This two-year master of music degree balances a respect for established repertory and expressive techniques with the flexibility and curiosity needed to keep abreast of evolving musical ideas. 

Monstrare is a new brass quintet of advanced musicians from The Bard College Conservatory of Music. Monstrare (which means to show) includes musicians from Hungary, Canada, Czech Republic, and the United States: Christopher Carroll, trumpet; Philippe Brunet, trumpet; Ferenc Farkas, horn; Vaclav Kalivoda, trombone; and Peter Blaga, tuba.

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November 19, 2012