ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. — The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College presents the final concert of the 2012–13 season of the popular American Symphony Orchestra (ASO) series, an all-Wagner evening in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The concert will be conducted by Leon Botstein, music director, on Friday, April 19 and Saturday, April 20, at 8 p.m., with a preconcert talk at 7 p.m. Individual tickets are $25, $30, $35, and $40. Call 845-758-7900 or visit the Fisher Center website at fishercenter.bard.edu to purchase tickets or for further information.

From a vision of the Holy Grail to the longing for and redemption of love, Botstein and the orchestra perform pieces of Wagner’s most famous operatic works. The program includes Lohengrin: Preludes to Acts I and III; Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod, and Die Walküre: Act I, featuring Julie Makerov, soprano; Richard Cox, tenor; and Peter Volpe, bass. 

About the Performers:  

Leon Botstein is music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. He is founder and artistic codirector of the Bard Music Festival, which celebrates its 24th season this year at Bard College, the institution he has served as president since 1975. Botstein has guest conducted major orchestras throughout the world. Among his recordings are operas by Strauss, Dukas, and Chausson, as well as works by Shostakovich, Dohnányi, Liszt, Bruckner, Bartók, Hartmann, Reger, Glière, Szymanowski, Brahms, Copland, Sessions, Perle, and Rands. He is the editor of The Musical Quarterly and the author of many articles and books. For his contributions to music he has received the Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Centennial Medal of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art. He is a recipient of the Carnegie Foundation’s Academic Leadership Award and a member of the American Philosophical Society.

Founded in 1962 by legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski, the American Symphony Orchestra continues its mission to demystify orchestral music and make it accessible and affordable to everyone. Under music director Leon Botstein, the ASO has pioneered what the Wall Street Journal called “a new concept in orchestras,” presenting concerts in the Vanguard Series at Carnegie Hall curated around various themes from the visual arts, literature, politics, and history, and unearthing rarely performed masterworks for well-deserved revival. The ASO is the resident orchestra of The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, where it appears in a winter subscription series as well as in Bard’s annual SummerScape and Bard Music Festival. 

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March 28, 2013