Bard Music Festival
Program Nine • The Epic Power of Tradition
August 16
Bard Music Festival
August 16
This program comprises choral and orchestral music by Martinů and perhaps his finest student, Moravia’s Jan Novák. Set to his own Latin text, Novák’s moving cantata Ignis pro Ioanne Palach commemorates a desperate young activist who immolated himself to protest the end of the Prague Spring. As a former professional violinist, Martinů wrote for the instrument with intimate understanding, and his Second Violin Concerto stands among his mature masterpieces. It was commissioned by the great Mischa Elman, who premiered the work with Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony, before performing it for many years, as did Isaac Stern and Josef Suk. Completing the program are an aria from Martinů’s one-act opera Ariane, a surrealist take on the Theseus myth that was inspired by Maria Callas, and The Epic of Gilgamesh, the composer’s only large-scale oratorio. Scored for narrator, soloists, choir, and orchestra, this takes its text from an English translation of the Mesopotamian saga, and is notable for some of Martinů’s most inspired choral writing.
Artwork: Monuments of Nineveh, Second Series, plate 5, London, J. Murray, 1853.
6 pm • Preconcert talk: Michael Beckerman
7 pm • Performance: Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director; projection design by Kat Pagsolingan
Jan Novák (1921–84)
Ignis pro Ioanne Palach (1969) (Novák)
Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959)
From Ariane, H370 (1958) (Neveux)
Thésée, je respire une dernière fois
Leah Hawkins, soprano
Violin Concerto No. 2, H293 (1943)
Andante—Poco allegro—Moderato
Andante moderato
Poco allegro
Itamar Zorman, violin
INTERMISSION
Bohuslav Martinů
The Epic of Gilgamesh, H351 (1955) (Martinů, based on Campbell Thompson)
Gilgamesh
The Death of Enkidu
Invocation
Leah Hawkins, soprano
John Matthew Myers, tenor
Norman Garrett, baritone
William Guanbo Su, bass
Bhavesh Patel, speaker
Music Director and Conductor, American Symphony Orchestra
Director, Bard Festival Chorale
Soprano
Tenor
Baritone
Bass-Baritone
Violin
Speaker, The Epic of Gilgamesh
2025 Bard Music Festival Scholar in Residence
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Eat & StayBard College’s main campus is located in Annandale-on-Hudson (a hamlet of Red Hook), New York, on the east bank of the Hudson River, about 90 miles north of New York City and 220 miles southwest of Boston. The Taconic State Parkway and the New York State Thruway provide the most direct routes to our campus. Click the Google map below, or get directions by entering the following address into your GPS: 60 Manor Avenue, Red Hook, NY 12571.
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If you are traveling from east of the Hudson River in New York State, take the Taconic State Parkway to the Red Hook / Route 199 exit, drive west on Route 199 through the village of Red Hook to Route 9G, turn right onto Route 9G, drive north 1.9 miles, turn left onto Annandale Road, then turn right onto Manor Ave.
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If you are traveling from west of the Hudson River, take the New York State Thruway (I-87) to exit 19 (Kingston), take Route 209 (changes to Route 199 at the Hudson River) over the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge to Route 9G, turn left onto Route 9G, drive north 3.5 miles, turn left onto Annandale Road, then turn right onto Manor Ave.
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