THIRD AND FINAL WEEKEND OF 2006 BARD MUSIC FESTIVAL, “FRANZ LISZT AND HIS WORLD,” TAKES PLACE OCTOBER 27–28 IN ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK FESTIVAL CONTINUES EXPLORATION OF MUSICAL WORLD OF THE PIANO VIRTUOSO, COMPOSER, MYSTIC AND VISIONARY, FRANZ LISZT “As impressive as many of the festival performances were, they were matched by the audience’s engagement: strangers met and conversed, analyzing the music they’d heard with sophistication, and a Sunday-morning panel discussion of gender issues in 19th-century culture drew a nearly full house. All told, it was a model for an enlightened society. Liszt surely would have approved.” – New York Times review of Bard Music Festival 2006, weekend 2 ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The third and final weekend of the 2006 Bard Music Festival, “Franz Liszt and His World,” takes place at Bard College on October 27 and 28. The weekend will consider the distinctive paths composers of the mid-19th-century took in their search for a new music. Liszt, together with Berlioz and Wagner, became identified with progressive trends that contrasted with the more traditional approach of Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms. The lectures and concerts explore this “War of the Romantics.” Comprising two orchestral concerts, preconcert talks, a master class, and a chamber music concert, the weekend opens in Bard’s Sosnoff Theater on Friday, October 27 at 7:00 p.m. with a preconcert talk by Christopher H. Gibbs on the topic of “The New German School and Musical Narrative.” At 8.00 p.m. Leon Botstein will conduct the opening concert by the American Symphony Orchestra with pianist Simone Dinnerstein and violist Nardo Poy. Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Botstein and Robert Martin are the festival’s artistic directors. Ms. Dinnerstein and the Bard Music Festival concert were featured recently in the New York Times’s annual fall arts preview, where she was described as being “among the crop of emerging young talents” who should be heard this season. She will perform Liszt’s fiery Piano Concerto No. 1 and Totentanz on a program that includes the composer’s symphonic poem Les Préludes, Wagner’s Prelude and “Liebestod” from Tristan und Isolde, and Berlioz’s Harold en Italie. The concert will be repeated in its entirety as the festival’s final event, on Saturday, October 28 at 8.00 p.m. On Saturday, October 28, a master class honoring “Liszt as Teacher” will be given between 10.00 a.m. and noon at Bard’s Olin Hall. It is free and open to the public. Weimar and Leipzig, two major cities in the musical and cultural history of Germany, were the locations where the contrasting 19th-century views on what music ought to be were fought out. Weimar, Liszt’s home for much of his life, came to represent the New German School; Leipzig was where Schumann formulated many of his ideas on music and where Mendelssohn established a leading conservatory of music. “The War of the Romantics: Weimar and Leipzig” is the topic Dana Gooley will address before a 3:00 p.m. chamber-music concert. Students and faculty members of the Bard College Conservatory of Music will perform Liszt’s “Dante” Sonata and works by Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Felix Mendelssohn. The musical performances during the two previous weekends of the 2006 Bard Music Festival were highly acclaimed, as were the performances by Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra of Schumann’s operatic rarity Genoveva, one of the highlights of the fourth annual Bard SummerScape Festival. A critic for the New York Observer reported, “I was deeply moved by Genoveva, as performed at Bard’s space-age, Frank Gehry–designed Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, and I would jump at the chance to see it again . . . Mr. Botstein led the American Symphony Orchestra with knowing efficiency . . . Theirs was a Genoveva that should not be allowed to disappear.” BARD MUSIC FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FOCUS OF 2007 FESTIVAL Bard has announced that next year’s Music Festival will be dedicated to Sir Edward Elgar (1857–1934), arguably England’s most influential composer. The breadth of his repertoire lends itself perfectly to the comprehensive and intelligent focus and analysis for which the Bard Music Festival is known. A complete schedule of Bard Music Festival events for October 27 and 28 follows, with full details and ticket prices. All events take place in Bard’s Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts unless otherwise indicated. The box office telephone number is 845-758-7900, and further information about Bard and environs—as well as ticket-ordering—is at the festival web site: http://www.bard.edu/bmf/2006/. “Franz Liszt and His World”: Bard Music Festival Weekend Three Friday October 27, 2006 - Saturday October 28, 2006 Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College Annandale-on-Hudson, New York FRIDAY, October 27, 2006 Concert: The New German School and Musical Narrative Venue: Sosnoff Theater, Fisher Center Time: 7:00 p.m. Preconcert talk. 8:00 p.m. Performance Artists: Simone Dinnerstein, piano; Nardo Poy, viola American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein, conductor Program: Franz Liszt: Les préludes Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major Totentanz Richard Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde Hector Berlioz: Harold en Italie, Op. 16 Note: this performance and pre-concert talk are repeated on Saturday evening, Oct. 28. Tickets: $25, 40, 55 7:00 pm Preconcert talk: Christopher H. Gibbs SATURDAY, October 28, 2006 The Master Class: Liszt as Teacher Venue: Olin Auditorium, Time: 10:00 a.m. – noon Free and open to the public Concert: The War of the Romantics: Weimar and Leipzig Venue: Sosnoff Theater, Fisher Center Time: 2:30 p.m. Preconcert talk 3:00 p.m. Performance Artists: Faculty and students of The Bard College Conservatory of Music Program: Franz Liszt: from Années de pèlerinage: “Dante” Sonata; late piano works Johannes Brahms: String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111 Robert Schumann: Märchenerzählungen, Op. 132 FELIX MENDELSSOHN: Piano Quartet No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 2 Tickets: $20, 35, 45 2:30 p.m. Preconcert talk: Dana Gooley Concert: The New German School and Musical Narrative Venue: Sosnoff Theater, Fisher Center: Time: 7:00 p.m. Preconcert talk; 8:00 p.m. Performance Artists: Simone Dinnerstein, piano American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein, conductor Program: Franz Liszt: Les Préludes Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major Totentanz Richard Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde Hector Berlioz: Harold en Italie, Op. 16 Tickets: $25, 40, 55 7:00 p.m. Preconcert talk: Christopher H. 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