BARD MUSIC FESTIVAL 2004 SHOSTAKOVICH AND HIS WORLD
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. — In its 15th season, the 2004 Bard Music Festival (August 13-15 and August 20-22) will focus on the former Soviet Union's foremost composer, Dmitrii Shostakovich (1906-75). In two summer weekends of concerts, panel discussions and a symposium, co-artistic directors Leon Botstein, Christopher H. Gibbs and Robert Martin will appear along with a host of Shostakovich experts and musicians from the United States and abroad, including the American Symphony Orchestra, the Bard Festival String Quartet and other notable ensembles, along with contralto Ewa Podleś, violist Kim Kashkashian, pianist D≥nes Varj—n, and many others.
Over the past 14 seasons, the Bard Music Festival has set the trend in music festival programming, combining diverse concert programs of well- and lesser-known works with panels, symposia and other special events, all designed to bring the musical world of a given composer vividly to life. With the recent opening of Bard's new Frank Gehry-designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, the Bard Music Festival is now part of the new Bard SummerScape Festival, the Hudson Valley's premiere destination for summer performances of opera, music, theater and more.
Critical praise for last summer's events included the Boston Globe's "with the addition of the Fisher Center at Bard É the Hudson River Valley is on its way to becoming one of the premier cultural destinations in the nation." Of last year's Bard Music Festival, the New York Times wrote "Leon Botstein, the festival's mastermind, conducted the American Symphony Orchestra, which sounded resplendent in its new home," and "bass pizzicatos sprang off the stage with a substance and vibrancy seldom heard in any New York hall." Describing last year's performance of Janáček's Glagolitic Mass, the Times reported, "the end result was thrilling."
"Shostakovich and his World" will comprise nearly one third of SummerScape 2004's presentations: eleven concerts (including one of Soviet popular music), each preceded by an informative talk; panel discussions; and a symposium. Performances will range from solo piano works, songs, and chamber works through jazz and choral works, to several symphonies played by the resident American Symphony Orchestra and conducted by its music director, Leon Botstein. Many of the works included in the festival, by Shostakovich as well as his contemporaries, are rarely heard in concert either here or abroad.
Among Shostakovich's compositions on the festival programs are his first, fourth and fourteenth symphonies, his orchestration of Musorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death, the Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 1, piano preludes and fugues from Op. 87, several string quartets, and his satirical cantata Rayok. Works by such Shostakovich contemporaries as Glazunov, Skriabin, Miaskovky, Prokofiev, Gavriil Popov, Vissarion Shebalin, Aram Khachaturian, Mikhail Gnesin and Maximilian Shteynberg will also be performed. The more recent generation of composers will be represented by Edison Denisov, Alfred Schnittke, Boris Tishchenko and Sofiya Gubaidulina.
Shostakovich-related performances at SummerScape include his comic opera The Nose and his rarely-heard musical, Moscow: Cherry Orchard Towers. Opera and theater director Francesca Zambello will stage both these works in her double-debut at Bard. Architect Rafael Vi¯oly will design the sets of The Nose.
Irene Zedlacher, executive director of the Bard Music Festival, has written of 2004's "Shostakovich and his World" at Bard: "The life and work of Dmitrii Shostakovich intersect in an inextricable manner with the politics and culture of the 20th century. His music represents a challenge to listeners unique in the annals of concert music, in part because of tremendous potential divergences between the ordinary assumptions of the listeners, the surface of the music, and the potential for reading into the music meaning that may or may not correspond to the intentions of the composer, or interpretations dating from the years surrounding a work's creation and first performance."
No cultural institution in the United States has undertaken such a wide-ranging examination of Dmitrii Shostakovich's legacy in the context not only of his music but also of his character, career, public and private personas, his position in music and the politics of the day, his public disgrace at the hands of his own colleagues and Josef Stalin, and his eventual elevation to public adoration and the posthumous role as a hero of artistic freedom.
A third weekend of "Shostakovich and his World" will take place from November 5-7 and will include an examination of the close friendship between Shostakovich and his English contemporary, Benjamin Britten (1913-76), as well as further focus on the composer's life during and after World War II. Performances will include concerts by the Emerson String Quartet.
BMF details at press-time are given below. Updates will be published on the festival website, http://www.bard.edu/fishercenter. The site also provides phone numbers, ticket information and directions for getting to Bard (only 90 minutes north of Manhattan).
The Bard Music Festival box office, which begins selling tickets on May 1, 2004, can be reached at 845-758-7900. Tickets will also be available on the Fisher Center website listed above.
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SHOSTAKOVICH AND HIS WORLD
WEEKEND ONE - August 13-15, 2004
PROGRAM ONE - Dmitrii Shostakovich: The Character and the Career
Friday, August 13, 2004
Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts,
Sosnoff Theater
8:00 p.m. Pre-concert talk: Leon Botstein
8:30 p.m. Performance
- Dmitrii SHOSTAKOVICH (1906—75)
- Funeral March, "In Memory of the Fallen Heroes of the October Revolution"
- Three Fantastic Dances, Op. 5, for piano (1920)
- From Twenty-four Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 (1950—51)
- Songs TBA
- Piano Trio No. 2, Op. 67, in E Minor (1944)
- Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 1 in E Major (1934)
- String Quartet No. 11 in F Minor, Op. 122 (1966)
Bard Festival String Quartet; Claremont Trio; Eckart Preu, conductor; Lauren Skuce, soprano;D≥nes V‡rjon, piano; Bard Festival Chamber Players; others TBA
PANEL ONE - Contested Accounts: The Composer's Life and Career
Saturday, August 14, 2004
Olin Auditorium
10:00 a.m.-12:00 noon
Christopher H. Gibbs, moderator
Laurel E. Fay, Elisabeth Wilson, others TBA
PROGRAM TWO - Coming of Age
Saturday, August 14, 2004
Olin Auditorium
1:00 p.m. Pre-concert talk: Robert Martin
1:30 p.m. Performance:
- Dmitrii SHOSTAKOVICH (1906—1975)
- Two Fables of Krylov, Op. 4 (1922)
- Trio No. 1, Op. 8, in C Minor (1923)
- Prelude and Scherzo, Op. 11, for string octet (1924)
- Igor Stravinsky (1882—1971)
- Three Pieces for String Quartet (1914)
- Aleksandr GLAZUNOV (1865—1936)
- From Four Preludes and Fugues, Op. 101 (1918—23)
- Sergey ProkofieV (1891—1953)
- Piano Sonata No. 3 in A Minor, Op 28, "From Old Notebooks" (1917)
- Aleksandr SKRIABIN (1872—1915)
- Piano Sonata No. 9, Op. 68, "Black Mass" (1912—13)
- Mikhail GNESIN (1883—1953)
- Songs of a Knight Errant, Op. 28 (1928)
- Maximilian Shteynberg (1883—1946)
- Four Songs on texts by Rabindranath Tagore, Op. 14 (1924)
Bard Festival String Quartet; Claremont Trio; Colorado String Quartet; Will Ferguson, tenor; Jessie Hinkle, mezzo-soprano; D≥nes V‡rjon, piano; others TBA
PROGRAM THREE - From Success to Disgrace: The Early Career
Saturday, August 14, 2004
Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts,
Sosnoff Theater
7:00 p.m. Pre-concert talk: Morten Solvik
8:00 p.m. Performance:
- Dmitrii SHOSTAKOVICH (1906—75)
- Theme and Variations, in B-flat Major, Op. 3 (1921—22)
- Symphony No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 10 (1923—25)
- Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 43 (1935—36)
American Symphony Orchestra; Leon Botstein, conductor
PANEL TWO - Music and Politics in the Soviet Era
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Olin Auditorium
10:00 a.m.-12:00 noon
Leon Botstein, moderator; others TBA
PROGRAM FOUR - The Progressive 1920s
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Olin Auditorium
1:00 p.m. Pre-concert talk: Simon Morrison
1:30 p.m. Performance:
- Dmitrii SHOSTAKOVICH (1906—75)
- Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 12 (1926)
- Aphorisms, Op. 13 (1927)
- Vladimir SHCHERBACHOV (1887—1952)
- Nonet, Op. 10 (1918—19)
- Nikolay MYASKOVSKY (1881—1950)
- String Quartet No. 1, Op. 33, No. 1 (1929—30)
- Gavriil POPOV (1904—1972)
- Septet, Op. 2 (1927)
Bard Festival Chamber Players; Colorado String Quartet; Melvin Chen, piano; TBA
PROGRAM FIVE - The Heavy Hand of Politics
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts,
Sosnoff Theater
4:30 p.m. Pre-concert talk: Marina Frolova-Walker
5:00 p.m. Performance:
- Dmitrii SHOSTAKOVICH (1906—75)
- Cello Sonata, Op. 40, in D Minor (1934)
- Four Romances, Op. 46 (1936-37)
- Oath to the Peoples's Commissar (1941)
- Vissarion Shebalin (1902—1963)
- String Quartet No. 5, Op. 33, "Slavonic" (1942)
- Dmitrii Kabalevsky (1904—87)
- Sonatina No. 1, Op. 13, No. 1, for piano (1930)
- Aram Khachaturian (1903—78)
- Trio for clarinet, violin, and piano (1932)
- Ivan DzerzhinSKY (1909—78)
- Excerpts from The Quiet Don (1934
- Tikhon Khrennikov (b. 1913)
- Into the Storm (1936—39)
Zuill Bailey, cello; Bard Festival String Quartet; John Hancock, baritone; others TBA
SHOSTAKOVICH AND HIS WORLD
WEEKEND TWO - August 20-22, 2004
SYMPOSIUM - Art and Culture in the Soviet Era
Paul Mitchinson, moderator; Caryl Emerson; others TBA
Friday, August 20,
2004
Olin Auditorium
10:00 a.m.-12:00 noon
1:30 p.m-3:30 p.m.
PROGRAM SIX - Good Morning Moscow: Life and Music in a Moscow Communal Apartment
Friday, August 20, 2004
Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts,
Sosnoff Theater
8:00 p.m. Performance
Good Morning Moscow: One Day in the Life of Soviet Popular Music
Radio was the lifeline to the outside world as well as the main provider of entertainment for many living under the Soviet regime. This program will explore the popular music of the time as it was heard on the radio--and integrated into daily life--by the inhabitants of communal apartments in Moscow. The performance will include popular songs of the era, music for marching band, dance music, and more. Concept and Script: Marina Kostalevsky
PROGRAM SEVEN - Music and Satire
Saturday, August 21, 2004
Olin Auditorium
10:00 a.m. — 12:00 noon: Performance with commentary by Richard Taruskin
- Dmitrii SHOSTAKOVICH (1906—75)
- Rayok (Little Paradise) (1948, 1965—68)
PROGRAM EIGHT - Out of the Shadow of 1948
Saturday, August 21, 2004
Olin Auditorium
1:00 p.m. Pre-concert talk: David Fanning
1:30 p.m. Performance:
- Dmitrii SHOSTAKOVICH (1906—75)
- From Twenty-four Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 (1950—51)
- String Quartet No. 5, Op. 92, in B-flat Major (1953)
- Galina Ustvol'skaya (b. 1919)
- Trio for clarinet, violin, and piano (1949)
- Works by Mieczyslav WEINBERG (1919—1996) and Georgy SVIRIDOV (1915—98)
Martin Kaspik, piano; Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet; others TBA
PROGRAM NINE - In the Thaw: A Composer Looks Back
Saturday, August 21, 2004
Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts,
Sosnoff Theater
7:00 p.m. Pre-concert talk: Laurel E. Fay
8:00 p.m. Performance:
- Modest MUSORGSKY (1839—81)
- Songs and Dances of Death (1875—77 — arr. Shostakovich, 1962)
- Dmitrii SHOSTAKOVICH (1906—1975)
- The Execution of Stepan Razin, Op. 119 (1964)
- Symphony No. 14, Op. 135 (1969)
Ewa Podleś, contralto; Lauren Skuce, soprano (others TBA)
Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director
American Symphony Orchestra; Leon Botstein, conductor
PANEL THREE — The Composer's Legacy: Shostakovich in the Context of Music Today
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Olin Auditorium
10:00 a.m.-12:00 noon
Richard Wilson, moderator; others TBA
PROGRAM TEN - A New Generation Responds
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Olin Auditorium
1:00 p.m. Pre-concert talk: Peter Schmelz
1:30 p.m. Performance:
- Dmitrii SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-75)
- Viola Sonata, Op. 147 (1975)
- Edison DENISOV (1929—96)
- The Sun of the Incas (1964)
- Boris TISHCHENKO (b. 1939)
- String Quartet, No. 1, Op. 8 (1957)
- Sofiya GUBAIDULINA (b. 1931)
- Five Etudes (1965)
- Alfred SCHNITTKE (1934—98)
- From Four Hymns for Cello and Instrumental Ensemble (1974—77)
Bard Festival Chamber Players; Kim Kashkashian, viola; Eckart Preu, conductor; TBA
PROGRAM ELEVEN - Ideology and Individualism
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts,
Sosnoff Theater
4:00 p.m. Pre-concert talk: Christopher H. Gibbs
5:00 p.m. Performance:
- Dmitrii SHOSTAKOVICH (1906—75)
- Sun over Our Homeland, Cantata, Op. 90 (1952)
- The Song of the Forests, Op. 81 (1949)
- Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93 (1953)
Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; American Symphony Orchestra; Leon Botstein, conductor; others TBA
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Bard Music Festival Box Office phone: (845) 758-7900
Bard College web site: www.bard.edu/fishercenter
Bard Music Festival press contact: Mark Primoff (845) 758-7412, [email protected]
21C Media Group press contact: Glenn Petry (212) 625-2038, [email protected]