Founded in 1990, the Bard Music Festival has established its unique identity in the classical concert field by presenting programs that, through performance and discussion, place selected works in the cultural and social context of the composer’s world.
This year’s festival – the 33rd – will present an exploration of the life and work of English composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams.
This coming weekend’s programs, August 4-6, are on the theme “Victorians, Edwardians, and Moderns.” Next week, August 10-13, the umbrella for the programming ends in a question mark: “The New Elizabethan Age?”
Ralph Vaughan Williams was one of the most innovative and creative figures in twentieth-century music, whose symphonies stand alongside those of Sibelius, Nielsen, Shostakovich, and Roussel.
Byron Adams is emeritus professor of musicology at the University of California, Riverside. He is an associate editor of the Musical Quarterly and lends his expertise to the Bard Music Festival as a consultant. He’s co-edited the companion book for this year’s festival, as well.
