Charles Ives at 150
A sesquicentennial celebration, hosted by Bard College and The Orchestra Now (TŌN), with contextualized performances, cross-disciplinary talks, and conversations exploring Charles Ives and his place in American history and culture.
Scroll down for event information and tickets.
The leading American concert composer of his time, Charles Ives (1874–1954) is also an iconic American genius whose story links to Transcendentalism, the Civil War, camp meetings, and Wall Street. Charles Ives at 150 will furnish a unique opportunity to freshly explore Ives’ significance in framing the ever-elusive American experience. Too often, he has been viewed as an outsider, an oddball, an accident, an avant-gardist ahead of his time, but Ives vividly exemplifies his own American time and place: the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era.
Curated by eminent Ives scholar J. Peter Burkholder and cultural historian Joseph Horowitz, and supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, this cross-disciplinary festival will be the most ambitious celebration of Ives’ sesquicentennial in the Northeast.
Festival performances will showcase the breadth of Ives’ output, including the Second Symphony and Orchestral Set; the symphonic poem Central Park in the Dark; piano works including the Concord Sonata; and a number of songs.
Participants include historian Richard Aldous, Eugene Meyer distinguished professor of history at Bard College; pianist Donald Berman, piano department chair at the Longy School of Music of Bard College and president of the Charles Ives Society; Leon Botstein, Bard College president, music historian, and music director and conductor of TŌN; musicologist J. Peter Burkholder, preeminent Ives scholar and distinguished professor emeritus of music in musicology at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music; Kyle Gann, Taylor Hawver and Frances Bortle Hawver professor of music at the Bard College Conservatory of Music and vice president of the Charles Ives Society; cultural historian Joseph Horowitz, producer of the Naxos documentary film Charles Ives’ America; baritone and actor William Sharp, widely regarded as a supreme exponent of Ives’ songs; and TŌN, Bard College’s graduate orchestral training program.
Each of the concerts will be framed as public humanities events, incorporating commentary and discussion.
EVENTS
IVES AND THE PIANO
Sat, Nov 9 at 6 PM at Olin Hall on the Bard College campus
Recital, readings, artwork, and discussion
Featuring Donald Berman, Leon Botstein, Kyle Gann, and Joseph Horowitz
Free and open to the public. No RSVP necessary.
>MORE INFO
CHARLES IVES: A LIFE IN MUSIC
Sat, Nov 16 at 5 PM and Sun, Nov 17 at 12 PM at Olin Hall on the Bard College campus
Scripted playlet with songs and commentary
Featuring William Sharp, Donald Berman, Richard Aldous, J. Peter Burkholder, Kyle Gann, and Joseph Horowitz
Free and open to the public. No RSVP necessary.
>SATURDAY INFO
>SUNDAY INFO
CHARLES IVES’ AMERICA
Sat, Nov 16 at 7 PM and Sun, Nov 17 at 2 PM at the Fisher Center at Bard
Orchestral concert including performances of songs quoted in Ives’ music, followed by a discussion
Featuring The Orchestra Now (TŌN), Leon Botstein, William Sharp, J. Peter Burkholder, Donald Berman, and Joseph Horowitz
Tickets from $15. Livestream pay-what-you-wish.
>INFO & TICKETS
CHARLES IVES’ AMERICA
Thu, Nov 21 at 7 PM at Carnegie Hall
Orchestral concert including performances of songs quoted in Ives’ music, preceded by a discussion at 6 PM
Featuring The Orchestra Now (TŌN), Leon Botstein, William Sharp, J. Peter Burkholder, Donald Berman, and Joseph Horowitz
Tickets from $29 ($25 + $4 fee)
>INFO & TICKETS
Charles Ives at 150 constitutes one of four Ives sesquicentenary celebrations supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Music Unwound is a consortium of orchestras and educational institutions directed by Joseph Horowitz. For information about all the NEH sponsored Ives Festivals, click here.
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