Music, like all art, engages the mind and the heart.
The mission of the Bard College Conservatory of Music is to provide the best possible preparation for a person dedicated to a life immersed in the creation and performance of music.
Bagwell was recognized by both organizations for the role he has played over the past two decades in creating a consistent record of excellence in choral performance.
The three-day program brought together renowned guzheng masters from China, musicians from across North America, and young student performers for a gathering of artistic exchange, collaboration, and performance.
Undergraduate Voice, Undergraduate Performance Workshop, Undergraduate Opera Workshop
Rufus Müller
Rufus Müller is a sought-after tenor who was acclaimed by the New York Times, following a performance at Carnegie Hall, as “easily the best tenor I have heard in a live Messiah.” He has performed internationally in operas, oratorios, and recitals. He performed the world premiere of Jonathan Miller’s acclaimed production of the St. Matthew Passion, which was broadcast on BBC TV and recorded for the United label; he repeated the role in three revivals of the production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Müller is also a leading recitalist, performing worldwide with pianist Maria João Pires, notably in an extended Schubertiade in London’s Wigmore Hall, and on tour in Spain, Germany, and Japan with Schubert’s Winterreise. Recent performances also include Bach’s Passions and Handel’s Messiah in New York, Princeton, Toronto, Montreal, Washington, D.C., Carmel Bach Festival, Royal Albert Hall, and Canterbury Cathedral; Monteverdi’s Vespers, Schubert’s Winterreise, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Ottavio) in Tokyo; Beethoven’s Choral Symphony in Pennsylvania; the title role in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo in St. Petersburg, Russia; and Haydn’s Creation in London, as well as recitals and master classes in Japan, Germany, and the United States. Born in Kent, England, Müller was a choral scholar at New College, Oxford, and studied in New York with the late Thomas LoMonaco. In 1985 he won first prize in the English Song Award in Brighton and, in 1999, was a prize winner in the Oratorio Society of New York Singing Competition. A list of performances and recordings can be found at his website, rufusmuller.com. BA, MA, University of Oxford. At Bard since 2006.
Xinyan Li
Chinese Music History; Composition in Chinese Style
Xinyan Li
Born in Qiqihar, China, Dr. Xinyan Li received her doctoral degree in composition at University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at China Conservatory of Music in composition and music theory.
Dr. Li’s music works have been featured at Aspen Music Festival, Carnegie Hall, National Opera Center, Composers Now Festival, the 89th Music Mountain Festival, the 11th Beijing International Chamber Music Festival, the 13th Thailand International Composition Festival, the 19th Nordic International Bassoon Symposium, the 44th and 45th IDRS Annual Conference, Seal Bay Festival, and China’s National Center for the Performing Arts. She was invited as a visiting composer by Aspen Music Festival in 2007 and 2015; her interview and six works have been broadcasted by Sweden’s national radio—Sveriges Radio in 2011; her wind quintet Mo Suo’s Burial Ceremony was released by Albany Records in 2019, performed by Pan Pacific Ensemble; her music composed for Laozi’s Dao De Jing, translated by Ken Liu, has been released by Audible in 2022; her three chamber works were published by TrevCo Music Publishing. Her music has been performed by Omaha Symphony, musicians of Eighth Blackbird, PRISM Quartet, American Composers Orchestra, The Orchestra Now, Bergen Woodwind Quintet, Cassatt String Quartet, Earplay, Quintet of the Americas, Donald Sinta Quartet, Music From China, as well as principal musicians of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit, St. Louis, Montreal, Bergen Orchestras and Danish Chamber Orchestra. Her awards include ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, American Composers Orchestra New Music Readings, Tsang-Houei Hsu International Music Composition Award, IDRS Conference 2016 Schwob Prize in Composition, and LunArt Festival Call for Scores.
As a native Chinese, Dr. Li has conducted field research on folk songs, folk chorus and ethnic instrumental music of various minorities, such as Dong, Miao, Yi, and Zhuang in southwest China, as well as Mongolian and Daur in northeast China. She has also extensively studied roles, singing styles, and instrumental music of Beijing Opera and Kunqu. Rooted in Chinese music and culture, she composed a duet for qingyi and xiao, a chamber concerto for hualian and chamber orchestra, a septet for guqin, guanzi, and five western instruments, a trio for flute, pipa, and cello, and a quartet for flute, pipa, erhu, and percussion. These compositions have been performed by virtuosos Zhihou Hu, Zhang Qiang, Zhou Yi, Shenshen Zhang, Guowei Wang, Chen Yue, Huang Mei, as well as Beijing Opera actress Zhu Hong and actor Qingxian Liu.
Dr. Li has taught composition and music theory at New York Philharmonic Orchestra’s Very Young Composers Program, University of Missouri-Kansas City, and China Conservatory of Music. Her composition students have been accepted by the Pre-College Division of The Juilliard School, Mannes School of Music, and Berklee College of Music. She has given music lectures at Grieg Academy-University of Bergen in Norway and Adelphi University in New York. As a pianist, she is skilled in playing improvisation piano accompaniment. She has worked with Metropolitan Opera conductor Gregory Buchalter, New England Conservatory professor Karen Holvik, and Chinese singer Gong Linna.
David Sytkowski
Aural Skills, Undergraduate Vocal Coaching, Undergraduate Opera Workshop
David Sytkowski
David Sytkowski, pianist and vocal coach, is a Visiting Artist in Residence at Bard College, where he is Director of Music for Opera Workshop, coaches singers, teaches private piano, and teaches Aural Skills.
In September 2019, he made his Joe’s Pub debut in Under The Influence with legendary cabaret artist Justin Vivian Bond. This led to Auntie Glam’s Happy Hour, a weekly livestream during the initial COVID-19 shut down that New York Times critic Zachary Woolf proclaimed one of “The Best of the Year’s At-Home Divas” in December 2020.
As principal music coach for the Bard SummerScape festival for six years, he has prepared Korngold’s Die tote Stadt and Das Wunder Der Heliane, Rubenstein’s Demon, Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride, Dvorak’s Dimitrij, Mascagni’s Iris, Smyth’s The Wreckers, and Weber’s Euryanthe.
Other recent engagements include the New York premiere of Gregory Spears’s Fellow Travelers for the PROTOTYPE festival in January 2018, Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein’s The Mother of Us All for the reopening of the Hudson Opera House in Fall 2017 with R.B. Schlather, Berkshire Opera Festival’s inaugural production of Madama Butterfly, Hindemith's The Long Christmas Dinner and Von Schillings's Mona Lisa with American Symphony Orchestra. He frequently appears as a symphony pianist and collaborator at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts.
Demian Austin
Trombone
Demian Austin
Demian Austin is principal trombonist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He is also a member of the MET Chamber Ensemble, which performs regularly at Carnegie’s Weill and Zankel halls. He has performed with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and in the Mostly Mozart festival at Lincoln Center. Mr. Austin has played on numerous recordings including the Metropolitan Opera Brass CDs, several movie soundtracks, Dialogues with Double Bass with Jeremy McCoy on Bridge Records, the GM Recordings issue of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Brahms’ First Symphony conducted by Gunther Schuller, and many recordings with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, including Strauss’ Tod und Verklarung. He can also be heard regularly on Sirius Satellite Radio’s Live at the Met Broadcasts, the Saturday Matinee Broadcasts of the Met, and on The Met: Live in HD worldwide movie simulcasts. Mr. Austin is also on the faculty of Juilliard’s precollege division. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in 1992 from Oberlin College, where he studied with Raymond Premru, and his Masters of Music degree in 1995 from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Per Brevig. Aside from his career in music, Mr. Austin has a keen interest in film and has attended several intensive seminars on screenwriting.