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.
Edward Carroll’s long and distinguished career has taken many twists and turns. It began as an orchestral musician at age 21 with his appointment to the Houston Symphony, detoured back to Juilliard (BM, MM) and New York City as a trumpet soloist making over 20 recordings on the Sony, Vox, MHS, and Newport Classic labels and performing with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, matured as he conducted his first concerts, detoured once again as he fulfilled a lifelong dream of moving to Europe assuming the position of principal trumpet of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, eventually embarked on what has become a distinguished teaching career and now, in the final quarter of his musical journey, returned to his life-long passion of conducting. Mr. Carroll has served on the faculties of the Rotterdam Conservatory, London’s Royal Academy of Music, McGill University, the Bard Conservatory, and the California Institute of the Arts. He has performed with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Bernard Haitink, Valery Gergiev, James Conlon, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Simon Rattle in concert halls around the world, listing Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Vienna’s Grosser Musikvereinsaal, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall amongst his favorites. He has appeared as a soloist with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, Virtuosi di Roma, the Gulbenkian Orchestra of Lisbon, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and a variety of North American orchestras. Edward Carroll’s recordings conducting the Metamorphosis Ensemble of London (Cantoris) and Chamber Soloists of Washington (Sony) have received critical acclaim, as have his many performances conducting the Peruvian National Symphony and National Youth Orchestras. In addition to teaching and conducting, Edward Carroll is currently the director of the Center for Advanced Musical Studies (www.chosenvalemusic.org) where he presents the annual Chosen Vale International Seminars with friends such as Hakan Hardenberger, John Wallace, Markus Stockhausen, Mark Gould, Colin Currie, and Steve Reich. Author Alexander McGrattan states in his book THE TRUMPET (Yale University Press) that “the work of Ed Carroll has been seminal to the creation of a new generation of adventurous young trumpet players since his work at the Rotterdam Conservatory and the establishment of the Lake Placid Music Seminars in the mid-1990s in New York State.” Mr. Carroll feels otherwise but perhaps that can be left for another biography.
Lucy Fitz Gibbon
Undergraduate and Graduate Voice, Undergraduate and Graduate Seminars
Lucy Fitz Gibbon
Noted for her “dazzling, virtuoso singing” (Boston Globe), Lucy Fitz Gibbon is a dynamic musician whose repertoire spans the Renaissance to the present. She believes that creating new works and recreating those lost in centuries past makes room for the multiplicity and diversity of voices integral to classical music’s future. As such, Ms. Fitz Gibbon has given U.S. premieres of rediscovered works by Baroque composers Francesco Sacrati, Barbara Strozzi, and Agostino Agazzari, as well by 20 th century composers including Tadeusz Kassern, Roman Palester, and Jean Barraqué. She has also worked closely with numerous others, premiering works by John Harbison, Kate Soper, Sheila Silver, David Hertzberg, Reena Esmail, Roberto Sierra, Anna Lindemann, and Pauline Oliveros. In helping to realize the complexities of music beyond written notes, the experience of working with these composers translates to all music: the commitment to faithfully communicate not only the score, but also the underlying intentions of its creator.
As a recitalist Ms. Fitz Gibbon has appeared with her collaborative partner, pianist Ryan McCullough, in such venues as London’s Wigmore Hall; New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Park Avenue Armory, and Merkin Hall; and Toronto’s Koerner Hall. They have three forthcoming CDs: Descent/Return, featuring works by James Primosch and John Harbison on Albany Records (May 2020); one alongside Dawn Upshaw and Stephanie Blythe of Sheila Silver’s complete Art Song repertoire; and one featuring mid-20 th century Polish works on Acte Préalable. In concert, Lucy has appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra; the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra; the Albany, Richmond, Tulsa, and Eureka Symphonies, and the American Symphony Orchestra in her Carnegie Hall debut. She has also premiered two major works by John Harbison and Shirish Korde with Boston Musica Viva, appeared in concert with the Aizuri Quartet, and will appear on tour with Musicians from Marlboro in such venues as Carnegie Hall and the Kimmel Center through 2022. Debuts with the Seattle Opera and Lexington and Kalamazoo Symphonies, as well an appearance with the Doric Quartet at the West Cork Festival in Ireland and a guest recital at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, were all delayed because of COVID-19.
A graduate of Yale University, Ms. Fitz Gibbon is the recipient of numerous awards for her musicaland academic achievements. She holds an artist diploma from The Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory and a master’s degree from Bard College-Conservatory’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program; her principal teachers include Monica Whicher, Edith Bers, and Dawn Upshaw. She has spent summers at the Tanglewood Music Center (2014-2015) and Marlboro Music Festival (2016-2019). She is currently Interim Director of the Vocal Program at Cornell University and on the faculty of Bard College Conservatory’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program, and will serve as voice faculty for Kneisel Hall’s 2020 season, occurring online. For more information, see www.lucyfitzgibbon.com.
Terrence Wilson
Piano
Terrence Wilson
Acclaimed by the Baltimore Sun as “...one of the biggest pianistic talents to have emerged in this country in the last 25 years” pianist Terrence Wilson has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Washington, DC (National Symphony), San Francisco, St. Louis, and with the orchestras of Cleveland, Minnesota, and Philadelphia and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Conductors with whom he has worked include Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert, Neeme Järvi, Jesús López-Cobos, Lawrence Renes, Robert Spano, Yuri Temirkanov, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Gunther Herbig and Michael Morgan.
Abroad, Terrence Wilson has played concerti with such ensembles as the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland, the Malaysian Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He has toured with orchestras in the US and abroad, including a tour of the US with the Sofia Festival Orchestra (Bulgaria) and in Europe with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov.
An active recitalist, Terrence Wilson made his New York City recital debut at the 92nd Street Y, and his Washington, DC recital debut at the Kennedy Center. In Europe he has given recitals at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Lourvre in Paris, and countless other major venues. In the US he has given recitals at Lincoln Center in New York City (both Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall), the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, NY, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, and for the La Jolla Chamber Music Society. An avid chamber musician, he performs regularly with the Ritz Chamber Players. Festival appearances include Aspen, Blossom, Grant Park, Tanglewood and Wolf Trap.
In the last couple seasons, Wilson performed as soloist with the Symphony Orchestras of Anchorage, Brevard (FL), Greensboro, Harrisburg, Memphis, Portland (ME), Raleigh and Wichita to name a few. He also appeared as soloist with the Madison Symphony in their gala season-opening concert in September 2023. Other highlights included a multi-city chamber music tour with Imani Winds with performances at such venues as the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum in Boston and the 92nd Street Y in New York City, a recital tour culminating in a recital at the prestigious Ravinia Festival - 25 years since his debut, and a return as soloist with the Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago with performances of Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto with Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero. Wilson also performed with Symphony Tacoma as well as the Symphony Orchestras of Roanoke and Toledo among others. He also made a recital appearance in Brookings, OR and performed chamber music with the Escher Quartet in New Orleans.
In 2025-2026, Wilson performs with the Folsom and Stockton Symphonies (Beethoven piano concertos 3 and 4 respectively). He will also perform with ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, OH and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York City with The Orchestra Now (TŌN) - Bard College’s graduate training orchestra - in Saint-Saëns’ 2nd and 5th piano concertos respectively. The season will see Wilson in recitals at Boston Conservatory’s (at Berklee) Piano Masters Series, and in Washington, DC at the Bender Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington. Other highlights of the season include a tour with mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges and the Catalyst Quartet with performances in San Francisco and at the Library of Congress, as well as a performance in Montréal at Fondation Arte Musica with the Escher Quartet.
Committed to education, Wilson serves as a member of the piano faculty at the Brevard Music Center (BMC) Institute and Festival in Brevard, NC for six weeks each summer. In July 2024, he was featured as faculty soloist with the Brevard Chamber Symphony at Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium at BMC. He is also a frequent guest teacher, lecturer and adjudicator in numerous international piano competitions. In 2025, Terrence Wilson was a pre-screening juror in the junior division of the Palm Springs International Piano Competition and adjudicated in the Hilton Head International Piano Competition. In April 2026, Wilson will perform a joint faculty recital at Bard Conservatory with Raman Ramakrishnan, in a program including the cello sonatas of Frank Bridge and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Terrence Wilson has received several awards and prizes, including the SONY ES Award for Musical Excellence, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the Juilliard Petschek Award. He has also been featured on several radio and television broadcasts, including NPR’s “Performance Today,” WQXR radio in New York, and programs on the BRAVO Network, the Arts & Entertainment Network, public television, and as a guest on late night network television. In 2011, Wilson was nominated for a Grammy in the category of “Best Instrumental Soloist With an Orchestra” for his (world premiere) recording with the Nashville Symphony conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero of Michael Daugherty’s Deus ex Machina for piano and orchestra - written for Wilson in 2007.
Terrence Wilson is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky. He has also enjoyed the invaluable mentorship of the Romanian pianist and teacher Zitta Zohar, as well as that of Maria Clodes-Jaguaribe. A native of the Bronx, he resides in Montclair, New Jersey. In March 2021, Wilson was appointed to the piano faculty at Bard College Conservatory of Music.
Leigh Mesh
Double Bass Masterclasses
Leigh Mesh
Leigh Mesh, associate principal double bass, joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 1993. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, he began his professional career with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and later played with the Indianapolis and Chicago Symphony Orchestras. He has taught master classes at the New World Symphony in Miami, Cincinnati Conservatory, Juilliard School, and Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Mesh is the double bass coach of the UBS Verbier Festival Youth Orchestra in Verbier, Switzerland. He has been a guest artist with the Verbier Festival, Linton Chamber Music Series, Pensacola Classicfest, Chamber Music Society of Martha’s Vineyard,Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, and the Salt Bay Chamberfest. Mr. Mesh has performed with the MET Chamber Ensemble, the Caramoor Virtuosi, and the Brentano and Tokyo String Quartets. Mr. Mesh was a faculty member of the Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles during the 2009–2010 school year. He joined the faculty of the Bard College Conservatory of Music in the fall of 2010. He lives with his wife, Nancy Wu, associate concertmaster of the MET Opera Orchestra, and their two children, Guinevere and Wolfram, in Pleasantville, New York. He pursues cycling and skiing whenever he can. Mr. Mesh is an exclusive artist for Thomastik-Infeld Strings.