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.
‘Classical music doesn't get better than this’ — The New York Times.
In all roles, from orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician to conductor, Benjamin Hochman regards music as vital and essential. Composers, fellow musicians, orchestras and audiences recognize his deep commitment to insightful programming and performances of quality. An Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, he has performed at the Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, and Suntory Hall. His festival appearances include Lucerne, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Krzyżowa-Music, Marlboro Music and Santa Fe.
Hochman’s recent and upcoming highlights include playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Rheinische Staatsphilharmonie conducted by Benjamin Shwartz; conducting the Szeged Symphony and Orlando Philharmonic; solo recitals in Paris, Berlin, and Hitzacker; and chamber music at Tanglewood and Nymphenburger Sommer. He tours with the Curtis Institute of Music to Berlin, Bremen, Stockholm, and Vienna, and curates Signs, Games, and Messages, the Kurtág Festival at Bard College, New York, where he has served as Artistic Director since 2022.
Hochman’s 2024 Avie Records release, Resonance, features Beethoven, George Benjamin, Josquin, and Dowland, praised by Gramophone for its “subtle timbral palette and keen ear for texture.” Earlier albums include Homage to Schubert and Variations, a New York Times “Best Recording of the Year.”
Born in Jerusalem in 1980, Hochman studied with Claude Frank at the Curtis Institute of Music and Richard Goode at the Mannes School. At Mitsuko Uchida’s invitation, he spent three formative summers at the Marlboro Music Festival, during the same period that he was a member of the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
At 24, he made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Israel Philharmonic under Pinchas Zukerman, leading to engagements with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Chicago and Pittsburgh Symphonies, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Prague Philharmonia. He has performed under conductors including Gianandrea Noseda, Trevor Pinnock, and David Robertson.
In 2015 Hochman developed an autoimmune condition affecting his left hand, which led him to pursue his longstanding interest in conducting. At Juilliard he studied with Alan Gilbert, receiving the Bruno Walter Scholarship and the Charles Schiff Award. Soon after, he conducted the orchestras of Santa Fe Pro Musica, Greater Bridgeport Symphony, and The Orchestra Now at Bard College.
Fully recovered, he returned to the piano in 2018, recording Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 17 and 24 as pianist and director with the English Chamber Orchestra (Avie Records). He went on to present the complete Mozart Sonatas, perform Beethoven sonatas for Daniel Barenboim at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, and play both Beethoven and Kurtág for Kurtág himself at the Budapest Music Centre.
A Steinway Artist, he lives in Berlin and teaches at Bard College Berlin.
https://www.benjaminhochman.com/
Carmit Zori
Violin
Carmit Zori
Violinist Carmit Zori is the recipient of a Leventritt Foundation Award, a Pro Musicis International Award, and the top prize in the Walter W. Naumburg International Violin Competition. She has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Rochester Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, among many others, and has given solo recitals at Lincoln Center, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., the Tel Aviv Museum and the Jerusalem Center for the Performing Arts. Her performances have taken her throughout Latin America and Europe, as well as Israel, Japan, Taiwan and Australia, where she premiered the Violin Concerto by Marc Neikrug.
Ms. Zori enjoys a prolific career as a chamber musician. After ten years as artistic director at Bargemusic, she founded the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society in 2002. In addition to her own series, she has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and has been a guest at chamber music festivals and concert series around the world, including the Chamber Music at the Y series in New York City; Festival Casals in Puerto Rico; Chesapeake Bay Music Festival; Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival; Bard Music Festival; Chamber Music Northwest; Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival; La Jolla Chamber Music Festival; Seattle Chamber Music Festival; Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival; Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society in Wisconsin; Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival; Peasmarsh Chamber Music Festival in the UK; Philadelphia Chamber Music Society; Sarasota Music Festival; and is a regular participant at the Marlboro Chamber Music Festival in Vermont.
Ms. Zori has played for Music for Food, a concert series that helps relieve food insecurity in cities all over the United States. She has also participated in Project: Music Heals Us, a nonprofit organization that aims to educate and heal marginalized communities through music. Carmit is also a member of the Israeli Chamber Project, an ensemble that performs chamber music and conducts educational outreach in the US, Israel, and various other countries throughout the world.
Ms. Zori can be heard on the Arabesque, Koch International, and Elektra-Nonesuch labels. In addition to teaching at the Bard Conservatory, she is professor of violin at Rutgers University and SUNY-Purchase.
At the behest of violinists Alexander Schneider and Isaac Stern, Ms. Zori came to the United States from her native Israel at the age of fifteen to study at the Curtis Institute of Music with Ivan Galamian, Jaime Laredo and Arnold Steinhardt.
Mira Wang
Violin, Artist in Residence
Mira Wang
Mira Wang has built a remarkable bridge from her time as a child prodigy in Beijing, China to an acclaimed soloist on the world stage today.
She has appeared as a soloist with many prestigious orchestras all over the world including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Saarbrücken Radio Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic and NDR Philharmonic Hannover.
An avid chamber musician, Mira’s partners include Hélène Grimaud , Oli Mustonen, Alice Sara Ott, Lise de la Salle, Louis Lortie, Jeremy Denk, Pamela Frank, Daniel Müller-Schott, Gautier Capucon, Jan Vogler, Lawrence Power and Lars Anders Tomter.
She is an enthusiastic exponent of contemporary music, premiering the violin concerto Spring in Dresden by Chinese-American composer Chen Yi with the Staatskapelle Dresden, conducted by Ivan Fischer and John Harbison’s Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Carlos Kalmar. In 2015 she premiered the double concerto by Wolfgang Rihm, with Jan Vogler and the Orpheus Chamber orchestra at Carnegie Hall. In 2018, She premiered a triple concerto “Alisma” by Swiss composer William Blank with Jan Vogler, Daniel Ottensamer and the Philharmonische Staatsorchester Hamburg, conducted by Kent Nagano at Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.
Mira has recorded extensively for many labels including Sony Classical and Edel Classics. Her discography includes violin concerto No. 2 by Prokofieff with the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony, the violin concerto No. 3 by Saint-Saens with NDR Philharmonic Hannover, a duo album with cellist Jan Vogler and several chamber music recordings with Artists of the Moritzburg Festival.
Mira has been Artistic Director of the Model Room Musicales concert series in New York City since 2005 and in 2013, she became Director of the Moritzburg Festival Academy in Germany, a training program for young musicians that is part of the annual Moritzburg Chamber Music Festival.
Born in China, Ms. Wang studied at Central Conservatory in Beijing. She was sponsored by renowned violin teacher, the late Roman Totenberg to further her studies at Boston University, where she graduated summa cum laude and received the prestigious Kahn Award given to outstanding performers. She has won 1st prizes in several international violin competitions including the Geneva Competition.
Sasha Romero
Trombone
Sasha Romero
Sasha Romero was appointed principal trombone of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 2018. Prior to her appointment at The MET, she held the position of principal trombone with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra from 2016-2018.
Hailing from Longview, Texas, Sasha grew up within the acclaimed and robust Texas band system and achieved great musical success at a young age. She went on to earn her Bachelor of Music degree at Baylor University, where she studied with Brent Phillips; and her Master of Music degree at Rice University, studying with Allen Barnhill.
In addition to a lengthy list of national and international solo and chamber music competition wins to her name, Sasha is honored to have been a semi-finalist in the first Brass Division of the 2019 XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Sasha is a passionate educator, and currently serves on the trombone faculties at Rutgers University, Mannes School of Music, and Bard College Conservatory of Music. A highly sought-after teacher, soloist, and clinician, she has presented solo recitals and masterclasses at numerous colleges, universities, music conservatories, and industry conventions across the United States.
When she is not at The MET, teaching, or screaming into the night at the shortcomings of NYC’s public transportation system (looking at you, weekend subway service), Sasha is occasionally invited to perform as a guest trombonist with the world’s major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Houston Symphony, and others. She can be heard on Weezer’s OK Human album, as well as the film soundtracks to The Good Liar (2019) and Joker (2019).
Sasha currently makes her home in New York City, where she spends an embarrassing amount of time catering to the demands of her absurdly adorable cats and searching endlessly for decent Mexican food.
Sasha Romero is an S.E. Shires Performing Artist and she has a signature mouthpiece line with Long Island Brass Co.