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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.

More About Us
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    Interested in visiting Bard for a campus tour or performance? 
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A singer in front of an orchestra in Olin Hall
Photo by Karl Rabe

Offering Unique Undergraduate and Graduate Programs

  • Undergraduate Double Degree in Liberal Arts and Music Performance (BA and BM)
  • Graduate Degree in Vocal Arts (MM)
  • Graduate Degree in Conducting (MM)
  • Graduate Degree in Instrumental Studies (MM)
  • Master of Arts in Chinese Music and Culture (MA)
  • Advanced Performance Studies 
  • Postgraduate Collaborative Piano Fellowship
Learn More
The Bard Conservatory also offers a Preparatory Division for students ages 3–18.

News

Jindong Cai conducts The Orchestra Now onstage at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Seventh Annual Sound of Spring Concert Reviewed in Several Publications

The Millbrook Independent describes the concert as “a mélange of city and landscape visions."

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Professor Joan Tower Wins Columbia University Dean’s Award for Lifetime Achievement

Professor Joan Tower Wins Columbia University Dean’s Award for Lifetime Achievement

“[Tower has] expanded the possibilities and audiences of modern classical Composition,” wrote GSAS Dean Carlos Alonso.

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a black and white archival photo of a man at a piano

Bard Conservatory of Music Announces Seventh Annual Kurtág Festival Honoring György Kurtág’s 100th Birthday, March 11–April 4

The 2026 edition highlights the clarity, precision, and expressive depth of Kurtág’s music.

Read More

Upcoming Events and Performances

  • An empty recital hall.; Third Year Recital: Hanna Okalava, soprano
    2/21
    Saturday
    Third Year Recital: Hanna Okalava, soprano 3:00 pm
    Olin Hall
  • An empty recital hall.; Third Year Recital: Elena Hause, composition
    2/21
    Saturday
    Third Year Recital: Elena Hause, composition 7:00 pm
    Olin Hall
  • An empty recital hall.; Third Year Recital Marathon
    2/22
    Sunday
    Third Year Recital Marathon 12:00 pm
    Olin Hall
  • Tranquil lakeside with tall trees, green hills, water reflections, and two swans in blue-green tones; Noon Concert Series
    2/23
    Monday
    Noon Concert Series 12:00 pm
    Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space
  • Rosemary Nelis holding a viola.; Alumni/ae Spotlight Series: Rosemary Nelis, viola
    2/27
    Friday
    Alumni/ae Spotlight Series: Rosemary Nelis, viola 7:30 pm
    Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space

Meet Our Faculty

See All Faculty
  • James Sizemore
    Film Composition

    James Sizemore

    James is a composer and music producer working in the film and television industry. He has worked with composer Howard Shore on over 20 films, producing the score of the Oscar Winning Spotlight and Canadian Screen Award winning The Song of Names, as well as orchestrating the Blockbuster Trilogy The Hobbit.

    He has also worked as an arranger, music editor, music mixer, and composer for many Hollywood films ranging from the additional music he composed for A Dogs Purpose to the additional dark string arrangements in Split.

    In addition to his solo album releases, James’ music can be heard across a wide variety of network television and national ad campaigns.

    He holds a B.A. from Colorado College and an M.M from NYU. In addition to Bard, James has served on the faculty of New York University and the City University of New York, teaching classes on film sound and music. He lives in the Hudson Valley, NY with his wife and daughters.
  • Tao Chen
    Dizi

    Tao Chen

    Chen Tao is an internationally acclaimed Chinese flutist, music educator, composer, and conductor of Chinese orchestra; founder and director of Melody of Dragon, Inc., and of Melody of Dragon & the Youth; artistic director and conductor of the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York and conductor of New Jersey Buddha’s Light Youth Chinese Orchestra; artistic director of New York Guqin Association; and executive chairman of the New York Chinese Music Instruments International Competition since 2015. He is also a 27th-generation musician of Zhi-Hua Buddhism music. The New York Times called Chen Tao a “poet in music” and his playing “a miracle of the oriental flute.” Conductor Herbert von Karajan praised him as an artist who “performs with his soul.” 

    A graduate of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, Chen Tao was the winner of the 1989 National Folk Instrument Competition in China and has toured the United States, Germany, Italy, France, England, Holland, Singapore, and elsewhere. He has collaborated with the BBC Philharmonic and National Orchestra of Lyon. His playing can be heard on soundtracks of Hollywood movies including Seven Years in Tibet, Corrupter (with the New York Philharmonic) and on the PBS documentary Under the Red Flag. Since coming to the United States in 1993, Chen Tao has been invited to perform and lecture throughout the country. His second Flute Recital was performed in Carnegie Hall by the New York Flute Club in 2001. He has performed at Lincoln Center and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center with groups such as the Manhattan School of Music’s Chamber Orchestra, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, and H. T. Chen Dancers. China Institute in America has invited him to perform and lecture on the Chinese flute since 1995. The World Journal and Tsingtao Daily have called him “king of the flute.” 

    As a music educator, Chen Tao has been leading Melody of Dragon in collaboration with the Midori & Friends Foundation to develop Chinese music culture in elementary schools and high schools throughout the New York metropolitan area.
  • Marka Gustavsson
    Chamber Music Director, Bard Conservatory; Viola

    Marka Gustavsson



    A dedicated chamber musician and current member of the Manhattan String Quartet, violist Marka Gustavsson enjoys a rich and varied performance life both in the US and abroad. She has been a guest artist at festivals including Bard Music Festival, Mostly Mozart, Vancouver’s Music in the Morning, the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, WQXR’s Showcase Concerts, Yale Faculty Artists’ Series. Marka has premiered and recorded solo works and chamber music of composers John Halle, Joan Tower, Kyle Gann, Harold Farberman, George Tsontakis, Martin Bresnick, Richard Wernick, Laura Kaminsky, Tania Leon, and Tan Dun. From 1999 through 2014, Marka belonged to the Colorado Quartet with whom she performed cycles of Beethoven, Bartok and Schubert. As a teacher, Marka holds a faculty position at Bard College and Conservatory, and serves as Associate Director and Coordinator of Chamber Music. In the summer, she coaches chamber music for the Young Artists’ Program of Yellow Barn in Putney, VT. At home in Red Hook, NY, she loves gardening, cooking, reading, and hiking with her husband, pianist and composer John Halle, 16 year old son Ben, and Russell—the dog.
  • Marcus Rojas
    Tuba

    Marcus Rojas

    Tubist Marcus Rojas has performed with such diverse groups as The Metropolitan Opera, The American Ballet Theatre, American Symphony Orchestra, Radio City Music Hall, and ensembles led by Lionel Hampton, David Byrne and P.D.Q. Bach. An avid proponent of contemporary, improvised and classical music, he has performed the premieres of such notable composers as LaMonte Young, Gunther Schuller, and Peter Schickele. He has recorded with CBS Records, Sony Records, A&M Records and has been heard on countless film scores, including Interview With A Vampire and Sleepless in Seattle.
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Bard College
Bard College
Conservatory of Music
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Annandale-on-Hudson
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All photos by Karl Rabe unless stated otherwise.