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.
“We aim to tell stories of the shared dreams, resilience, and creativity that connect all of us, American and Chinese alike. Through music, we can be reminded that our histories and aspirations are deeply intertwined,” says Artistic Director Jindong Cai.
Piano Masterclasses; Chinese Admissions Ambassador
Jenny Q Chai
An artist of singular vision, pianist Jenny Q Chai is widely renowned for her
ability to illuminate musical connections throughout the centuries. With radical
joie de vivre and razor-sharp intention, Chai creates layered multimedia
programs which explore and unite elements of science, nature, fashion, and art.
The New Yorker describes Chai as “a pianist whose dazzling facility is matched
by her deep musicality.”
Chai’s instinctive understanding of new music is complemented by a deep
grounding in core repertoire, with special affinity for Schumann, Scarlatt
Beethoven, Bach, Debussy, and Ravel. She is a noted interpreter of 20th-century
masters Cage, Messiaen, and Ligeti, and her career is threaded through with
strong relationships and close collaborations with a range of notable contemporary
composers, including Tan Dun, Jarosław Kapuściński, Andy Akiho, Pamela Z,
Lukas Ligeti, Cindy Cox, Annie Gosfield and György Kurtág. With a deft poeti
touch, Chai weaves this wide-ranging repertoire into a gorgeous and lucid
musical tapestry. Chai is also a vital champion and early tester of the groundbreaking
synchronous score following software program, Antescofo. Developed at IRCAM by
scientist Arshia Cont, the software offers a real time computer and animation respons
to live performance elements, enabling performers to create multimedia presentations
of AI sophisticated and expressive fluency. Chai explored and helped hone Antescof
in residence at IRCAM alongside frequent collaborator Jarosław Kapuściński, and has
since toured internationally with the software offering multimedia performances i
Shanghai, New York, Havana, and elsewhere. In September 2019, Chai gave a TEDx
Talk titled When Classical Music Meets Technology.
Other notable highlights include her 2024 Shanghai Symphony Hall Audiovisual AI
Concert, 2012 Carnegie Hall recital debut; many
performances at (le) Poisson Rouge, including a 2016 Antescofo-supported
program, Where’s Chopin?; her 2018 Wigmore Hall debut with a program
exploring the relation between color and sound; lectures and recitals at Shanghai
Symphony Hall, Shanghai Concert Hall, and Shanghai Mercedes Benz Arena; a
featured performance at Tan Dun’s International Music Medicine Festival in Qingdao;
the Leo Brouwer Festival in Havana, Cuba; Philippe Manoury’s double-piano concerto,
Zones de turbulences, at the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary
Music with duo partner, pianist Adam Kośmieja and the Polish National Radio
Symphony Orchestra; and much more.
Her immersive approach to music is also channeled into her work with FaceArt Institute
of Music, the Shanghai-based organization she founded and runs, offering musi
education and an international exchange of music and musicians in China and beyond.
In summer 2019, Chai oversees FaceArt’s first ever month-long Co-Creation Summe
Festival, which invites International piano and composition faculty. Additionally, Chai
served on the Board of Directors of the New York City-based contemporary music
organization Ear to Mind, and has published a doctoral dissertation on Marco Stroppa’s
Miniature Estrose which is collected by many schools including Stanford and Harvard
University.
Chai has recorded for labels such as Divine Art, Deutschlandfunk, Naxos, ArpaViva and
MSR. In 2010, she released her debut recording, New York Love Songs, featuring
interpretations of works by Cage and Ives among others, and her most recent
recording, (S)yn(e)sth(e)te, was released by MSR Records in 2017. She can also be
heard on Michael Vincent Waller’s Five Easy Pieces and Cindy Cox’s Hierosgamos. In
2021, her newest album on Bach, Ives and Schumann Kreisleriana received positive
reviews globally. The album was featured by Apple Music as one of its selected best
Classical Music albums.
The recipient of the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust’s 2011 Pianist/Composer Commissionin
Project, the DAAD Arts and Performance award in 2010, Chamber Music America
commissioning award and first prize winner of the Keys to the Future Contemporar
Solo Piano Festival, Jenny Q Chai studied at the Shanghai Music Conservatory, the
Curtis Institute of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and in Cologne University of
Music and Dance. Her teachers include Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Seymour Lipkin,
Solomon Mikowsky, Marilyn Nonken, and Anthony de Mare.
Academically, Chai has given lecture recitals at universities such as Stanford, Harvard,
University of California Berkeley, NYU, Shanghai Conservatory and more.
Chai is a former piano faculty member of the University of California Berkeley, an
alumni mentor at Curtis Institute of Music and an official career mentor at Manhatt
School of Music. In 2022, Chai became Fazioli Global Piano Ambassador.
Chai is a social activist who works passionately on environmental causes through her
music and runs a personal animal shelter. She has rescued over one hundred small
animals in China since the pandemic and is an active donor to many animal rescue
organizations.
Yan Chen
Erhu
Yan Chen
Chen Yan is a young professor of erhu in the Central Conservatory of Music’s Traditional Instruments Department. A performer in the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, she graduated from Shanghai Conservatory of Music with a bachelor’s degree, and received her master’s degree at the Central Conservatory of Music. Chen Yan has won many awards, such as the Silver Award of the Youth Group in National Erhu Competition; the Silver Award of the Youth Group in the Second CCTV National Instrumental Music Competition; Second Prize of the Youth Group in the “Wenhua Cup”; and the Excellent Professional Prize from Shanghai Art Talents. She has performed as an Erhu soloist in the Opening Ceremony of the Shanghai Spring International Music Festival many times. In 2009, she premiered a Carmen Fantasia adaptation arranged for Chen by Franz Waxman. In 2011, she premiered Zhang Chao’s concerto Tribute to the Sun at the Beijing Concert Hall, winning “Best New Artist Prize” of the Fourth Ethnic Art Exhibition and the “Best New Artist Performance Prize” of the Shanghai Spring International Music Festival. In recent years she has visited the United States, Germany, and Australia on tour with the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra.
Adele Anthony
Violin
Adele Anthony
Since her triumph at Denmark’s 1996 Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition, Adele Anthony has enjoyed an acclaimed and expanding international career. Performing as a soloist with orchestra and in recital, as well as being active in chamber music, Ms. Anthony’s career spans the continents of North America, Europe, Australia, India and Asia.
In addition to appearances with all six symphonies of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Ms. Anthony’s highlights from recent seasons have included performances with the symphony orchestras of Houston, San Diego, Seattle, Ft. Worth, and Indianapolis, as well as the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Being an avid chamber music player, Ms. Anthony appears regularly at La Jolla SummerFest and Aspen Music Festival. Her wide-ranging repertoire extends from the Baroque of Bach and Vivaldi to contemporary works of Ross Edwards, Arvo Pärt and Phillip Glass.
An active recording artist, Ms. Anthony’s work includes releases with Sejong Soloists, Eric Ewazen, Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra (Albany), a recording of the Philip Glass Violin Concerto with Takuo Yuasa and the Ulster Orchestra (Naxos), Arvo Pärt’s ‘Tabula rasa’ with Gil Shaham, Neeme Järvi and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon), and her latest recording of the Sibelius Violin Concerto and Ross Edwards “Maninyas” with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (Canary Classics/ABC Classics).
Adele Anthony performs on an Antonio Stradivarius violin, crafted in 1728.
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.