30 Campus Rd, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY 12504
Organized by the Bard College Conservatory of Music the annual festival "Signs, Games & Messages" celebrating the life and work pioneering Hungarian composer György Kurtág takes place between February 28 - March 2, 2025 at Annandale-on-Hudson. The festival offers a series of captivating performances that bridge the traditional and contemporary, featuring the talents of Bard Conservatory faculty members and students.
Experience the legacy of György Kurtág, where each note and silence paints universal emotions of the human experience.
PROGRAM
- Program One:
Bartók and Kurtág
Location: Friday, February 28, 2025
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space
7:00 pm EST/GMT-5
Distinguished Signs, Games & Messages 2025 festival guest artists:
Hiromi Kikuchi, violin and Ken Hakii, viola
Béla Bartok (1881–1945)
Selections from 44 Duos for Two Violins
15. Soldier’s Song
8. Slovakian Song (2)
17. Hungarian March (1)
44. Transylvanian Dance
György Kurtág (b. 1926)
Hipartita (Hirominak), Op. 43
⁂ (sostenuto, doloroso)
Après une lecture de Rimbaud - To Anne Longuet-Marx
Oreibasia
In Memoriam György Gonda
Heraclitus: It Is Hard To Fight With Desires
Teneramente
Perpetuum Mobile
Heimweh - Hommage à Péter Eötvös
INTERMISSION
György Kurtág
Selections from Signs, Games and Messages
Hommage à J. S. B.
Jelek 1
Im Volkston
The Carenza Jig
Klagendes Lied
Mijakonak
Perpetuum Mobile
Pizzicato
Béla Bartok
Selections from 44 Duos for Two Violins
26. Teasing Song
28. Sorrow
14. Pillow Dance
21. New Year’s Greeting (1)
43. Pizzicato
37. Prelude and Canon
- Program Two:
Piano Marathon
Time and Location: Saturday, March 1, 2025, 2 pm
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space
BARTÓK’S MIKROKOSMOS (BOOKS 4, 5, and 6)
PERFORMED BY STUDENTS AND FACULTY OF THE CONSERVATORY
Béla Bartok (1881-1945)
Selections from Mikrokosmos (Books 4, 5, and 6)
Book 4
- Notturno
Honor Doran - Thumb Under
Hasti Safaei - Crossed Hands
Tianxiang (Tessa) Ni - In the Style of a Folk Song
Hongfan Su - Diminished Fifth
Francis Huang - Harmonics
Sophia Cornicello - Minor and Major
Linus Ramakrishnan - Through the Keys
Playsong
Ivy Chen - Children's Song
Evie Tourtelot - Melody in the Mist
Marcos Castilla - Wrestling
Juliette Benveniste - From the Island of Bali
Alexandra Balog - Clashing Sounds
Oskar Baron - Intermezzo
Andrew Altrock - Variations on a Folk Tune
Chelsea Yang - Bulgarian Rhythm (1)
Xinri Zhang - Theme and Inversion
Yujia Yang - Bulgarian Rhythm (2)
Ivy Chen - Song
Bourrée
Triplets in 9/8 Time
Marcos Castilla - Dance in 3/4 Time
Fifth Chords
Two-Part Study
Francis Huang
Book 5
- Chords Together and Opposed
Staccato and Legato
Staccato
Juliette Benveniste - Boating
Fiona Boak-Kelly - Change of Time
Hasti Safaei - New Hungarian Folk Song
Hasti Safaei
Maggie Yang - Peasant Dance
Hasti Safaei - Alternating Thirds
Village Joke
Fourths
Andrew Altrock - Major Seconds Broken and Together
Syncopation
Tianxiang (Tessa) Ni - Studies in Double Notes
Perpetuum Mobile
Whole-tone Scale
Sophia Cornicello - Unison
Bagpipe
Merry Andrew
Ivy Chen
Book 6
- Free Variations
Xinri Zhang - Subject and Reflection
Chelsea Yang - From the Diary of a Fly
Alexandra Balog - Divided Arpeggios
Frank Corliss - Minor Seconds, Major Sevenths
Francis Huang - Chromatic Invention
Yujia Yang - Ostinato
Saoirse Doran - March
Hongfan Su
Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm
Terrence Wilson
(Timing: Approximately 70-75 minutes, no intermission).
- Program Three:
Literary Inspirations I: Lichtenberg, Joyce and Kurtág
Time and Location: Saturday, March 1, 2025
Chapel of the Holy Innocents
7:00 pm EST/GMT-5
J. S. Bach (1685–1750)
Trio Sonata No. 1 in E-flat Major, BWV 525
arr. Mordechai Rechtman
Chloe Brill, bassoon
Liliána Szokol, flute
Jalen Mims, clarinet
Gubaidulina (b. 1931)
Quasi Hoquetus for Viola, Bassoon, and Piano
Luosha Fang, viola
Blair McMillen, piano
Philip McNaughton, bassoon
György Kurtág (b. 1926)
Einige Sätze aus den Sudelbüchern Georg Christoph Lichtenbergs, Op. 37a
Lucy Fitz Gibbons, soprano
Will Langlie-Miletich, double bass
INTERMISSION
Henry Purcell (1659–95)
If Music Be the Food of Love, Z. 379C
arr. Benjamin Britten
Tim Widner, baritone
O Solitude, Z. 306
Man Is for the Woman Made, Z. 605
Imani Oluoch, mezzo-soprano
Nomin Samdan, piano
What Can We Poor Females Do? Z. 518
Imani Oluoch, mezzo-soprano
Tim Widner, baritone
Nomin Samdan, piano
Amy Beth Kirsten (b. 1972)
yes I said yes I will Yes.
Lucy Fitz Gibbon, soprano
Will Langlie-Miletich, double bass
Péter Eötvös (1944–2024)
Joyce for Solo Clarinet
Mohammad AbdNikfarjam, clarinet
John Cage (1912–92)
The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs
Nowth upon Nacht
Madelin Morales, mezzo-soprano
Yi-Hsuan Hsia, piano
Luciano Berio (1925–2003)
Thema: Omaggio a Joyce (1958–59)
Electronics
Benjamin Britten (1913–76)
Moore’s Irish MelodiesSail on, sail on
Dear Harp of my Country!
Sam Warshauer, tenor
Kayo Iwama, piano
Oft in the stilly night
The last rose of summer
Benjamin Truncale, tenor
Kayo Iwama, piano
- Program Four:
Literary Inspirations II: Beckett and Kurtág
Works by Kurtág, Schubert and Beethoven.
Time and Location: Sunday, March 2, 2025
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space
4:00 pm EST/GMT-5
György Kurtág (b. 1926)
Hommage à Schubert (Book 3)
Lovely Greetings to Grete Spinnrad (Book 5)
Ryan McCullough, piano
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Gretchen am Spinnrade, D. 118
Nacht und Träume, D. 827
Georgia Perdikoulias, soprano
Lara Saldanha, piano
György Kurtág (b. 1926)
Samuel Beckett Sends Word through Ildikó Monyók in the Translation of István Siklós (“Samuel Beckett: What is the word”), Op. 30a
Sydney Cornett, mezzo-soprano
Ryan McCullough, piano
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Piano Trio, Op. 70, No. 1 (“Ghost”)
Luosha Fang, violin
Benjamin Hochman, piano
Raman Ramakrishnan, cello
INTERMISSION
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
String Quartet in A Minor, D. 804 (“Rosamunde”)
Daniel Phillips, violin
Carmit Zori, violin
Melissa Reardon, viola
Raman Ramakrishnan, cello
