Colin Roshak
Conductor, Clarinetist and Entrepreneur
Concert Program
Pandora (10')
I. The Birth of Pandora
II. Pandora's Dowry
Dremesspallin (4')
Questions, Queeries, and Confessions (10')
I. Queerie
II. TBD
III. In The Way
This Ain't Your Typical Lone Western (5')
Dust of Snow (4')
Voices (13')
Antique Brass Quintet (4')
Zeke Morgan (b. 2001)
Manar Hashmi (b. 2003)
Samuel Mutter (b. 2002)
Magdalena Teisler (b. 2003)
Artemy Mukhin (b. 2005)
Josh Krienke (b. 2003)
Emily Ta (b. 2004)
PROGRAM NOTES
Pandora
This piece is unfinished, and is the first half of a larger work following the myth of Pandora, which bears a vague thematic likeness to the story of original sin from Genesis. The first movement is a depiction of the moment Zeus creates Pandora, the first woman, in order to punish humans for their various “wrongdoings;” including discovering fire with the help of Prometheus. The second movement intends to paint a picture of Pandora and the jar, or pithos, that she carries with her; which serves as a prison for all evil and sin. And a little bit of hope…
- Zeke Morgan
Dremesspallin
The inspiration for Dremesspallin arose very simply from my wish to write a piece for a particular pianist and a particular guitarist. My goal was for it to be as far from a happy march as possible, and you might notice that the music bears no resemblance to a happy march. So what is it then? My personal interpretation of the concept of Dremesspallin revolves around the notion that even in a melancholy state, one can have a sense of motivation and purpose—even strength. The guitar part depicts the inner voice of a person who is trying to find Dremesspallin and the piano part functions as the environment around them and how it is interconnected with the most hidden parts of their soul. The contrast between tonality and a sort of altered tonality is very important to this piece, and represents a comforting return to the familiar in spite of an aversion to the everyday. At the end of the day, we all find a way to embrace something we once resisted, whether it comes through an understanding of Dremesspallin or perhaps we arrive at closure via another route.
- Manar Hashmi
This Ain't Your Typical Lone Western
“This Ain’t Your Typical Lone Western” is a composition I give sincere thanks to Dr. Kyle Gann for giving me this funky group of instruments to write for. This piece help push my composition skills and to see what I can produce with instruments that I have never worked with and never heard of as a group.
This piece is supposed to give a Western feel from a movie or music video. It is up to the listener as to what is going on based on the music they hear, as long as it aligns with the theme of Western. But I tell my players to be relaxed and have a swaying type motion because of the guitar strums. It’s a stressless type of playing and peaceful kind of piece. Opposite of the typical action westerns seen in movies.
- Magdalena Teisler
Voices
"Voices" is a structured improv piece written for 4 performers. It’s intended to be a study on communication. The players must listen closely to one another, picking up on how each of them fit into the present structure, and how they can collectively progress towards the next section of the piece. They communicate through dynamics, texture, tonality, timbral changes, body language, as well as some specific musical and verbal cues. They must speak and listen to each of these elements simultaneously, deciphering some musical clarity through the assembly of overlapping voices.
- Josh Krienke
Antique Brass Quintet
Antique Brass Quintet is an homage to anemoia—that unplaceable feeling of nostalgia for a time you’ve never known. This performance encompasses two movements of a future four-movement suite, each serving a different function within the piece. To me, this piece is the inexplicable “good old days” so fondly and frequently talked of in misty, golden memory, days I have never known but perhaps people older than I will recall, distantly, upon listening. The quintet largely takes inspiration from classic musicals, playing into those warm harmonies and bittersweet dissonances in a way which is imitative but distinctly modern, an audible reminder of the inevitable rift between generations and the immutable truth that the past is not always as we remember it. Still, it’s meant to be nostalgic, evocative of talkie romances and glittering bygone city streets, even if they remain romanticized in our memory: ultimately I hope this piece feels like dusting off an old record and remembering the things that once were; I hope this piece feels like coming home.
- Emily Ta
COMPOSERS
Zeke Morgan
Pandora
Zeke is a composer and violinist from Jackson, Mississippi and a student in the Bard Conservatory of Music. He has been actively writing music since the summer of 2018 when he attended a composition seminar at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival. Since then, he has engaged in various types and genres of music such as folk music, electronic music and improvisation; and has participated in many different ensembles within the Bard community.
Zeke also studies written arts and is especially interested in how the nature of a voice and/or instrument can change the interpretation of a text. Much of his inspiration comes from the natural world and his own personal experiences. He often performs his own music and has had his work performed at an incredibly high level by musicians such as the Da Capo ensemble, cellist Michael Nicholas, and Bard conservatory students. His teachers and mentors include Joan Tower, Missy Mazzoli, and Stephen Redfield.
Manar Hashmi
Dremesspallin
Manar Hashmi is a composer from Amherst, Massachusetts. She is in her fourth semester at Bard College as a music composition major. Over the past several years, Manar has written music for all manner of occasions, including films, plays, concerts, orchestra readings, unexpected profound moments, and walking to Kline. Manar believes that her life has a soundtrack that might as well be an original score, and she might as well write it. She has had two pieces premiered by members of the Da Capo Chamber Players, and has collaborated with instrumentalists and singers across Bard College who have performed her music.
Manar plays the violin as well, and rejoices in opportunities to perform the music of Vivaldi—and Baroque music in general. She has played with the Bard Baroque Ensemble, as a soloist with the Euridice Baroque Ensemble and in numerous pit orchestras for ballet, opera and musical theater over the years. She has played viola when needed, double bass when really needed, and is learning to whistle.
Manar studies contemporary classical composition with Joan Tower and Jessie Montgomery. She studies film scoring with Mark Baechle and James Sizemore. Her goal in life is to make a career doing both—ideally combining the two foci of her studies.
Samuel Mutter
Questions, Queeries and Confessions
Samuel Mutter is a composer, pianist, and trumpeter currently based at Bard College where he attends the conservatory as a third-year music composition student. Mutter’s influences include a wide range of classical, folk, rock, and jazz music. He has a deep interest in the music of different cultures, and this often affects his writing. Mutter’s musical style is just as broad as the music that influences him.
Even at a young age, Samuel’s music has been performed by large ensembles, chamber ensembles, and soloists. Recent collaborations include with the “Ink Art and New Music” project created by Bard College Conservatory, the University of Hong Kong, and the M+ Museum (Hong Kong) for which his piece “Nocturnal Scars” was composed for a combination of Chinese and Western instruments. "Nocturnal Scars" was premiered both at Bard College (NY) and in Hong Kong in 2022. Other recent collaborations have included musicians at Yellow Barn’s Young Artist Program where Mutter’s piece, “Emerald Dust” was premiered.
Mutter currently studies composition with composer Jessie Montgomery, and is pursuing a Bachelor’s of Music in Composition and a Bachelor’s in History.
Magdalena Teisler
This Ain't Your Typical Lone Western
Magdalena is a pianist and composer here at Bard College. Studying music at Bard’s music program she has been actively writing music since 2015. During her time here at Bard, she has been taking as many music classes that range from traditional classical to more pop genres. Dabbing in electronic music her goal is to take as many different types of music as possible to be well-rounded. Still, unsure where her place lies in the music community, she is a determined and motivated person who is keeping an open mind.
Before Magdalena entered Bard she studied at the Bard Preparatory Division for 13 years taking on, Piano, Voice, and Composition. There she studied composition with Marth Sullivan for 4 years and piano with Jaranara Khassenova. Her music tends to be simple and linear. Still learning, she has been honing her basics and knowledge of composition. She has participated previously with Bard Sinfonette Composer Concerts & Da Capo Ensemble. She has also played with the on campus Gamelan Ensemble . Currently studying under her mentor Dr. Kyle Gann,
and studying piano with Isabelle O’Connell.
Josh Krienke
Voices
Josh Krienke is a second-year composition and math student at Bard College/Conservatory. Josh began writing music more seriously in high school. Since then he’s had many works performed, including most recently a piece entitled “You Say You Said” for tenor and piano with text from a poem by Marianne Moore, and his work for violin and piano “Curtains through the Pane” based on poetry of his own. Much of his work is spent exploring new harmonic and sonic landscapes—often influenced by vocabulary stemming from modern Jazz and modal composers of the 20th century or later.
Emily Ta
Antique Brass Quintet
Emily Ta is a first-year composer pursuing a prospective double degree in music composition and history at Bard College and Conservatory. Born in East Brunswick, New Jersey to a musical family, Emily has always been experimenting with creating art, and largely takes inspiration from stories, snapshots, and sensations, as well as ideas of the history that surrounds them. Their music has been performed by both educational and professional ensembles such as the Relâche Ensemble and the Da Capo Chamber players, and has been featured on NPR, WRTI, and in several musical installations in upstate New York.
As of spring 2023, Emily studies composition with Jessie Montgomery. Their most recent musical interests have included improvisation as a part of the student-composer improv group Boy Band, as well as dalliances into jazz and folk music, being a cellist by trade but also a saxophonist, mandolinist, and, upon coming to Bard, an avid tinwhistler.
PLAYERS
Klára Zaykova Violin
Klára Zaykova is a Czech student of Bard College, currently double-majoring in philosophy and violin performance with Daniel Phillips. Throughout the years, she has won top prizes at international and regional competitions including Kocian Violin Competition, Premio Clivis, Zlatý Oříšek, Nová Paka, and more, and has performed in countries such as England, Italy, Austria, Germany and more. In 2021, she was chosen for a masterclass with Gil Shaham, and also played under the baton of Semyon Bychkov with the Czech Student Philharmonic. This year Klára and her trio have been chosen to perform at a masterclass with the Horszowski Trio, and the same year, she also won the audition for the position of a concertmaster of the Bard Conservatory Orchestra.
Isabel Chin Garita Violin
Isabel Chin Garita is currently pursuing a dual degree in psychology and violin performance with Professors Adele Anthony and Gil Shaham at Bard College and Conservatory. Her previous instruction has been with Magdalena Richter and Jin Kyung-Joen at Project STEP (String Training Education Program), Project BEAM (Bridge to Equity and Achievement in Music), and the New England Conservatory Preparatory School. Chin Garita enjoys chamber music and collaborating with other musicians.
Ethan Young Cello
Ethan Young is in his second year at Bard Conservatory in Peter Wiley’s cello studio. Prior to his conservatory study, he studied cello with Annette Perry Delihas for six years and is an alumnus of the Brookhaven Arts and Music Young People’s Orchestra and the MYO Suffolk Principal Orchestra. He has been a member of The East End Youth Quartet, Southampton Strings Festival, and NYSSSA 2020, as well as various other music festivals local to Long Island, the NYSSMA All State Symphony Orchestra in 2019, and the NAfME All Eastern and All National Symphony Orchestras in 2021.
Ethan has also participated in masterclasses given by cellists such as Alberto Parrini, Natasha Farny, and Tomoko Fujita. He performed with the MYO Tour Orchestra on their 2018 and 2022 performance tours, as a soloist in the more recent of the two. He is also studying physics alongside music, is an avid chamber musician, and enjoys using music to give back to his community.
Niall Ransford Guitar
Niall Ransford is a Junior music major at Bard College. Niall is interested in classical guitar performance and composition, although he continues to have many branching but related interests such as the philosophy of learning, teaching, and jazz guitar and Improvisation. He currently studies classical guitar with Greg Dinger, jazz guitar with Mike Demicco, and composition with Kyle Gann.
Mary Douglas Piano
Mary Douglas is a senior double majoring in Biology and Music. She has a focus in piano performance and currently studies piano with Blair McMillen and organ with Renée Louprette. She plays with the Baroque Ensemble, where she was featured in Spring 2021 on Handel’s Organ Concerto in No. 4. She is also a winner of the Bard College and Community Orchestra 2021 Concerto Competition and was featured as a soloist in Spring 2022 playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25. Her current focus in biology is on the structure of plant communities, and in Spring 2022 she performed her first senior concert, featuring plant-inspired piano music. She recently completed her senior project in biology entitled “Soil microbes drive the positive relationship between current and future evenness in old field plant communities”.
Michael Knox Electric bass
Michael Knox is in his final year at the Bard College Conservatory of Music where he is studying double bass performance with Jeremy McCoy and Anthropology in the college. Throughout his five years here at Bard College, Michael has been a member of the Bard Conservatory Orchestra, Chinese Ensemble, Contemporary Jazz Composers Ensemble, The Latin Ensemble, and The Collective, a group of musicians from both the Conservatory and the College who perform both on and off campus.
Garrick Neuner Voice
Garrick is a bass-baritone from Long Island, New York, studying in the inaugural class of Bard Conservatory’s undergraduate vocal program. He performs in a broad range of disciplines and styles, including contemporary installation pieces at The Shed and the Brooklyn Museum, collaborations with Bard’s Jazz Voice and Opera Workshops, and premieres of Bard Composers’ improvisatory works. Recently he was featured as Private Willis in Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe with The Orchestra Now and the Bard Graduate Vocal Arts Program.
Jaelyn Quilizapa Percussion
From Isleton, California, Jaelyn Quilizapa is a third-year student in the Percussion Studio at Bard Conservatory, studying Music Performance and Poetry in the double degree program. Jaelyn’s dream for her music is to share it with the world by performing in musicals, ballets, and operas. During her time at Interlochen Arts Academy, she toured “Resolve” with the Interlochen Wind Ensemble in Carnegie Hall in 2019, as well as the Interlochen Orchestra’s tour, “One”, at the New World Symphony Hall in 2020. While at Interlochen, she was taught the art of “singing marimbists”, and enjoys creating covers of her favorite songs while playing percussion instruments. Jaelyn also has a passion for contemporary music, and loves playing solos and chamber ensembles that push the limits of what “possible” means to her. Jaelyn hopes to attend graduate school at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she will be surrounded by like-minded musicians that enjoy interdisciplinary work as much as she does.
Juan Diego Mora Rubio Melodica
Percussionist Juan Diego Mora is a third-year student from Tachira, Venezuela, who was the principal of the percussion section of the Regional Orchestra of Táchira. He was a student in the El Sistema program for 11 years before arriving at Bard, to begin his studies in January 2021. He’s currently double majoring in computer science and music, and has a strong interest in composition, conducting, and exploring more instruments outside the percussion section such as piano, cuatro (Venezuelan folk instrument), guitar, and bass. Juan is also a member of the Avila Ensemble where he performs Venezuelan folk music around the Hudson Valley.
Eliza Karpiak Flute
Eliza Karpiak is a third-year, double-majoring in poetry and flute in Bard College Conservatory, currently studying with Dr. Tara O’Connor. Her past teachers include Jeffrey Khaner and Dr. Lynne Cooksey. From 2019-2021, she attended several camps, including Domaine Forget all three years, and played in masterclasses for Emmanuel Pahud, Denis Bouriakov, Mario Caroli, Leone Buyse, Ransom Wilson, Keith Underwood, and Susan
Hoeppner. Eliza and her brother co-founded Appassionata Ensemble, which had several recitals throughout her hometown in a local venues.
Outside of playing flute, Eliza has composed several pieces for various types of ensembles. She plays piano, having begun her studies at the same time as flute, and began studying organ in her senior year of high school. In her free time, she participates in active sports like biking, hiking, and swimming.
Nicole Hazan Guitar
Nicole Hazan is a second-year music student at Bard College. Growing up in Mexico City, she learned to play guitar and sing in her early teens, focusing on songwriting as her main interest within music. Since arriving at Bard, she has begun exploring compositional and creative tools in a number of diverse fields, including electronics, studio arts, and theater. Nicole prioritizes multidisciplinary study and creation, seeking ways of bringing together different disciplines in the pursuit of artistic expression. She has a deep passion for creative writing, drawing, and acting. Nicole recently formed part of the Electric Guitar Ensemble, portrayed Ismene in Francis Karagodin’s interpretation of Antigone, and held her moderation concert, which included original songs and an audiovisual installation. In her free time, Nicole likes to tap dance, crochet, and watch British game shows.
NeoNeo Chen Electric piano
NeoNeo Chen, from California, is a first year at Bard College Conservatory, studying piano performance with Terrence Wilson and also majoring in psychology. She had the privilege of studying with Ruth Slencznska and performed with Richard Clayderman in 2017. She also competed in USOMC in 2019 and won second. Her favorite thing to do is play music for her pets.
Grace Trenouth Soprano
Grace Trenouth is a first year vocal performance student studying in the conservatory dual degree program, and pursuing a secondary degree in literature. Grace most recently appeared in Bard College’s Opera Workshop(Gretel, Hänsel und Gretel). When not making music, Grace can be found working in the wardrobe department at the Fisher Center, working in admissions, or playing lacrosse for the Bard Women’s Lacrosse team. Many thanks to Artemy for this opportunity to study a new piece of music!
Artemy Mukhin Piano
Artemy Mukhin is a composer, performer, and a first-year student at Bard College and Conservatory. He graduated from the Special Music School High School in 2022, and completed Mannes Prep Pre-College School of Music in 2019. Born in Boston he currently lives in New York City.
Artemy is honored that at a young age his compositions were read by many acclaimed musicians such as Metropolitan Opera soprano Lucy Shelton, pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, harpist Bridget Kibbey, violinist David Fumer, Metropolitan Orchestra timpanist Jason Haaheim, chamber groups PUBLIQuartet, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Brooklyn Brass Quintet as well as the Da Capo Ensemble. He will be working with Joan Tower in the Spring of 2023 at Bard Conservatory.
Maggie Wei Trumpet
Born and grew up in Taiwan, Maggie Wei left her homeland when she was 18 to pursue her music
career and got her undergraduate degree in music performance in the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, University of Singapore. Right after that, Wei came to the states and studied with the principal trumpet of San Francisco Symphony, Mr. Mark Inouye at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and got her masters of music degree in 2020. In the same year, Wei got accepted to The Orchestra Now at Bard College as the trumpet fellow.
Wei’s brass quintet was the finalist for the 2018 national jeju competition of brass. In 2019, she and her trumpet ensemble won the third price of the national trumpet competition. She had performed with ensembles throughout the world such as China, Hong Kong, Japan, Italy. She has also performed in Carnegie Hall as the principal trumpet with TŌN.
Aleksander Vitanov
Trumpet
Aleksandar Vitanov is a student at the Conservatory of Music and the Political Studies Department at Bard College in Upstate NY, where he studies music performance and U.S. foreign affairs. He previously attended Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan from 2018 to 2020. During his time in the academy, he was the recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Award and appeared on NPR's From the Top in 2018. In 2017, he performed as a soloist with the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Vitanov held a fellowship at the Hudson Institute’s Political Studies Program during the summer of 2022 in Washington, D.C. He is currently on Bard’s Student Honor List and leads the Musical Mentorship Initiative and the Alexander Hamilton Society Chapter at Bard. Mr. Vitanov is originally from Kavadarci, North Macedonia, where he lived for 17 years before coming to the U.S. to complete his education.
Natalia Dziubelski Horn
Natalia Dziubelski is a Polish-American french horn player studying at Bard college under the tutelage of Metropolitan opera musicians, Barbara Jostlein and Hugo Valverde. Natalia has participated in multiple youth orchestras, including the New York Youth Symphony Orchestra, with whom she regularly performed with at Carnegie Hall, as well as won a Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance under conductor Michael Repper and with producer Judith Sherman. Through the dual degree program, she is pursuing a degree in music performance as well as physics, in which she has completed her thesis Theoretical Foundations of Quantum Computing and the Implementation of the Quantum Fourier Transform as well as has been named Bard College’s Alexander Borodin scholar.
Steven Cangemi Trombone
Steven Cangemi, a graduate of Swarthmore College, plays trombone with the Bard College Community Orchestra and other Hudson Valley ensembles. He played in the pit orchestra for the Bard College production of “Promenade” and other local musicals. He has also been known to play with the Tin Horn Uprising, making a joyful noise when needed.
Zander Grier Tuba
Zander Grier is in his second year at the Bard Conservatory, where he studies tuba with Marcus Rojas. In addition, he plays cello in Bard College Community Orchestra and the Chinese Ensemble. He is also a chemistry major in Bard College.
Zander previously studied tuba at Juilliard Pre-College, and has performed in New York City’s Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Merkin Hall. He was a finalist in the 2020 Chamber Music of Lincoln Center Annual Young Musicians program.