Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Co-Artistic Directors Leon Botstein and Christopher H. Gibbs introduce this year’s Bard Music Festival, dedicated to Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959), the 20th century’s foremost Czech composer.

https://fishercenter.bard.edu/what-we-do/bard-music-festival/

Weekend One: A Musical Mirror of the 20th Century
August 8–10

Weekend Two: Against Uncertainty, Uniformity, Mechanization: Music in the Mid-20th Century
August 14–17

The Bard Music Festival returns with an intensive two-week exploration of Bohuslav Martinů and his world. In eleven themed concerts featuring its boldest and most adventurous programming to date, the festival’s 35th season examines the life and times of Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959), the 20th century’s foremost Czech composer, whose music is nonetheless largely unfamiliar to U.S. audiences today.

Music: Bohuslav Martinů’s "The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca," performed by The Orchestra Now, conducted by Leon Botstein