Richard B Fisher Center

First class architecture in the middle of a forest. A gorgeous building, modern and welcoming. Nothing more beautiful than looking outside from the foyer when it is snowing. The concert hall itself (Sosnoff) is gorgeous and the acoustics are amazing, and theres’ good visibility from every seat inthe room.
What happens in the building is somewhat less interesting than the building itself. The main hall is used for c.5 concerts of regular season of the American Symphony Orchestra (conducted, oh surprise!, by the president of the college), and concerts of the College’s Conservatory Orchestra. The latter is a good student orchestra (many of the conservatory’s students are absolutely amazing musicians who I am sure will have excellent careers) but a student orchestra after all, and the former is a just-​OK professional orchestra performing mostly obscure and unkown pieces. During the summer it is home to Bard’s festivals, and that is much more interesting than what happens during the regular (fall-​winter-​spring) season.

Perfect summer festival location and venue. Beautiful grounds, ample parking, lots of pre-​opera activity outside. The opera was affordable, beautiful and the playing and singing was of a high quality.

After stepping foot into the theater for the first time yesterday for a middle school choral and band concert (they were hosting for the first time (even though the high school has gone there for concerts over the last few years)), I was astounded at the rich sound I received even as far back as I was (farthest row back in middle balcony). Without any microphones, the performance was as loud and crisp as if I was sitting in the front row beneath. I know I have something to look forward to over the next few years of performances, I know this concert was definitely a stepping stone milestone from the original performance location of the group. Maybe it was the height of the ceiling in the room, or that there was additional side balconies (but I was well satisfied with the experience).(I definitely felt as if I was sitting through an opera).

The New Yorker magazine had it right on when it called this «[possibly] the best small concert hall in the United States.»
Built with 62 Million dolars and an out of-​this-​world design by famed Architect Frank Gehry, This theater, sitting on the beautiful bucolic Bard College Campus, attracts Broadway caliber shows, with better then broad way sound and visuals at off off off off off off off off Broadway prices. Well worth the trip from Boston (3 hours) or New York City (2 hours).
Walking in from outside, the building kind of looks like one of the monsters Godzilla used to fight with (Mechagodzilla
) and you think to your self «Hmm… I would have gone more Mothra with it.» But upon entering the main foyer you realize you have just walked into a ginormously wonderful work of Modern Art! The interior has just the right balance of Abstract Minimalism and Classical Intimacy. And everything shines brilliantly; lighting up your day. Because of the genius of its design, the main theater, which comfortably seats 900, feels like a much smaller theater! Like you are watching a private show at Bill Gate’s mansion (which, incidentally, I only gave 3 stars to… sorry Bill! Please don’t shut off my computer… again) rather then sitting with 899 other people. Impressed as you are by all of this, you will be truly dazzled when the show begins. Every seat has a perfect view of the stage. The state-​of-​the-​art lighting brings out the colors and contrasts of the movements on stage like nothing you have ever seen (literally). And then there is the sound quality: AMAZING! Like a massage for your ears! Major Kudos goes out to Yasuhisa Toyota who designed the acoustics: it is the best in America! You will think your eyes and hearing has magically improved (until the drive back home when you go the wrong way down a one way street… again!)
And then the prices! I saw the world famous American Ballet Theater (see
) perform here for $ 45!!! Thats like having dinner and dessert at the fanciest restaurant in Boston for a five dollars. Such a steal you almost feel guilty afterwords!
And added bonus: during the intermission you can stroll around the Bard College campus (ranked one of the most beautiful campuses in all North America) with its rolling lush green fields and 19^th Century Hudson River Mansions (just like Newport RI) BUT BE WARNED: Bard College students like to walk around completely naked! And (hence the warning part) Most of them really don’t have the bodies to pull it off. When did college students get so fat??? During my College days we used to do tons of cardio before walking around naked. Kids today have no standards anymore!!! :(
But the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts sets the highest of standards! So you should come here. (Unless you have low standards. Then this place is not for you.)

«Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in…» I don’t know if I’d go that far, necessarily, but the events which took place leading up to me attending a performance, last night, of Franz Schmidt’s Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln are, to me at least, bordering on sublime.
A few weeks ago, at Carnegie Hall, I had a random conversation with an audiophile and musicologist who suggested I look up Franz Schmidt. I vaguely remembered having seen the composer’s name before and went home to look through my massive CD collection. It turns out I had a recording of The Book with Seven Seals, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt with soprano Dorothea Roschmann (both are musicians I adore and idolize), which I recall picking up at the the now extinct Tower Records Clearance Outlet on East 4^th Street about 8 years ago for around $ 5, but for whatever reason I never actually listened to it. The album itself is now out of print, only available on EBAY for around $ 80 because apparently it’s a highly coveted collector’s item for those in the know — but only an idiot would sell!
The music is unbelievable, unbelievable. So much so that I’ve purchased four additional recordings of it (Mitropoulos, Welser-​Most, Jaarvi, Luisi) and I talk about it endlessly to absolutely everybody.
One of my friends, who lives in the suburbs has a husband that is a double-​bassist, they are friends with lots of artists and musicians — she sent me an e-​mail yesterday saying «My friend Upstate who works for Bard College invited me to a concert, I think the piece they’re playing tomorrow night is that one you keep talking about. Want me to get us some comp tickets? My husband is out of town for the weekend, so I have the car, we can drive up.»
I normally get off work on Saturday after 5pm, but something happened so I got off an hour early, exactly when I would need to leave in order to arrive at the show on time.
Usually in life it always seems that it’s one thing after another after another, but in a bad way. This time, however, it’s like the cards were all stacked in my favor. A phenomenal piece of music, a phenomenal performance, a phenomenal concert hall, with phenomenal friends… Oh, the good life!

A remote, little performing arts center in upstate New York, in particularly at Bard College which fosters a wildly creative, anything-​goes atmosphere, proves to be the unlikely sandbox where Frank Gehry doesn’t manage to shoot himself in the foot (at least in the eyes of his many critics). It’s in the middle of a meadow so there aren’t other urban structures whose context he needs to worry about offending. It’s an arts school so he can be as wild and crazy as he wants. As to cost overruns and structural failings — I have no idea so I won’t comment on that although I’ve heard anecdotally of some issue with falling snow in the winter.
As a building — its actually fairly restrained. Curved metal panels with echoes of Bilbao, an interior that is fairly minimalist and surprisingly intimate with regards to the performers, plenty of grassy space for lithe young students to lounge around on the sun; the building doesn’t aspire to be the next towering icon of architectural machismo but turns out to be a surprisingly lyrical building for a lyrical purpose.
Bard has certainly made ample use of the space as the various summer music, dance and theater festivals that play in the space are one of the hidden gems of upstate NY.