Composer and conductor TAN DUN has been appointed dean of the Bard College Conservatory of Music, located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, effective July 1, 2019. His wide-ranging compositions span classical music, multimedia performance, and Eastern and Western traditions and have been performed by orchestras, chamber ensembles, and opera companies worldwide. His scores have been commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra (Japan), Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, and others. Opera commissions include Marco Polo at the Edinburgh Festival; The First Emperor at the Metropolitan Opera; and Peony Pavilion, directed by Peter Sellars, which has been performed at festivals in Vienna, Paris, London, and Rome. Most recently, Tan Dun conducted the premiere of his new oratorio Buddha Passion at the Dresden Festival with the Münchner Philharmoniker; the piece was co-commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the Dresden Festival. Tan Dun holds a master’s in composition from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and a doctorate in musical arts from New York’s Columbia University. The Bard College Conservatory of Music was founded in 2005; Bard College’s president is conductor and musicologist Leon Botstein.
Posted January 4, 2019
