This distinguished series, now in its fourth decade, is published in collaboration with the Bard Music Festival. Each year, the Festival explores the world of individual composers or other music personalities and sheds light on the intersecting cultural, social, and political spheres in which their lives unfolded. From the start, the Festival has sought out figures whose inclusion contributes to an expanded and enriched concert repertory. The accompanying volumes feature contributions from preeminent scholars and experts seeking to connect the practice of music making to that of scholarship and criticism. Volumes in this series have consistently been among the most cited in music scholarship and have been widely reviewed. In addition to critical essays, the books also present unfamiliar documents in translation, such as correspondence, memoirs, and contemporary reviews that further illuminate the world surrounding the chosen musical figure.

The University of Chicago Press has been home to this series since 2020. Previous books in the series can be found here: https://press.princeton.edu/series/the-bard-music-festival