Bard SummerScape 2010 opens Thursday, July 8 with Trisha Brown Dance Company
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – The Trisha Brown Dance Company kicks off the eighth annual Bard SummerScape festival this week on Thursday, July 8 at 8 pm, with the trailblazing choreographer’s most recent piece – L’Amour au théâtre (2009), two of her legendary Rauschenberg collaborations – Foray Forêt (1990) and You can see us (1995), and a duet from her 1996 piece, Twelve Ton Rose, which is set to music by Anton Webern. This performance and the company’s three subsequent SummerScape appearances (on Friday, July 9 and Saturday, July 10, both also at 8 pm, and on Sunday, July 11 at 3 pm) form a highlight of the company’s 40th anniversary season.
As in previous years, SummerScape 2010 is keyed to the theme of the Bard Music Festival, which this year celebrates “Berg and His World.” Like the great Austrian composer, Trisha Brown is a pioneer of her art; where Berg is one of musical modernism’s founding fathers, she has long been recognized as “the innovative high priestess of postmodernist dance” (Jennifer Dunning, New York Times). Since helping to found the avant-garde Judson Dance Theater movement in the 1960s, Brown has consistently shattered perceptions of what dance can be. She was awarded a coveted MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant in 1991, becoming the first female choreographer to be so honored.
As one of the Judson Dance Theater movement’s original members, Brown contributed to the birth of postmodern dance, while the Trisha Brown Dance Company, which she formed in SoHo in 1970, soon became one of the nation’s foremost contemporary dance ensembles. Indeed, four decades later, the company continues to command heartfelt respect; New York Times’s Alastair Macauley recently deemed this dance company “invariably sensuous, characterized by inventive wit, and often uncommonly interesting,” while critical juggernaut John Rockwell wrote: “Her current company is wonderful: handsome dancers confident in their execution of Ms. Brown’s choreography. They’re a pleasure to watch, all by themselves. But they’re not by themselves; Ms. Brown’s ideas and sensibility are ever present.”
Trisha Brown’s work with artists in other genres – including visual artist Robert Rauschenberg, who designed costumes and sets, and wrote music for her pieces – has resulted in some of the most compelling performances of the postmodern era. Following celebrated opera productions in Brussels, London, Paris, Aix-en-Provence, and New York City, the visionary experimentalist brings a program to SummerScape that includes her recent composition L’Amour au theater, which for the New York Post’s Leigh Witchel represents an arrival point in Brown’s career; he concluded that, “From the calligraphic elegance of the backdrop (designed by the choreographer herself), to the clean and buoyant choreography, Brown has transformed herself from a downtown artist to a big-ticket presence.”
SummerScape 2010’s opening weekend also features the season’s first presentation of evening cabaret in Bard’s authentic, one-of-a-kind Belgian “tent of mirrors,” or Spiegeltent. New York-based singer-songwriter and pianist extraordinaire Our Lady J, who wowed Spiegeltent audiences last summer, returns with her visionary, post-religious gospel music. “Our Lady J knows how to rock the house,” declares the Village Voice; as celebrity blogger Perez Hilton confirms, she is one “fierce diva!” (Friday, July 9 at 8:30 pm)
Dance at Bard SummerScape 2010
Trisha Brown Dance Company
Choreography by Trisha Brown
Foray Forêt (1990)
Music by local marching band
Set, costumes, and lighting (with Spencer Brown) by Robert Rauschenberg
Twelve Ton Rose (1996, excerpt)
Music by Anton Webern
Costumes by Burt Barr
Lighting by Spencer Brown
You can see us (1995)
Music and costumes by Robert Rauschenberg
Lighting by Spencer Brown with Robert Rauschenberg
L’Amour au théâtre (2009)
Music by Jean-Philippe Rameau
Set designed by Trisha Brown
Costumes by Elizabeth Cannon
Lighting by Jennifer Tipton
July 8, 9, and 10 at 8 pm
July 11 at 3 pm
Sosnoff Theater
Tickets: $25, $40, $55
Highlights of the eighth annual Bard SummerScape Festival
Modernism and its roots in Vienna’s dazzling turn-of-the-20th-century culture is the subject of the eighth annual Bard SummerScape Festival, which once again features a rich tapestry of music, opera, theater, dance, film, and cabaret. Presented in the acoustically superb Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and other venues on Bard College’s stunning Hudson River campus, the seven-week festival opens on July 8 with the first of four performances by the Trisha Brown Dance Company, and closes on August 22 with a party in Bard’s beloved Spiegeltent, which returns for the full seven weeks.
The 21st annual Bard Music Festival explores “Berg and His World,” and some of the Austrian composer’s most gifted and thought-provoking contemporaries provide other SummerScape highlights, which include: North America’s first fully-staged production of Franz Schreker’s 1910 opera The Distant Sound (Der ferne Klang), sung in German with English subtitles; Oscar Straus’s operetta The Chocolate Soldier; Judgment Day, by playwright Ödön von Horváth; and “The Best of G. W. Pabst,” a film festival juxtaposing German expressionism with American film noir. The Distant Sound will be directed by Thaddeus Strassberger, whose production of Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots at Bard last summer was a sensation. A chronological list of these events follows below.
Chronological list of SummerScape 2010 highlights
July 8–11 SummerScape opens with Trisha Brown Dance Company
July 10 Gala benefit before performance by Trisha Brown Dance Company
July 14–25 Ten performances of Ödön von Horváth’s drama Judgment Day
July 15–Aug 19 Film Festival “The Best of G. W. Pabst” (15 films)
July 30–Aug 6 Four performances of Schreker’s opera The Distant Sound (Der ferne Klang)
August 5–15 Nine performances of Oscar Straus’s operetta The Chocolate Soldier
August 13 Annual Bard Music Festival opening-night dinner in the Spiegeltent
August 13–15 Bard Music Festival, Weekend One: “Berg and His World: Berg and Vienna”
August 20–22 Bard Music Festival, Weekend Two: “Berg and His World: Berg the European”
Bard SummerScape 2010 Calendar: Events in Chronological Order
July 8 (Thursday)
+8:00 pm Trisha Brown (Sosnoff) +
July 9 (Friday)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
8:00 pm Trisha Brown (Sosnoff)
8:30 pm Evening cabaret (Spiegeltent)
10:00 pm SpiegelClub (Spiegeltent)
July 10 (Saturday)
5:30 pm Gala dinner (Spiegeltent)
8:00 pm Trisha Brown (Sosnoff)
9:00 pm Evening cabaret (Spiegeltent)
July 11 (Sunday)
1:00–3:00 pm Lunch (Spiegeltent)
3:00 pm Trisha Brown (Sosnoff)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
July 14 (Wednesday)
+3:00 pm Judgment Day (Theater Two) +
July 15 (Thursday)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
7:00 pm Film (Ottaway)
8:00 pm Judgment Day (Theater Two)
8:30 pm Thursday Night Live (Spiegeltent)
July 16 (Friday)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
8:00 pm Judgment Day (Theater Two)
8:30 pm Evening cabaret (Spiegeltent)
10:00 pm SpiegelClub (Spiegeltent)
July 17 (Saturday)
1:00–3:00 pm Lunch (Spiegeltent)
3:30 pm Family Fare (Spiegeltent)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
8:00 pm Judgment Day (Theater Two)
8:30 pm Evening cabaret (Spiegeltent)
10:00 pm SpiegelClub (Spiegeltent)
July 18 (Sunday)
1:00–3:00 pm Lunch (Spiegeltent)
3:00 pm Judgment Day (Theater Two)
3:30 pm Family Fare (Spiegeltent)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
7:00 pm Film (Ottaway)
July 21 (Wednesday)
3:00 pm Judgment Day (Theater Two)
July 22 (Thursday)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
7:00 pm Film (Ottaway)
8:00 pm Judgment Day (Theater Two)
8:30 pm Thursday Night Live (Spiegeltent)
July 23 (Friday)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
8:00 pm Judgment Day (Theater Two)
8:30 pm Evening cabaret (Spiegeltent)
10:00 pm SpiegelClub (Spiegeltent)
July 24 (Saturday)
1:00–3:00 pm Lunch (Spiegeltent)
3:30 pm Family Fare (Spiegeltent)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
8:00 pm Judgment Day (Theater Two)
8:30 pm Evening cabaret (Spiegeltent)
10:00 pm SpiegelClub (Spiegeltent)
July 25 (Sunday)
1:00–3:00 pm Lunch (Spiegeltent)
3:00 pm Judgment Day (Theater Two)
3:30 pm Family Fare (Spiegeltent)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
7:00 pm Film (Ottaway)
July 29 (Thursday)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
7:00 pm Film (Ottaway)
8:30 pm Thursday Night Live (Spiegeltent)
July 30 (Friday)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
8:00 pm The Distant Sound (Sosnoff)
8:30 pm Evening cabaret (Spiegeltent)
10:00 pm SpiegelClub (Spiegeltent)
July 31 (Saturday)
1:00–3:00 pm Lunch (Spiegeltent)
3:30 pm Family Fare (Spiegeltent)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
8:30 pm Evening cabaret (Spiegeltent)
10:00 pm SpiegelClub (Spiegeltent)
August 1 (Sunday)
1:00–3:00 pm Lunch (Spiegeltent)
+3:00 pm The Distant Sound (Sosnoff) +
3:30 pm Family Fare (Spiegeltent)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
7:00 pm Film (Ottaway)
August 4 (Wednesday)
3:00 pm The Distant Sound (Sosnoff)
August 5 (Thursday)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
7:00 pm Film (Ottaway)
8:00 pm The Chocolate Soldier (Theater Two)
8:30 pm Thursday Night Live (Spiegeltent)
August 6 (Friday)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
8:00 pm The Distant Sound (Sosnoff)
8:00 pm The Chocolate Soldier (Theater Two)
8:30 pm Evening cabaret (Spiegeltent)
10:00 pm SpiegelClub (Spiegeltent)
August 7 (Saturday)
1:00–3:00 pm Lunch (Spiegeltent)
3:30 pm Family Fare (Spiegeltent)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
8:00 pm The Chocolate Soldier (Theater Two)
8:30 pm Evening cabaret (Spiegeltent)
10:00 pm SpiegelClub (Spiegeltent)
August 8 (Sunday)
1:00–3:00 pm Lunch (Spiegeltent)
3:00 pm The Chocolate Soldier (Theater Two)
3:30 pm Family Fare (Spiegeltent)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
7:00 pm Film (Ottaway)
August 11 (Wednesday)
+3:00 pm The Chocolate Soldier (Theater Two) +
August 12 (Thursday)
5:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
7:00 pm Film (Ottaway)
8:00 pm The Chocolate Soldier (Theater Two)
8:30 pm Thursday Night Live (Spiegeltent)
August 13 (Friday)
5:30 pm BMF opening-night dinner (Spiegeltent)
7:30 pm BMF pre-concert talk (Sosnoff)
8:00 pm BMF Program One (Sosnoff)
8:00 pm The Chocolate Soldier (Theater Two)
8:30 pm Evening cabaret (Spiegeltent)
10:00 pm SpiegelClub (Spiegeltent)
August 14 (Saturday)
10:00 am–12 pm BMF panel (Olin)
1:00 pm BMF pre-concert talk (Olin)
1:30 pm BMF Program Two (Olin)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
7:00 pm BMF pre-concert talk (Sosnoff)
8:00 pm BMF Program Three (Sosnoff)
8:00 pm The Chocolate Soldier (Theater Two)
8:30 pm Evening cabaret (Spiegeltent)
10:00 pm SpiegelClub (Spiegeltent)
August 15 (Sunday)
10:00 am BMF Program Four (Olin)
1:00 pm BMF pre-concert talk (Olin)
1:30 pm BMF Program Five (Olin)
1:00–3:00 pm Lunch (Spiegeltent)
3:00 pm The Chocolate Soldier (Theater Two)
5:00 pm BMF pre-concert talk (Sosnoff)
5:30 pm BMF Program Six (Sosnoff)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
7:00 pm Film (Ottaway)
August 19 (Thursday)
7:00 pm Film (Ottaway)
8:30 pm Thursday Night Live (Spiegeltent)
August 20 (Friday)
10:00 am–12 pm BMF symposium (Multipurpose Room, Bertelsmann Campus Center)
1:30– 3:30 pm BMF symposium (Multipurpose Room, Bertelsmann Campus Center)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
7:30 pm BMF pre-concert talk (Sosnoff)
8:00 pm BMF Program Seven (Sosnoff)
8:30 pm Evening cabaret (Spiegeltent)
10:00 pm SpiegelClub (Spiegeltent)
August 21 (Saturday)
10:00 am BMF Program Eight (Olin)
1:00 pm BMF pre-concert talk (Olin)
1:30 pm BMF Program Nine (Olin)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
7:00 pm BMF pre-concert talk (Sosnoff)
8:00 pm BMF Program Ten (Sosnoff)
8:30 pm Evening cabaret (Spiegeltent)
10:00 pm SpiegelClub (Spiegeltent)
August 22 (Sunday)
10:00 am-12 pm BMF Panel Two (Olin)
1:00 pm BMF pre-concert talk (Olin)
1:30 pm BMF Program Eleven (Olin)
4:30 pm BMF pre-concert talk (Sosnoff)
5:30 pm BMF Program Twelve (Sosnoff)
5:30–8:00 pm Dinner (Spiegeltent)
8:30 pm Closing party (Spiegeltent)
Special Coach Transportation
To make a reservation on the round-trip coach provided exclusively to ticket holders for specific performances indicated by + in the calendar of events that follows, call the box office at 845-758-7900. The fare is $20 round-trip, and reservations are required. The coach departs from Columbus Circle four hours before scheduled curtain time to allow for dining in the Spiegeltent or a pre-performance visit to Bard’s Hessel Museum.
Bard SummerScape Ticket Information
The Bard SummerScape Festival is made possible through the generous support of the Advisory Boards of the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and the Bard Music Festival, and the Friends of the Fisher Center.
For tickets and further information on all SummerScape events, call the Fisher Center box office at 845-758-7900 or visit www.fishercenter.bard.edu.
Bard SummerScape: fishercenter.bard.edu/summerscape
Bard Music Festival: fishercenter.bard.edu/bmf/2010/
Tickets: [email protected]; or by phone at 845-758-7900
Updates: Bard’s “e-members” get all the news in regular updates. Click here to sign up.
All program information is subject to change.
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©21C Media Group, July 2010