Bard SummerScape 2014 opens next week with “Schubert and His World” (June 27–Aug 17)
Friday, June 27 sees the curtain rise on the 2014 Bard SummerScape Festival, ushering in seven weeks of music, opera, theater, dance, film, and cabaret. The hub of these offerings is the Bard Music Festival, which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary season with an exploration of “Schubert and His World,” comprising twelve orchestral, chamber, and operatic progams – a number of them featuring members of the American Symphony Orchestra under Leon Botstein – supplemented by panel discussions and special events (Aug 8–10 & Aug 15–17). Other SummerScape highlights include the return of the Trisha Brown Dance Company, which presents Proscenium Works: 1979–2011 as part of its farewell tour (June 27 & 28); the first U.S. production in 100 years of Euryanthe, an opera by Schubert’s contemporary Carl Maria von Weber (July 25–Aug 3); the world premiere of Love in the Wars, John Banville’s new stage adaptation of Heinrich von Kleist’s Penthesilea (July 10–20); a film series titled “Schubert and the Long 19th Century” (July 3–Aug 3); and entertainment ranging from cutting-edge cabaret to live music for dancing in Bard’s authentic Belgian Spiegeltent (June 27–Aug 17). All SummerScape offerings take place in the striking Frank Gehry-designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and other venues on Bard College’s idyllic Hudson River campus.
What critics are saying about Bard SummerScape…
“Ever a hotbed of intellectual and aesthetic adventure.” (New York Times)
“Seven weeks of cultural delight.” (International Herald Tribune)
“One of the major upstate festivals.” (New Yorker)
“A highbrow hotbed of culture.” (Huffington Post)
“The smartest mix of events within driving distance of New York.” (Bloomberg News)
“Leon Botstein’s Bard SummerScape and Bard Music Festival always unearth piles of buried treasure.” (New Yorker)
“One of the best lineups of the summer for fans of any arts discipline.” (New York Sun)
“One of the great artistic treasure chests of the tri-state area and the country.” (GALO magazine)
“One of the New York area’s great seasonal escapes.” (American Record Guide)
“A haven for important operas.” (New York Times)
“An indispensable part of the summer operatic landscape” (Musical America)
“A spectacular venue for innovative fare.” (Travel and Leisure magazine)
“It’s hard not to find something to like, and it’s even harder to beat the setting.” (New York Post)
…and about the Bard Music Festival
“The summer’s most stimulating music festival.” (Los Angeles Times)
“It has long been one of the most intellectually stimulating of all American summer festivals and frequently is one of the most musically satisfying.” (Wall Street Journal)
“Part boot camp for the brain, part spa for the spirit.” (New York Times)
“A highlight of the musical year.” (Wall Street Journal)
“The most intellectually ambitious of America’s summer music festivals.” (Times Literary Supplement, London)
“One of the ‘Ten Can’t-Miss Classical Music Festivals.’” (NPR Music)
“A two-weekend musicological intensive doubling as a sumptuous smorgasbord of concerts.” (New York Times)
“An always intrepid New York event.” (Time Out New York)
“Nothing quite compares to the fascinating summer programs popping out of Leon Botstein’s brain.” (Bloomberg News)
“One of New York’s premier summer destinations for adventurous music lovers.” (New York Times)
Past seasons at Bard SummerScape
2013: Stravinsky and His World
2012: Saint-Saëns and His World
2011: Sibelius and His World
2010: Berg and His World
2009: Wagner and His World
2008: Prokofiev and His World
2007: Elgar and His World
2006: Liszt and His World
2005: Copland and His World
2004: Shostakovich and His World
2003: Janácek and His World
2002: Debussy and His World
2001: Mahler and His World
2000: Beethoven and His World
1999: Schoenberg and His World
1998: Tchaikovsky and His World
1997: Haydn and His World
1996: Ives and His World
1995: Bartok and His World
1994: Schumann and His World
1993: Dvorak and His World
1992: Richard Strauss and His World
1991: Mendelssohn and His World
1990: Brahms and His World
SummerScape 2014: key performance dates by genre
MUSIC
Bard Music Festival, Weekend One: “The Making of a Romantic Legend” (Aug 8–10)
Bard Music Festival, Weekend Two: “A New Aesthetics of Music” (Aug 15–17)
* Round-trip transportation from Manhattan to Bard is available for certain performances on August 8, 10, 15, and 17. The round-trip fare is $20 and reservations are required; see further details below.
OPERA
Carl Maria von Weber: Euryanthe
Sosnoff Theater
July 25* and Aug 1 at 7 pm
July 27, 30, and Aug 3 at 2 pm
Tickets start at $25
Franz Schubert: Die Verschworenen
Franz von Suppé: Franz Schubert (1864)
Sosnoff Theater
Aug 10 at 5:30 pm* (BMF Program 6)
Tickets start at $25
Franz Schubert: Fierrabras
Sosnoff Theater
Aug 17 at 4:30 pm* (BMF Program 12)
Tickets start at $25
DANCE
Trisha Brown Dance Company: Proscenium Works: 1979–2011
June 27 & 28 at 7:30 pm
June 28 at 2 pm*
Sosnoff Theater
Tickets start at $25
THEATER
John Banville: Love in the Wars – A version of Heinrich von Kleist’s Penthesilea
Theater Two
Previews July 10 and 11 at 7:30pm
Performances July 12*, 17, 18, and 19 at 7:30 pm and July 13*, 16, 19, and 20* at 2 pm
Tickets start at $25
FILM SERIES
“Schubert and the Long 19th Century”
Thursdays and Sundays July 3 to August 3 at 7pm
Ottaway Film Center
Tickets: $10
SPIEGELTENT
Live Music, Cabaret, Festival Dining, and After Hours salon
Dates, Times, and Prices vary
Venues:
SummerScape opera, theater, and dance performances and most Bard Music Festival programs are held in the Sosnoff Theater or Theater Two in Bard’s Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, designed by Frank Gehry and celebrated since its opening as a major architectural landmark in the region. Some chamber programs and other BMF events are in Olin Hall. The Spiegeltent has its own schedule of events, in addition to serving as a restaurant, café, and bar before and after performances. Film Series screenings are at the Jim Ottaway Jr. Film Center in the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Center.
New York City Round-Trip Bus Transportation:
To make a reservation on the round-trip SummerScape coach provided exclusively to ticket holders for specific performances indicated by * in the listings above, call the box office at 845-758-7900 or select this option when purchasing tickets. The new, lower round-trip fare is $20 and reservations are required. The coach departs from behind Lincoln Center, on Amsterdam Avenue between 64th and 65th Street. Bus departure time will be included on the ticket order receipt, or visit fishercenter.bard.edu/visit/transportation.
Program details of 2014 Bard Music Festival, “Schubert and His World”
WEEKEND ONE: The Making of a Romantic Legend
Friday, August 8
Program One
The Legacy of a Life Cut Short
Sosnoff Theater
7:30 pm Pre-concert Talk by Leon Botstein
8 pm Performance: Paul Appleby, tenor; Deanna Breiwick, soprano; Dover Quartet and guest; Tyler Duncan, baritone; Nicholas Phan, tenor; Anna Polonsky, piano; Rebecca Ringle, mezzo-soprano; Orion Weiss, piano; members of the American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Gretchen am Spinnrade, D118 (1814)
Overture to Der vierjährige Posten, D190 (1815)
Symphony No. 3 in D, D200 (1815)
Fantasy in F minor for piano duet, D940 (1828)
String Quintet in C, D956 (1828)
Dances, songs, and partsongs
Tickets starting at $25
Saturday, August 9
Panel One
Invention and Reinvention: Who Was Schubert?
Christopher H. Gibbs, moderator; Leon Botstein; and others
Olin Hall
10 am–noon
Free and open to the public
Program Two
From “Boy” to Master: The Path to Erlkönig
Olin Hall
1 pm Pre-concert Talk: TBA
1:30 pm Performance: Dover Quartet; Andrew Garland, baritone; Sari Gruber, soprano; Julie Pilant, horn; Anna Polonsky, piano; Rebecca Ringle, mezzo-soprano; Orion Weiss, piano; and others
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
String Quartet in B-flat, D112 (1814)
Erlkönig, D328 (1815)
Songs, dances, and partsongs
Arias, songs, and other works by Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–87), Antonio Salieri (1750–1825), Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752–1814), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91), Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg (1760–1802), Carl Friedrich Zelter (1758–1832), Carl Czerny (1791–1857), and Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868)
Tickets: $35
SPECIAL EVENT
The Song Cycle as Drama: Winterreise
Olin Hall
5 pm Performance: Tyler Duncan, baritone; Erika Switzer, piano
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Winterreise, D911 (1827)
Tickets: $35
Program Three
Mythic Transformations
Sosnoff Theater
7 pm Pre-concert Talk: Christopher H. Gibbs
8 pm Performance: Rebecca Ringle, mezzo-soprano; Andrew Schroeder, baritone; American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Symphony No. 8 in B minor, “Unfinished,” D759 (1822)
Sonata in C, “Grand Duo,” D812 (1824; orch. Joseph Joachim, 1855)
Selections from Symphony in E Major, D729 (1821; orch. Felix Weingartner, 1934)
Songs, orch. Hector Berlioz (1803–69); Franz Liszt (1811–86); Jacques Offenbach (1819–80); Johannes Brahms (1833–97); and Anton Webern (1883–1945)
Tickets starting at $25
Sunday, August 10
Program Four
Goethe and Music: The German Lied
Olin Hall
10 am Performance with commentary by Susan Youens; with Teresa Buchholz, mezzo-soprano; Judith Gordon, piano; and others
Songs by Franz Schubert (1797–1828); Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809); Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752–1814); Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91); Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg (1760–1802); Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827); Carl Friedrich Zelter (1758–1832); Carl Loewe (1796–1869), Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47); Robert Schumann (1810–56); and Hugo Wolf (1860–1903)
Tickets: $30
Program Five
Before Unspeakable Illness
Olin Hall
1 pm Pre-concert Talk: Byron Adams
1:30 pm Performance: Danny Driver, piano; Dover Quartet; Benjamin Hochman, piano; Jennifer Koh, violin; and others
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Quartettsatz, D703 (1820)
Marche militaire, D733 (?1818)
Fantasy in C, “Wanderer,” D760 (1822)
Selections from 36 Originaltänze (Erste Walzer), D365 (1818–21)
Songs
Partsongs
Tickets: $35
Program SIX
Schubert and Viennese Theater
Sosnoff Theater
5 pm Pre-concert Talk: Morten Solvik
5:30 pm Performance: Paul Appleby, tenor; Deanna Breiwick, soprano; Nicholas Phan, tenor; Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; members of the American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director; and others
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Die Verschworenen, Singspiel in one act, D787 (1823)
Franz von Suppé (1819–95)
Franz Schubert, operetta in one act (1864)
Tickets starting at $25
WEEKEND TWO: A New Aesthetics of Music
Friday, August 15
SPECIAL EVENTS
The “Path toward a Grand Symphony”: Schubert’s Octet
László Z. Bitó ’60 Conservatory Building
3 pm Performance: Faculty and students of The Bard College Conservatory of Music
Tickets: $25
Schubert’s Kosegarten Liederspiel
László Z. Bitó ’60 Conservatory Building
5 pm Performance: Commentary by Morten Solvik; with Paul Appleby, tenor; Deanna Breiwick, soprano; Rebecca Ringle, mezzo-soprano; Reiko Uchida, piano
Tickets: $25
Schubert on Film
For locations and times, please visit www.fishercenter.bard.edu/bmf
Free and open to the public
Program SEVEN
Beethoven’s Successor?
Sosnoff Theater
7:30 pm Pre-concert Talk: Christopher H. Gibbs
8 pm Performance: Paul Appleby, tenor; Horszowski Trio; Sarah Shafer, soprano; Andrew Schroeder, baritone; Brian Zeger, piano; members of the Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; and others
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
First Movement from String Quartet in D minor, D810 (1824)
Fragment aus dem Aeschylus, D450 (1816)
Die Allmacht, D852 (1825)
Der Wanderer an den Mond, D870 (1826)
Schlachtgesang, D912 (1827)
Ständchen, D920 (1827)
Piano Trio in E-flat, D929 (1827)
Der Kreuzzug, D932 (1827)
Die Sterne, D939 (1828)
Auf dem Strom, D943 (1828)
Tickets starting at $25
Saturday, August 16
Panel TWO
Music’s “Far Fairer Hopes”: Originality and Influence
Morten Solvik, moderator; Scott Burnham; Kristina Muxfeldt; Richard Wilson
Olin Hall
10 am–noon
Free and open to the public
Program EIGHT
The Music of Friendship
Olin Hall
1 pm Pre-concert Talk: John M. Gingerich
1:30 pm Performance: Laura Flax, clarinet; Marc Goldberg, bassoon; Horszowski Trio; Piers Lane, piano; Rebecca Ringle, mezzo-soprano; and others
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Gondelfahrer, D809 (1824)
Abschied von der Erde, D829 (1826)
Widerspruch, D865 (1826)
Grab und Mond, D893 (1826)
Zur guten Nacht, D903 (1827)
Selections from 12 Waltzes (Valses Nobles), D969 (1827)
Works by Ferdinand Schubert (1794-1859); Anselm Hüttenbrenner (1794–1868); Josef Lanner (1801–43); Benedict Randhartinger (1802–93); Franz Lachner (1803–90); Maximilian Leidesdorf (1787–1840); and others
Tickets: $35
Program NINE
Late Ambitions
Sosnoff Theater
7 pm Pre-concert Talk: Walter Frisch
8 pm Performance: Paul Appleby, tenor; Andrew Garland, baritone; Sarah Shafer, soprano; Rebecca Ringle, mezzo-soprano; Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Miriams Siegesgesang, D942 (1828)
Mass in E-flat, D950 (1828)
Psalm 92, D953 (1828)
Luciano Berio (1925–2003)
Rendering (1990)
Tickets starting at $25
Sunday, August 17
Program TEN
Fellowship of Men: The Male Choral Tradition
Olin Hall
10 am Performance: Members of the Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director
Works by Franz Schubert (1797–1828); Michael Haydn (1737–1806); Simon Sechter (1788–1867); Heinrich Marschner (1795–1861); Jan Kalivoda (1801–66); Franz Lachner (1803–90); Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47); Robert Schumann (1810–56); Johannes Brahms (1833–97); Anton Bruckner (1824–96); and others
Tickets: $30
Program ELEVEN
The Final Months
Olin Hall
1 pm Pre-concert Talk: Scott Burnham
1:30 pm Performance: Deanna Breiwick, soprano; Laura Flax, clarinet; Piers Lane, piano; Anna Polonsky, piano; Orion Weiss, piano
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Rondo in A for piano four hands, D951 (June 1828)
Der Doppelgänger, D957/13 (August 1928)
Piano Sonata in A, D959 (September 1828)
Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D965 (October 1828)
Die Taubenpost, D965 A (October 1828)
Tickets: $35
Program TWELVE
Schubert and Opera
Sosnoff Theater
3:30 pm Pre-concert Talk: Michael P. Steinberg
4:30 pm Performance: Eric Barry, tenor; Eric Halfvarson, bass; Sara Jakubiak, soprano; Joseph Kaiser, tenor; Andrew Schroeder, baritone; Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director, and others
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Fierrabras, D796 (1823)
Tickets starting at $25
Bard SummerScape Ticket Information
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. Fisher Center members receive priority access to the best seats in advance, and those who join the Center’s email list receive advance booking opportunities as well as regular news and updates.
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© 21C Media Group, June 2014