SummerScape 2024
JUNE 20 – AUGUST 18
“A hothouse for the creation of uncompromising, cross-disciplinary and sometimes hard to describe hits.”—The New York Times
Join us for eight weeks of opera, theater, dance, music, Spiegeltent, and the 34th Bard Music Festival, Berlioz and His World.
Photo by Maria Baranova
SUMMERSCAPE THEATER
ULYSSES
ELEVATOR REPAIR SERVICE
SummerScape Commission/World Premiere
Created by Elevator Repair Service
Directed by John Collins
Co-Direction and Dramaturgy by Scott Shepherd
Text: Ulysses by James Joyce
James Joyce’s Ulysses has fascinated, perplexed, scandalized, and/or defeated readers for over a century. Elevator Repair Service takes on this Mount Everest of twentieth-century literature in their Fisher Center debut.
June 20 – July 14
Photo by Marika Kent
SUMMERSCAPE DANCE
SCAT!
THE COMPLEX LIVES OF AL & DOT, DOT & AL ZOLLAR
URBAN BUSH WOMEN
A New Dance-Driven Jazz Club Spectacular
SummerScape Commission/World Premiere
Conception, Direction, and Choreography by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
Original Music Composed and Performed by Craig Harris
Building upon a repertoire of bold, life-affirming dance works, Urban Bush Women celebrates their 40th anniversary with a new dance-driven jazz club spectacular that tells the story of two people making their way through a journey from the Great Migration to Kansas City to the present.
June 28–30
Photo by Rick McCullough
Summer Kick-Off
Let’s celebrate the official start of summer in Annandale—the opening of SummerScape 2024! We are excited to kick off our annual festival of premiere productions that include music, theater, opera, and dance.
Join us in the iconic Spiegeltent for a light meal, and raise a glass with the world-class Urban Bush Women and Elevator Repair Service companies.
June 30
Photo by Owen Hope
SUMMERSCAPE OPERA
Le prophète
New Production
by Giacomo Meyerbeer
Libretto by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps
Directed by Christian Räth
American Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leon Botstein
“Botstein, and his annual opera production at Bard, seem more invaluable by the year.”—New York Times
Religion, power, ego, and manipulation collide in composer Giacomo Meyerbeer’s glorious psychodrama. Director Christian Räth (Die schweigsame Frau, 2022 and Das Wunder der Heliane, 2019) returns for a third SummerScape to lead a visionary new production of a grand opera with colorful vocal passages, inventive orchestrations, and a catastrophic end.
July 26 – August 4
Info & Tickets
SPECIAL EVENT: OPERA PREMIERE PARTY
Before the curtain rises on the much-anticipated new production of Le prophète, join like-minded opera aficionados in the Spiegeltent for a sip with some savories and sweets.
July 26
Buy Tickets
Artwork: The Guardian of Necronomicon by Leopoldo Maria Nanti
The 34th Bard Music Festival
Berlioz and His World
The Bard Music Festival returns for its 34th season with an exploration of the life and work of Hector Berlioz (1803–1869), one of the defining Romantic composers of the 19th century.
Weekend One • August 9–11
Revolutionary Spectacle and Romantic Passion
Weekend Two • August 15–18
Music and the Literary Imagination
Artwork: Hector Berlioz, André Gill, 1860
SUMMER SOIRÉE
Celebrate the season at our annual Summer Soirée at Blithewood, a turn-of-the-century mansion overlooking the Hudson River. The afternoon includes performances, signature cocktails, light fare, and a guaranteed good time.
August 17
Photo by Karl Rabe
The Spiegeltent
The spectacular Spiegeltent returns to SummerScape, offering sumptuous summer weekends of dazzling performances, drinks, and dancing. Longtime favorites and first-time faces create a summer-long party with a program curated by Caleb Hammons that offers something for everyone. World-renowned live artist and Spiegeltent favorite Adrienne Truscott will delight audiences as the season’s emcee.
Join us for performances by Monét X Change, Susanne Bartsch, Sandra Bernhard, Justin Vivian Bond, Ari Shapiro, Nona Hendryx, Larry Owens, Mali Obomsawin, Michela Marino Lerman’s Love Movement, Sunny Jain, Milo Cramer ’12 and Morgan Green ’12, and more!
June 28 – August 17
Photo by Maria Baranova
Members Get More
Our members support world-class performing arts and enjoy a variety of discounts and benefits* throughout the year, such as waived fees, early access to tickets, invitations to parties and special events, including:
- Saturday, June 22 • Member Toast on Opening Night of Ulysses
- Friday, June 28 • Party following the Opening Night of SCAT!
- Saturday, July 20 • Open House/Backstage Tour
- Friday, August 2 • Le prophète Maestro Dinner
- Saturday, August 10 • Bard Music Festival Book Launch
- August 10–11 and 17–18 • Bard Music Festival Patron Lounge
For more information on member events or to RSVP, email us or call 845-758-7987.
*Benefits vary by member level.
Photo by Chris Kayden
SummerScape Savings
Choose three or more SummerScape or Bard Music Festival programs and save 25%.
Photo by Chris Kayden
Coach Transportation
Chartered coach transportation from New York City is available for select SummerScape and Bard Music Festival programs.
To book round-trip transportation for select SummerScape 2024 performances, you may order online, or call the Box Office at 845-758-7900.
Photo by Aya Rebai HRA ’24
Visit the Fisher Center
The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College is located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, situated on the east bank of the Hudson River in the beautiful Hudson Valley, about 90 miles north of New York City and 220 miles southwest of Boston.
The Performing Arts are Essential
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