BARD SUMMERSCAPE 2006 SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT
FOURTH ANNUAL BARD SUMMERSCAPE FESTIVAL PRESENTS SEVEN WEEKS OF OPERA, MUSIC, THEATER, DANCE, FILM, CABARET, FAMILY PROGRAMS, AND MORE FROM JUNE 29 TO AUGUST 20
Highlights Include: ROBERT SCHUMANN'S ONLY OPERA, GENOVEVA; A COMIC OFFENBACH TRIPLE BILL; DANCE BY DONNA UCHIZONO COMPANY; CAMILLE ON STAGE AND SCREEN; THE 17TH ANNUAL BARD MUSIC FESTIVAL; FAMILY PROGRAMMING; AND EVENING CABARET IN A MIRRORED SPIEGELTENT The internationally acclaimed Bard Music Festival with the American Symphony Orchestra in residence will present concerts, panel discussions, symposia, and preconcert talks focusing on Franz Liszt and his World: his artistic, social, and historical context, his circle, those who influenced him and those he influenced, and the politics and culture of his time. "Bard College's SummerScape festival, housed in Frank Gehry's Bilbao-in-the-woods, is only three years old, but it has quickly become one of the major upstate festivals."
—New Yorker
- Genoveva, Robert Schumann's only opera, receives its first U.S. staged production on the main stage of the Fisher Center—the Sosnoff Theater. Principal cast members are Ylva Kihlberg, soprano (Genoveva); Philippe Castagner, tenor (Golo); and Johannes Mannov, baritone (Siegfried). Leon Botstein conducts the American Symphony Orchestra for all five performances. Kasper Bech Holten directs. Five Performances: July 28 and 30; August 2, 4, 5, 2006
- In LUMA Theater, an Offenbach trio of light-hearted opéras comiques runs for eight performances. In Les deux aveugles, L'ile de Tulipatan, and Ba-ta-clan director-choreographer Ken Roht treats audiences to a whimsical and surrealistic evening of comic operetta. James Bagwell conducts, and the ensemble cast includes Tonna Miller, soprano; Jennifer Roderer, mezzo-soprano; Steven Goldstein and James Schaffner, tenors; and Matthew Burns, bass. [In French with English supertitles.] Eight Performances: August 3–6, 9–12, 2006
- Camille, (after La dame aux camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils), has been adapted by Neil Bartlett and will be directed by Kate Whoriskey. Set design is by Walter Spangler, and costumes are by Ilona Somogyi. Ten Performances: July 6 (preview) - 9, 13–16, 2006
- The 2006 SummerScape season opens with two dance premieres by choreographer Donna Uchizono: a Fisher Center–commissioned work based on piano music by Liszt, performed by pianist Markus Groh, that induces audiences to listen anew to his music, and a new work (featuring Mikhail Baryshnikov, Hristoula Harakas, and Jodi Melnick) that draws on newly commissioned music by Michael Floyd. Donna Uchizono is the artistic director/choreographer of Donna Uchizono Company, a New York-based company established in 1990. Since its founding, the Company has performed before enthusiastic audiences across the United States and throughout Europe and South America. Uchizono, who emerged rapidly from the downtown scene after her choreographic debut in 1988, is known for her spicy movement, wit, and rich invention. Three performances: June 29 and 30; July 1.
- Max Ophuls, the German filmmaker who influenced European and American cinema for decades, will be the focus of SummerScape's film festival. His magnificent films have never been shown widely in this country, despite the fact that he is considered to be one of the masters of cinema. Born in Germany in 1902, Ophuls made many films there before escaping the Nazis to France in 1933, continuing his flight to the United States in 1940. Returning to France in 1950, he made his greatest films before succumbing to a heart attack in 1957.
- The Ophuls oeuvre reflects his preoccupations with theater and spectacle, music and memory (Franz Liszt was a character in one of his films), and the self-conscious struggle of women and idealists. Bard will show 11 films, including Ophuls's Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), The Reckless Moment (1949), Caught (1949), La ronde (1950), and The Earrings of Madame de… (1953). Thursdays and Sundays, July 6–August 6.
- Providing an atmospheric venue for cabaret, informal performance, family programs, and summer dining, SummerScape brings a Spiegeltent from Europe for the very first time. With ballooning velvet canopies, ornate bars, and intimate booths enveloping a circular teak dance floor, Spiegeltents are hand-hewn pavilions used as marquees for live entertainment since the early 20th century, and are the very essence of a European "kabaret salon," or festival club, where artists and audiences can meet to enjoy music, food, and more.
- Bard SummerScape will present a roster of Cabaret performances, including Romano Drom (meaning "Gypsy road" in the Romany language), a Gypsy music ensemble from Hungary; Carl Hancock Rux, an uncategorizable artist and performer cited by the New York Times as one of "thirty artists under the age of thirty most likely to influence culture over the next thirty years"; Guy Klucevsek, a composer and accordionist of whom Seattle Weekly said "Forget everything you thought you knew about the accordion"; DJ Spooky, a.k.a. That Subliminal Kid (Paul D. Miller); and "Blue" Gene Tyranny, a multi-faceted keyboardist, composer, and pianist of avant-garde music who Laurie Anderson extols as "just a complete genius."
- Bard's new family series is presented in the Spiegeltent and features: New York's wildly popular Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, the aptly named New York troupe of acrobats called LAVA, and two Danish children's theater companies providing family friendly entertainment on weekend afternoons. Two immortal stories by Hans Christian Andersen—an acquaintance of Franz Liszt—will be performed: "The Little Match Girl" and "Hans Clodhopper," and acclaimed Czech puppeteer Vit Horejs brings his comic version of Faust.
The 17th Bard Music Festival will explore Franz Liszt the performer, composer, critic, teacher, and celebrity. Liszt's world is not only that of Paganini, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, and Wagner, but also of Victor Hugo, George Sand, Heinrich Heine, Lajos Kossuth, and Pope Pius IX. The life, career, and achievement of Liszt (1811–86) were central to 19th-century Romanticism. As a child prodigy he met Beethoven, and at the end of his life, Debussy. The greatest piano virtuoso of his time, Liszt toured far and wide, from remote parts of England to Russia, and he established the piano recital as we know it today. His legendary generosity extended to the advocacy of many composers, including those with whom he was close personally, such as Berlioz and Wagner (later his son-in-law), and Schumann and Mendelssohn, whose genius he recognized but who were themselves resistant to Liszt's aesthetic agenda. Liszt pioneered new feats of keyboard virtuosity, and his technique changed the nature of piano composition forever. His colorful transcriptions and arrangements introduced audiences to an extraordinary range of music otherwise inaccessible in an age without recordings, and his Hungarian Rhapsodies brought brilliant adaptations of folk and popular music to the concert hall. He coined the term "Symphonic Poem" and was one of its greatest proponents. At mid-century, Liszt abandoned the life of a traveling virtuoso, settled in Weimar, and concentrated on composition, conducting, and teaching. There he spearheaded a progressive artistic movement that supported young and adventurous composers, notably Richard Wagner. Instituting the first master classes, he taught nearly all of the greatest pianists of the late 19th century and mentored several composers, without ever taking a fee. In 1865 Liszt took minor orders in the Catholic Church and became an abbé. He produced numerous choral works and two grand oratorios on religious themes. At the same time he devoted himself to developing musical culture and education in his native Hungary. His final, visionary works extended tonality and aphoristic phrasing beyond accepted norms, anticipating the radical musical developments of Debussy and Schoenberg. A cosmopolitan European, Liszt was born in Hungary, trained in Vienna under Czerny and Salieri, and came of age in Paris. Later in life, he divided his time between Germany, Italy, and Hungary. His personal circumstances, infamous love affairs, illegitimate children, friendships with leading cultural figures and his lifelong spiritual quests only add to his mystique. But he remains elusive, both devil and saint, lauded as a wizard, dismissed as a charlatan, underappreciated as a composer. Liszt's sphere is also the focus of the 17th volume in the Bard Music Festival series published by Princeton University Press. Franz Liszt and His World is edited by Christopher H. Gibbs and Dana Gooley. Among the works by Liszt to be performed are: opera paraphrases for piano on Don Giovanni, I puritani, and Robert le diable; Hungarian works such as the Hungarian Rhapsodies and the Rákóczy March; songs in various languages; sacred choral works; symphonic poems, such as Héroide funébre, Hunnenschlacht after Kaulbach, and Die Ideale, after Schiller; solo piano works including excerpts from the Années de pélerinage and the "Transcendental Etudes." Also on the programs are works by composers who influenced Franz Liszt—or were influenced by him—including Charles-Valentin Alkan, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Ferruccio Busoni, Anton Bruckner, Frydryk Chopin, Carl Czerny, Claude Debussy, Gaetano Donizetti, John Field, César Franck, Edvard Grieg, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Edward MacDowell, Giacomo (Jacob) Meyerbeer, Ignaz Moscheles, Modest Musorgsky, Joachim Raff, Gioacchino Rossini, Camille Saint-Saëns, Robert and Clara Schumann, Bedřich Smetana, and Richard Wagner. Festival artists include, among others, the Bard Festival String Quartet; Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano; Nicole Cabell, soprano; Philippe Castagner, tenor; Melvin Chen, piano; Arnaldo Cohen, piano; Jeremy Denk, piano; Simone Dinnerstein, piano; Danny Driver, piano; Andrew Garland, baritone; Jill Grove, mezzo-soprano; Kenneth Hamilton, piano; John Hancock, baritone; Chu-Fang Huang, piano; Brandon Javanovich, tenor; Martin Kasik, piano; Ani Kavafian, violin; Piers Lane, piano; Valentina Lisitsa, piano; Olga Makarina, soprano; Alexander Markov, violin; Peter Orth, piano; Dimitri Pittas, tenor; Anna Polonsky, piano; Giora Schmidt, violin; Sophie Shao, cello; Christian Van Horn, bass; Janice Weber, piano; Orion Weiss, piano; Di Wu, piano; the Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director. BARD MUSIC FESTIVAL WEEKEND ONE—Art, Spectacle, and the Public Friday, August 11BARD SUMMERSCAPE 2006: Chronological Highlights by Performers' First Appearance:Program One Liszt: Mirror of the Nineteenth Century Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Sosnoff Theater 8:00 p.m. Preconcert Talk: Leon Botstein 8:30 p.m. Performance Works by LisztSaturday, August 12Panel One Liszt the Phenomenon Olin Auditorium 10:00 a.m. –12:00 noon Christopher H. Gibbs, moderator Program Two The Young Liszt: From Vienna to Paris Olin Auditorium 1:00 p.m. Preconcert Talk: Anna H. Celenza 1:30 p.m. Performance Works by Liszt, Beethoven, Schubert, Hummel, Field, Czerny, Moscheles, Chopin, Alkan, Henselt, Wieck, Weber Special Event The Piano and the Nineteenth Century Olin Auditorium 5:00 p.m. Performance with Commentary by Kenneth Hamilton Program Three Politics, Painting, Theater, and Poetry Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Sosnoff Theater 7:00 p.m. Preconcert Talk: Paul Merrick 8:00 p.m. Performance: American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein, conductor Works by Liszt, Ernst, RaffSunday, August 13Program Four Virtuosity Blow Out Olin Auditorium 10:00 a.m. Preconcert Talk: Dana Gooley 10:30 a.m. Performance Works by Liszt, Meyerbeer, Thalberg, Ernst, Rubinstein, Tausig, Popper, Menter, Alvars Program Five Virtuosity Transfigured: In the Shadow of Paganini Olin Auditorium 1:00 p.m. Preconcert Talk: Jim Samson 1:30 p.m. Performance Works by Liszt, Schumann, Brahms, Paganini Program Six Grand Opera before Wagner Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Sosnoff Theater 4:30 p.m. Preconcert Talk: Heather Hadlock 5:30 p.m. Performance: Excerpts from operas by Auber, Meyerbeer, Bellini, Rossini, Halévy, Donizetti , PaciniBARD MUSIC FESTIVAL WEEKEND TWO—Faith and Politics Friday, August 18Symposium Music in Nineteenth-Century Culture Multipurpose Room, Bertelsmann Campus Center 10:00 a.m.—12:00 noon 1:30 p.m.—3:30 p.m. Michael P. Steinberg, moderator Program Seven Liszt and National Aspirations Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Sosnoff Theater 7:30 p.m. Preconcert Talk: Rainer Kleinertz 8:00 p.m. Performance Works by Liszt, Schumann, Chopin, Smetana, Grieg, Musorgsky, MacDowell, Sgambati, GlinkaSaturday, August 19Program Eight The "Gypsies," the Hungarians, and the Exotic in Music Olin Auditorium 10:00 a.m.: Performance with Commentary by Jonathan Bellman Works by Liszt, Haydn, Schubert, Brahms, Mosonyi, Rózsavölgyi Program Nine Between Two Schools: Liszt and the Chamber Music Tradition Olin Auditorium 1:00 p.m. Preconcert Talk: Robert Martin 1:30 p.m. Performance: Works by Liszt, Raff, Volkmann, Cornelius, Franz, Rubinstein Program Ten Christ and Faust Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Sosnoff Theater 7:00 p.m. Preconcert Talk: Alan Walker 8:00 p.m. Performance: American Symphony Orchestra; Leon Botstein, conductor Works by Liszt and BerliozSunday, August 20Panel Two: Gender and Musical Culture: Stern, Sand, Sayn-Wittgenstein, Schumann, and Eliot Olin Auditorium 10:00 a.m.—12:00 noon Leon Botstein, moderator Program Eleven Late Liszt: Spirituality and Experimentation Olin Auditorium 1:00 p.m. Preconcert Talk: Richard Wilson 1:30 p.m. Performance: Works by Liszt, Bruckner, Saint-Saëns, Franck, Busoni, Debussy, Wagner Program Twelve Liszt and Wagner Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Sosnoff Theater 4:30 p.m. Preconcert Talk: Christopher H. Gibbs 5:30 p.m. Performance: American Symphony Orchestra; Leon Botstein, conductor Works by Liszt and WagnerThe third and final weekend of Bard Music Festival – The Divergent Paths of Romanticism – will take place Friday, October 27 and Saturday, October 28, 2006 Programs and performers are subject to change.
- Donna Uchizono—6/29–7/1
- Camille (after Dumas)—7/6–7/9, 7/13–7/16 (twice on 7/8 and 7/15)
- Genoveva (Schumann)—7/28, 7/30, 8/2, 8/4, 8/5
- Genoveva: Ylva Kihlberg, soprano
- Golo: Philippe Castagner, tenor
- Siegfried: Johannes Mannov
- Offenbach Triple-bill—8/3, 8/4, 8/5, 8/6, 8/9, 8/10, 8/11, 8/12
- Tonna Miller, soprano
- Jennifer Roderer, mezzo
- Steven Goldstein, tenor
- James Schaffner, tenor
- Matthew Burns, bass
- Liebelei
- Camille double bill (1921 and 1936)
- La Signora di Tutti
- Letter from an Unknown Woman
- Caught
- The Reckless Moment
- La Ronde
- The Earrings of Madame de . . .
- French Cancan
- Faust
- Romano Drom—6/29, 7/1
- Bindlestiff Family Cirkus—6/30, 7/2
- "Blue" Gene Tyranny—7/6
- Guy Klucevsek—7/7
- DJ Spooky—7/8
- Faust—7/13, 7/14, 7/16
- Carl Hancock Rux—7/15
- SpiegelSalon—7/20–23, 7/27–30
- Bindlestiff Family Cirkus—7/1 (twice), 7/2
- LAVA—7/8 (twice), 7/9
- Faust—7/15 (twice), 7/16
- Hans Clodhopper—7/29 (twice), 7/30
- Little Match Girl—8/5 (twice), 8/6
- Thursday through Saturday each weekend at 10:00 p.m. from 6/30 to 7/30
Recent Press Releases:
- Bard Academy and Bard College at Simon’s Rock Announce Relocation to Bard College in New York’s Hudson Valley
- Bard College Institute for Writing and Thinking and Master of Arts in Teaching Program Receive Library of Congress Grant Award
- Bard College Institute for Writing and Thinking Resumes Dynamic Partnership with Cooke Foundation’s Young Scholars Program in 2025
- Bard College to Host Memorial Hall Dedication Event on Veterans Day