Bard SummerScape and Bard Music Festival 2008

Summerscape and Bard Music Festival 2008 tickets are on sale now!
Click here to order tickets online or call (845)758-7900
“A festival that is part boot camp for the brain, part spa for the spirit.”
—New York Times

Context. Connection. Revelation.

Bard SummerScape and the Bard Music Festival present “Prokofiev and His World”

Art doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it unfolds in relation to artists, audiences, and other works. At Bard SummerScape, you’ll see how a symphony unlocks a play, which spins off from a ballet, mutates into an opera, is transformed into a movie—a medley of expressions that ultimately leads to a revelation of art’s ability to continually build upon itself, extending its reach into new realms. Each summer, this acclaimed series covers a range of disciplines constellated around one composer in the famed Bard Music Festival. Housed in architect Frank Gehry’s astonishing Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, SummerScape embraces the full spectrum: music, dance, opera, theater, and film.

This year, the 19th annual Bard Music Festival explores “Prokofiev and His World,” with concerts and symposia dedicated to one of Russia’s greatest modern composers. Leon Botstein leads the American Symphony Orchestra and top international musicians in piano, chamber, and orchestral works by Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and others. The centerpiece of the festival is a double bill of two works by Karol Szymanowski: his romantic opera King Roger (The Shepherd) and his operatic dance Harnasie, both directed and designed by Lech Majewski.

Equally thrilling is the world premiere of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, on Motifs of Shakespeare, in the version that the composer originally intended, never before performed on any stage. Contemporary-dance icon Mark Morris choreographs, marking his SummerScape debut. Director Erica Schmidt (of last season’s The Sorcerer) returns to direct Anton Chekhov’s 1899 melancholy comedy Uncle Ványa, starring Peter Dinklage in the title role. Broadway fans and Beltway pundits should cast their votes for Of Thee I Sing. The 1931 political satire with songs by George and Ira Gershwin makes tuneful mockery of campaigning and presidential platforms.

Our classic film festival explores the cinema of Prokofiev’s times: 1930s social satires by Jean Renoir, jazzy Hollywood musicals of the same period, and the composer’s collaborations with legendary Soviet auteur Sergei Eisenstein. And then there’s the enchanting Spiegeltent for drinks, dinner, and late-night entertainment, plus afternoon family programs, including an updated version of Peter and the Wolf.

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 ticket information, please call the Box Office at (845) 758-7900.
Groups of 10 or more are eligible for 20% discount!
For more information about bringing your group to the Fisher Center and experiencing everything that this exciting region has to offer, including fantastic restaurants, hotels and other area attractions, please contact Elena Batt, Box Office Manager at 845-758-7948.