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Fisher Center Press Release

*2006 BARD SUMMERSCAPE TICKETS *
*_ON SALE MONDAY, MAY 1_*

* *

*TICKETS MAY BE OBTAINED IN ANY OF FOUR WAYS:*
*ONLINE AT http://www.fishercenter.bard.edu*
*/BY PHONE/ AT (845) 758-7900, Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.*
* BY FAX with credit card details to 845-758-7910*
*Or At The /FISHER CENTER BOX OFFICE/ *

    On The Bard Campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

*/ /*

*/SummerScape runs for seven weeks, from Thursday, June 29 through
Sunday, August 20/*

*Tickets* for the fourth annual *Bard SummerScape* Festival - "*Franz
Liszt and His World*" - will go on sale on *Monday, May 1 at 10:00 a.m.*
SummerScape opens on *Friday, June 29* with a performance by the *Donna
Uchizono Company*, with guest artist Mikhail Baryshnikov, and the Festival
continues for seven weeks through August 20.  The 17th annual *Bard Music
Festival weekends* (August 11-13 and August 18-20) comprise the final
performances of SummerScape, with 12 concerts and programs.

In addition to putting on one of the most varied programs of entertainment,
serious art and family fare available in America's summer festival season,
Bard has one of the most high quality, affordable box offices in the
country: tickets for films are only $7, opera starts at $35 and Bard
Music Festival events start at $20!

*Bard SummerScape *has been described by the /Los Angeles Times/ as "the
most important American music festival since Lincoln Center started its
summer festival." Its nearly 80 performances this season will be given
in the celebrated Frank Gehry-designed Richard F.  Fisher Center at Bard
College, and elsewhere on the campus in the beautiful Hudson River Valley
at Annandale-on-Hudson.  SummerScape's wide-ranging, thematically linked
array of music, theater, cabaret, film and other cultural offerings has
been widely acclaimed.  Some highlights for the 2006 season (June 29-August
20) are listed below.

     *_Subscriptions_*: For the *first time*, SummerScape is offering
     not only *make-your-own*, but offering them at a *substantial
     discount!* Subscribe and save 20% on orders for tickets to
     four or more different events (except film and SpiegelClub
     events).  Subscribers who order before June 1 will be given
     priority seating; subscriptions are seated in the order in
     which they are received.  Subscription orders must be received
     at least 7 days before the date of the first performance in
     the subscription.

     _The Bard Music Festival_:*  A major highlight of the *fourth
     annual* Bard SummerScape Festival is the *Bard Music Festival*,
     which focuses in 2006 on "*Franz Liszt and His World*" (August
     11-13 and August 18-20), and lends its imprimatur to all the
     events of SummerScape.  The renowned Bard Music Festival, which
     preceded the advent of SummerScape, is now in its 17^th year.

     _Opera_:*  Robert Schumann's only opera - the virtually unknown
     */Genoveva/* - will be given its first fully-stage professional
     production in the US at Bard, staged by one of Europe's hottest
     young directors, *Kasper Bech Holten*.  Holten says: "/Genoveva/
     is wonderfully operatic with its wild, German high romanticism,
     and it reminds me of a mixture between /Lohengrin/ and
     /Freischutz/ ... It's a dream of love that turns into a
     nightmare. It is all about obsession - and what happens when
     you are obsessed with love." */Genoveva/* will be performed
     *five* times, *July 28-August 5,* with soloists and the American
     Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leon Botstein.  Writing about
     /Genoveva /Franz Liszt observed, "/Of the operas that have
     been produced over the last 50 years it is certainly the one
     I prefer (Wagner excepted--that is understood)./"

     _Operetta_:* On the lighter side, what could be more entertaining
     than three short comic operas by the king of French operetta,
     *Jacques Offenbach*?  *LA*'s remarkable *choreographer* and
     performance artist *Ken Roht* is staging the comedies with one
     ensemble for an entire evening of fun. *Eight* performances
     from *July 28* to *August 12*.

     _Dance_:*  The charismatic *Donna Uchizono Company* opens
     SummerScape with two dance premieres, including a commission
     with piano music by Franz Liszt, and a world premiere with
     dancers Mikhail Baryshnikov, Hristoula Harakas and Jodi Melnick.
     Uchizono emerged rapidly from the downtown scene after her
     choreographic debut in 1988, and is known for her spicy movement,
     wit, and rich invention. *Three* performances, *June 29-July
     1*.

     _Theater_:* "Camille," the mysterious French courtesan whose
     story was based on a real character who was said to be one of
     Franz Liszt's many lovers, lived an incandescent, brief and
     tragic life described in the novel /La Dame aux Camelias/ by
     the younger Alexandre Dumas.  Neil Bartlett's new English-language
     *adaptation* of the *Dumas* novel - staged by the cutting-edge
     young director *Kate Whoriskey*, already a buzzname in the
     theatrical world - will be performed *ten* times, beginning
     with a preview on *July 6*.

     _Family Fare_:*  Bard launches a brand new undertaking this
     year - daytime events for families on weekends. Included will
     be the hilarious *Bindlestiff Family Circus*, *Vit Horejs and
     his Czech Puppets* (with a comic version of */Faust/*) an
     acrobatic troupe called *LAVA*, stories by *Hans Christian
     Andersen* (an acquaintance of *Franz Liszt!*) and much more.

     _Film_:* The enigmatic, legendary, and too little-known filmmaker
     *Max Ophuls* is the inspiration for this year's Bard Film
     Festival.  The German-born cinematic genius was the ultimate
     virtuoso of 20th-century filmmaking, who still influences
     today's younger generation.  Five of his last masterpieces
     will be screened: */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*.  Other films with programmatic
     themes will also be screened.

     *_SpiegelPalais_*: Don't know what a SpiegelPalais is?  *For
     the first time, Bard's SummerScape will premiere a SpiegelPalais*
     - a recreation of a *19th-century European "pleasure-dome"
     *where all manner of entertainment ranging from FamilyFare to
     late-night DJ dancing and cabaret will be presented. This
     legendary "tent of mirrors" is the essence of Old-World opulence
     and will serve as an additional performance venue as well as
     a *festival club* for artists and audiences to gather to share
     a meal and celebrate SummerScape.

Among the SpiegelPalais highlights: "*Romano Drom" - the Hungarian
Gypsy Band* (beginning on opening night, June 29); *Bindlestiff Family
Cirkus* (beginning June 30); keyboardist *"Blue" Gene Tyranny* (July 6);
blazing virtuoso accordionist *Guy Klucevsek* (July 7); *DJ Spooky*
(July 8); *Vit Horejs* and his Czech puppets (beginning July 13); and
*Carl Hancock Rux* (July 15).

 From June 29 to July 30, the *SpiegelPalais* will be offering an
*a la carte dinner menu* from 5:30 to 7:30 pm, Thursday through
Sunday.  Beverages - including micro-brew beers  and locally made
ice cream - will be available whenever the SpiegelPalais is open.

SpiegelPalais event ticket prices are:

_FamilyFare_ adult/child  $15/$12; and adult/child $5/$4, depending on
the event;

_Cabaret_/ at 8.30pm/: $25 / $20; _SpiegelClub_ at 10.30pm $10 at the
door only.

The SummerScape web site offers complete details on performances and
performers, along with transportation and hospitality information, driving
instructions and additional information about the historic and beautiful
Hudson River Valley.

http://summerscape.bard.edu/welcome/

*_Critical Acclaim for Bard SummerScape and the Bard Music Festival:_*

"*The most intellectually ambitious of America's summer music festivals*."
-       /Times Literary Supplement/ (London)

"Bard College's SummerScape festival, housed in the Fisher arts center,
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/

"With the addition of the Fisher Center at Bard ...  the Hudson River
Valley is on its way to becoming *one of the premier cultural destinations
in the nation*."
-       /Boston Globe/

"*Seven weeks of cultural delight*."
-       /International Herald Tribune/

Emily Darrow <[log in to unmask]>