Bard SummerScape

Bard College's prestigious music festival honors Schubert with two weekends of thrilling programs. On Aug 8, tenors Nicholas Phan and Paul Appleby, soprano Deanna Breiwick and baritone Tyler Duncan are just some of the guests who will perform Schubert songs alongside the American Symphony Orchestra and conductor Leon Botstein. (Schubert's Symphony No. 3 is also on the bill.) The afternoon program on Aug 9 presents the composer's String Quartet in B-flat, in addition to more songs. Winterreise (you knew it would be on the schedule) gets its due at 5pm. And the 8pm set includes the "Unfinished" Symphony No. 8, among other treats. On Aug10, pianist Judith Gordon and mezzo-soprano Teresa Buchholz present a recital titled "Goethe and Music: The German Lied" (10am). At 1:30pm, the "Wanderer" piano fantasy and the Violin Sonata in D major will be performed. Schubert's singspiel The Conspirators is the crown jewel of the weekend's final concert (5:30pm). The following weekend's programs are subtitled "A New Aesthetics of Music." Schubert's Octet is performed at 3pm on Aug 15, ahead of a 5pm presentation of the composer's Kosegarten Liederspiel—before a variety of other works that begin at 8pm. The highlight on Aug 16 is surely the mix of Schubert's Mass in E-flat and Berio's Rendering. The festival concludes on Aug 17, with choral and piano works, plus Schubert's opera Fierrabras. Visit summerscape.bard.edu for transit information and ticket-package options.