Britton and the Sting, John Cameron Mitchell & Amber Martin and More Set for Spiegeltent 2023 Programming

The Fisher Center at Bard, currently celebrating its 20th Anniversary Season: Breaking Ground, announced Spiegeltent programming for Bard Summerscape 2023, the majestic tent's 16th year as a platform for cutting-edge live music, performance, dancing, and more. This summer, the space comes to life with performances and events from artists spanning a wide range of disciplines and practices-longtime favorites and first-time faces, including a new Bluegrass on Hudson series-June 22 - August 12. On Fridays and Saturdays, for patrons 21 and up, the Spiegeltent festivities continue long after performances end with Spiegeltent After Hours; the space remains open until 12:30am, with dancing, DJs, and food and drink at the Spiegeltent Garden Bar.

A marvel of engineering derived from a beloved nineteenth century Belgian tradition, the Spiegeltent is a glittering mirrored pavilion with a sumptuous interior of carved wood surfaces, parquet floor, beveled mirrors, stained-glass windows, and sumptuous velvet canopies; it has enchanted guests since its introduction to the festival in 2006. As SummerScape, "a hotbed of intellectual and aesthetic adventure" (The New York Times), returns this summer with eight weeks of performance, the Spiegeltent once again becomes central to its offerings of thought-provoking, awe-inspiring artistry, and unbridled festivity.

2023 Spiegeltent Performance Descriptions and Schedule

Britton and the Sting

Thursday, June 22 at 8pm

The 2023 Spiegeltent season kicks off with artist/advocate Britton Smith (Be More Chill on Broadway), who brings his funk liberation band Britton & The Sting to spread the gospel of authenticity as a pathway to total freedom. Creating an intergalactic, Afrofuturistic sanctuary of healing whenever and wherever they take the stage, this talented pack of musicians leads their congregation with an electric passion for funk, gospel, soul, and testimony.

Illinois Opening Night Cast Party

Featuring Hot For You Disco with music by DJ Father Figure
Friday, June 23 from 9pm-12:30am

Join the exceptional artists of SummerScape's Illinois for an opening night celebration in the glittering glamor of the Spiegeltent. Hot For You Disco, a monthly staple of the NYC nightlife scene, brings the magic upstate with impresario DJ Father Figure (Mark Louque) to keep you dancing into the night.

Nicholas Galanin and Ya Tseen

Saturday, June 24 at 8:30pm

Co-presented with the Center for Indigenous Studies at Bard

Ya Tseen ("be alive" in Tlingit) is the electro-soul music project of artist Nicholas Galanin, one of the most vital voices in contemporary art. Their debut release, Indian Yard, explores love, desire, frustration, pain, revolution, and connection through the magnetic expressions of an Indigenous mind, rich with emotional range and sharp awareness. Led by one of the world's foremost Indigenous artists, Ya Tseen delivers an irrepressible and profound experience of liberation through feeling and connection.

Nicholas Galanin. Photo by Merritt Johnson.

Summertime Swing
with Eight to the Bar and Got2Lindy Dance Studio

Sunday, June 25
6pm: Doors Open
6:30pm: Dance Instruction
Through 10pm: Dancing

The Spiegeltent's opening weekend ends with a swing. Spiegeltent favorites and local swing impresarios Linda and Chester Freeman of Got2Lindy Dance Studios return for a night of swing dancing to the fabulous music of Eight to the Bar. Influenced by American roots music, Eight to the Bar is known for its outstanding instrumentalists and colorful mix of tunes and vocals that will have visitors up and swinging in no time.

Nona Hendryx & The Nasty Gals
present a tribute to Betty Davis
Friday, June 30 at 8pm

Revolutionary art-rock, new-wave goddess Nona Hendryx (aka 'Mama Funk'), the original 'Mother of Funk' and early proponent of Afrofuturism, pays tribute to the legendary Betty Davis in a musical celebration featuring a band of (mostly) women funk rockers performing Betty's 1975 Nasty Gal album and more. Betty's trailblazing career -an influencer ahead of her time- bridged the old guard to the avant-garde, leaving behind a legacy that still reverberates in music today. Come funk with us!

Featuring Felicia Collins (guitar), Camille Gainer-Jones (drums), Divinity Roxx (bass), LaFrae Sci (electronics), Kiki Hawkins and Asa Lovechild (vocals), two guys: Etienne Stadwijk and 'Big Mouth' Keith Fluitt

The Hot Sardines

Saturday, July 1 at 8pm

Start your holiday weekend with the sizzling return of hot-jazz darlings, The Hot Sardines! Since first appearing in the Spiegeltent in 2014, The Hot Sardines have emerged from their Brooklyn neo-speakeasy beginnings, playing hot jazz across the world as it was in the era when live music was king, bridging generations and captivating 21st-century audiences.

Martha Redbone

Indigenous Funk Party
Friday, July 7 at 8pm

An Afro-Indigenous, funk-infused celebration of story and song for a new millennium. Known for her unique gumbo of folk, blues, and gospel, Martha Redbone inherited the powerful vocal range of her gospel-singing African American father and the resilient spirit of her mother's Cherokee/Shawnee/Choctaw culture. "A brilliant collision of cultures" (The New Yorker), this is a party for the human spirit.

This engagement of Martha Redbone is made possible in part through the Mid Atlantic Tours program of Mid Atlantic Arts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Ari Shapiro hosts
Downstate/Upstate

with Henry Koperski, featuring Matteo Lane,

Kendra Dawsey, Kiko Soirée and Gaby Hornig & Emily Olcott

Saturday, July 8 at 8pm

Ari Shapiro, host of NPR's All Things Considered, hosts a bespoke and hilarious evening curated by composer Henry Koperski, ferrying the rising stars from NYC's downtown musical-comedy scene up the river and into the Spiegeltent for a not-to-be-missed affair. Matteo Lane (one of Variety's "Top Ten Comics to Watch") headlines a lineup that also includes comedian Kendra Dawsey, drag artist Kiko Soirée, and musical comedy duo Gaby Hornig & Emily Olcott.

Choro das 3

Sunday, July 9 at 6pm

This trio of three sisters from São Paulo, Brazil are highly regarded as some of the best choro musicians in the world. Making a stop at the Spiegeltent as part of their first U.S. tour since 2019, the virtuosic family trio carry on a 100-year-old tradition known as the first Brazilian genre of popular music.

Aria Code

Erin Markey

Jasmine Rice LaBeija

Friday, July 14 at 8pm

Two extraordinary voices share an evening exemplifying the dazzling and vast spectrum of contemporary queer performance.

The "hilariously sociopathic" (New York Times) Erin Markey conjures up an elaborate alternative to the 2016 US election results in their new musical work, In the Most Shocking Presidential Election in the History of the United States of America, Erin Markey's Mother Emerges as First Lady, comically exploring the back roads of familial intimacy.

The Juilliard-trained, International Godmother of the House of LaBeija, Jasmine Rice LaBeija has sold out the Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center, and countless queer clubs around the world. Now, with pianist Lachlan Glen, she brings her devastating wit, razor-sharp timing, and commanding tenor voice to the Spiegeltent with a program ranging from Handel to Copland.

Fisher Center 20th Anniversary Community Celebration

KinderDisco! with DJ Ali

Saturday, July 15 from 2-4pm

Free and open to the public

The whole family is invited to this super-fun daytime dance party for kiddos of all ages. Kingston's own DJ Ali has been keeping the Hudson Valley spinning like her vinyl for nearly a decade. Now she's calling all movers and shakers from 1 to 100 to the Spiegeltent floor.

After Hours+

Bright Light Bright Light

So Gay! So Dramatic! So Upstate!

with Ms Ana Matronic, Kim David Smith, and more

Friday, July 21 from 9pm - 12:30am

Cher, Elton John, and Erasure have all championed the 20-year career of Bright Light Bright Light-Welsh Valleys-born and NYC resident Rod Thomas-who returns to the Spiegeltent with an evening of campy, delicious fun including DJ sets from the Scissor Sisters' Ms Ana Matronic, live sets from some of his favorite New Yorkers and a set of his own cinema-inspired effervescent pop music.

Susanne Bartsch presents
New York, New York!

Saturday, July 22 at 8 pm

Featuring Amanda Lepore, Joey Arias, Julie Atlas Muz, Dirty Martini, Lola Von Rox, Sean Sellek, Demi Remi, Precious, Charlene Incarnate, Ann Artist, Haley Grace, Zita Thorn, and more

The eclectic and eccentric cabaret extravaganza from NYC nightlife legend Susanne Bartsch returns for a fifth season! A night at the opera collides with a burlesque circus for a high-fashion, madcap, and unforgettable entertainment experience that is a little risque but always extraordinary.

This event contains nudity and adult content and is recommended for mature audiences only.

Summertime Swing

with Gordon Webster

and Got2Lindy Dance Studio

Sunday, July 23
6pm: Doors Open

6:30pm: Dance Instruction

Through 10pm:Dancing

Spiegeltent favorites and local swing impresarios Linda and Chester Freeman of Got2Lindy Dance Studios lead a night of dancing featuring the stylings of one of the most sought after musicians in the lindy hop world, Gordon Webster.

The Motown Project

Friday, July 28 at 8pm

"[A] phenomenal experience - of solace and sublimity, communion and catharsis..."
-Artforum

Musical traditions yearning for each other across race, class, and nation grace acclaimed soprano Alicia Hall Moran's (The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess) meditation on the classic Motown songbook - a cinematic aria fusing "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" with Mozart, while Marvin Gaye's lyrical pathos finds solemnity in Purcell. The Motown Project fantasizes Motor City poetics in a musing of desire and infatuation only the soul of one chanteuse could endure.

Featuring Tony Scherr (Bass), LaFrae Sci (Drums, Electronics & Percussion), Thomas Flippin (Guitar), and Steven Herring (Baritone)

Lola Kirke

Saturday, July 29 at 8pm

"Madonna-meets-the-Judds"-Rolling Stone

Lola Kirke '12 stands out like a flash of neon magenta in this nostalgic landscape of Americana tin-types. Kirke's sweet spot is decidedly in the excess of the 80's. Anyone only familiar with Kirke through her on-screen performances (Mistress America, Gone Girl, or Mozart In The Jungle) may be surprised by just how dazzling Lola-playing-Lola can be, as she combines '80s synths with twangy guitars and country-tinged vocals in her Spiegeltent debut.

After Hours+

Celebrating 50 Years of Hip Hop

with LayeRhythm

Friday, August 4 from 9pm - 12:30am

In August 1973 the course of music history changed forever, and a subculture was born that would impact the 20th Century like no other. In celebration, NYC's LayeRhythm, a collective of DJs, MCs, musicians, and dancers, take over the Spiegeltent for an extended After Hours jam session guaranteed to keep audiences moving.

John Cameron Mitchell and Amber Martin

Cassette Roulette

Friday, August 11 at 8pm

Saturday, August 12 at 8pm

"The best cabaret show I've seen by far...unscripted, genuine, and pure genius."
-Broadway World

Tony Award-winning star of stage and screen John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), one of alt-culture's boldest creators, joins forces with international cabaret star Amber Martin (House of Whimsy in the Spiegeltent) for a hair-raising, hilarious romp of songs, stories and characters, all chosen by you and the hand of fate on the magical 'cassette roulette.' With special surprises and a new set list every night, it's never the same show twice.

Bluegrass on Hudson

Thursdays at 8pm

A series celebrating the contemporary bluegrass and roots music of America, featuring the next generation of talent carrying tradition forward for a new time. Presented in association with Fourth Stream House Concerts.

Caitlin Canty with Noam Pikelny

June 29

"Dreamy and daring" (Rolling Stone), the music of Caitlin Canty carves a line through folk, blues, and country ballads. Releasing her fourth studio album, Quiet Flame, in June 2023, Canty is joined by Grammy Award-winning banjoist Noam Pikelny (Punch Brothers) for an intimate, acoustic performance of songs reflecting resilience, perseverance, and finding satisfaction in the mess and the mundane.

The Jacob Jolliff Band

July 6

A former member of Yonder Mountain String Band, Jacob Jolliff is one of the country's premiere contemporary mandolinists, picking up the instrument at age seven and spending his youth picking his way around the northwest bluegrass circuit. With The Jacob Jolliff Band, he brings together a quartet of some of the most virtuosic and innovative young pickers in the country.

Tray Wellington Band

July 20

Tray Wellington released the acclaimed album Black Banjo in 2022, promoting Black individuality in music. Pushing the bounds of acoustic music, Wellington and his Band wield a unique and vitalizing sound mixing elements of pop, jazz, and rap into their bluegrass base. As The Washington Post put it, "If bluegrass is about spotlighting virtuosos, here's a new one people will be checking in on for some time to come."

Leyla McCalla

July 27

Garnering praise from NPR Music, Variety, The Guardian, and Barack Obama for her 2022 album Breaking the Thermometer, multi-instrumentalist Leyla McCalla's music illuminates the Black roots of American culture. McCalla's music is at once earthy, elegant, soulful, and witty-it vibrates with three centuries of history, blending her New Orleans influences with Haitian rhythms on cello, banjo, and guitar-yet also feels strikingly fresh, distinctive, and contemporary.

Phoebe Hunt

August 3

Fiddler Phoebe Hunt interweaves her classical upbringing with Appalachian Old Time, Texas Swing, and a maturity of songwriting that creates an unfiltered, raw expression dripping with palpable vulnerability. In her latest solo outing "with a twang in her voice and her trademark energetic fiddling, Texas singer-songwriter Phoebe Hunt tells the story of a woman who is determined to make her own way in the world" (NPR).

Spiegeltent After Hours

Fridays and Saturdays, June 23 - August 12

$12 at the door, or free with same-day ticket to any performance

Spiegeltent Garden Bar opens at 6:30 pm, weather permitting

Doors open 10:30 pm -12 am, Spiegeltent closes at 12:30 am

Open to patrons age 21 and up

No After Hours on August 5

June 24 Hot For You Disco

June 30 and July 1 DJ JonJon Battles

July 7 and 8 DJ Amber Valentine

July 14 DJ Sammy Jo

July 15 DJ MK Ultra

July 21 After Hours+ So Gay! So Dramatic! So Upstate! with Bright Light Bright Light and Ms Ana Matronic ($20, doors at 9 pm)

July 22 DJ Boyyyish

July 28 and 29 DJ Tikka Masala

August 4 After Hours+ Celebrating 50 Years of Hip Hop with LayeRhythm ($20, doors at 9 pm)

August 11 and 12 DJs Angela Di Carlo, Amber Martin, and John Cameron Mitchell

Eat and Drink at the Spiegeltent

The Spiegeltent Garden (weather permitting) offers beer, wine, and food to all SummerScape patrons from 6:30pm until 12am on Fridays and Saturdays, and some Thursdays. Ticket holders for Spiegeltent programs can enjoy a full menu and a full bar from 7pm until 12am. Food and beverage options for Sunday events vary.

Ticketing

Tickets, starting at $25 , are on sale now at fishercenter.bard.edu and 845.758.7900. Save 25% when you choose 3 or more SummerScape events.

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