A sizzling summer at SummerScape, the Spiegeltent

The music evokes the haunting precision and passion of a Wild West gunfight.

The ensemble on stage will work to link it with Italian composer Giacomo Puccini.

And the venue where this performance will take place fuses the majesty of its European roots with the fun of a Jersey Shore boardwalk.

Welcome to the Spiegeltent. And welcome to the SummerScape festival at Bard College in Annandale.

The Spiegeltent, a SummerScape venue, will on Aug. 11 feature a performance by Contemporaneous. Among the 21-piece ensemble’s selections will be Ennio Morricone’s “Final Duel,” from “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” the 1966 spaghetti western starring Clint Eastwood.

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The annual SummerScape festival features music, opera, theater, dance, film and cabaret. It is underway and continues through Aug. 14.

The Bard Music Festival, held as part of SummerScape, explores a composer and the culture in which they lived, using different artistic disciplines as well as a look at the composer’s contemporaries.

This year’s focus, Puccini, was born in 1858 and died in 1924. Puccini, according to Bard, “created three of the most iconic and enduringly popular operas of all time — ‘La bohème,’ ‘Madama Butterfly’ and ‘Tosca.’”

Along with the stunning, Frank Gehry-designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, SummerScape performances are held in the Spiegeltent, which features strategically placed lighting, darkened corners created by tent folds, fabric and wooden booths.

“It’s offbeat and fun,” Bob Bursey, executive director of the Fisher Center, said of the Spiegeltent. “It gives us an opportunity to bring a diverse group of artists.”

As part of SummerScape’s examination of Puccini, “Spaghetti Western” by Contemporaneous will explore the links between the U.S., Italy and music. The evening of music is one of numerous SummerScape offerings.

“Spaghetti Western” will also feature the work of David Lang, a Pulitzer Prize winner and Academy Award nominee; and Clara Iannotta. The spaghetti western film genre features films about the American West made by Italian directors.

David Bloom, a Bard graduate and the co-artistic director and co-founder of Contemporaneous, described Iannotta as “a rising star in Italy.”

As for “Spaghetti Western,” he said, “At its core, it’s a program of Italian composers who are influenced by American culture and American composers influenced by their time spent in Italy.”

Contemporaneous was launched by Bard students in 2010, is now based in New York City and nearly half of its members are Bard graduates. The Contemporaneous musicians have a range of backgrounds, from classical and jazz to folk and indie rock.

Bloom serves as conductor and said, “We look like an orchestra, but we have the lean power of a band.”

Bursey had high praise for Contemporaneous and Bloom, who were welcomed for a different performance at last year’s SummerScape.

“David as a conductor is absolutely magnetic,” Bursey said. “He has incredible performance presence and really draws exceptional playing from the ensemble. They’re exciting to watch.”

Bursey said SummerScape strives to stage performances that have rarely or never been seen. And this year’s offerings in that category include Puccini’s “Le Villi,” a rarely-heard opera set for Aug. 7 at the Fisher Center.

SummerScape also strives to provide a venue for emerging artists. That was the case, Bursey said, with James Darrah, who earlier this month directed the opera “Iris,” which was composed by Puccini’s friend, Pietro Mascagni.

Darrah, Bursey said, is “somebody who has a lot of talent, but hasn’t had a ton of opportunities to work on a large-scale yet. We said, ‘We’re going to take a risk on this guy.’ That’s something that cuts through a lot of the programming.”

John W. Barry: jobarry@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4822, Twitter: @JohnBarryPoJo

If You Go

Bard SummerScape 2016, featuring music, opera, theater, dance, film and cabaret

When: SummerScape is underway and continues through Aug. 14

Where: Bard College, Annandale

Information: Visit www.fishercenter.bard.edu/summerscape or call 845-758-7900.

The Spiegeltent

Upcoming Spiegeltent performances include:

- “After Hours” with DJ Tikka Masala July 29-July 30

- “Ragtime and the Birth of Jazz” featuring a performance by Chris Washburne's Ragtime Band Aug. 4.

- A sold-out concert Aug. 6 by singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, who was born in Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck and graduated from the Millbrook School.

- “Notes of a Native Song” on Aug. 12. Stew and Heidi Rodewald present an evening of songs, text, and video in tribute to writer James Baldwin.

Did you know:

The history of the Spiegeltent can be traced to the mid-1800s, when dance tents and barrel organs were transported around the European countryside, from fair to fair, according to the book, "Always Party Time: Spiegeltents from 4 Generations of the Klessens Family." 

The Spiegeltents of today emerged after World War I, with a round shape that handled nature better than the traditional square and rectangular shapes of the dance tent.

Bard SummerScape was the first to bring a Spiegeltent from Europe to the United States.

Also: 

According to Bard College, Spiegeltent Cabaret and After Hours performances are for mature audiences only. Cabaret admission is restricted to those over 18 years old unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. No one under 18 is permitted during After Hours.