Fisher Center at Bard — Attraction in Town of Red Hook

Fabulous performing arts center designed by Frank Gehry (born 1929). From the outside it looks like the "Bilbao Guggenheim" transported to the Hudson River valley. The opera stage inside has fabulous acoustics and great views even from the "cheap" seats. In 2024, I was fortunate to see a performance of "Le Prophete" by Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864), conducted by Maestro Leon Botstein (born 1946). This fabulous musical production continues the tradition of rediscovering forgotten but worthy musical masterpieces at Bard. The singers and the musicianship were outstanding. Seeing a matinee, the atmosphere reminded me of Bayreuth's Grüner Hügel with the Festspielhaus. You could argue that Bard's Fisher Center is a modern (air conditioned!) version of that. In 2025 we saw another fabulous opera production, this year Dalibor by Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884), another unjustly forgotten opera, at least outside the Czech Republic. Once again conducted by Leon Botstein, the production had excellent singers and a set that reminded me of German expressionist silent films, Piranesi, and Tatlin's famous Monument to the Third...

I am hesitant to say some of this, mostly because The Fisher Center hosts speakers of the utmost caliber, and their employees are gracious, kind and helpful. However, I also believe in honesty and transparency.

I recently purchased tickets to see an acclaimed author give a 5-series lecture on writing. I've seen two of the lectures so far, and they've been wonderful; Inspiring to me as a writer, in fact. My concerns pertain to the premium package I purchased (for an extra $800 I couldn't really afford but bought anyway). That package included a special reception with the author afterward.

In my experience, the premium package wasn't worth the money. I was rushed to get into the signing line first, the author wrote a single word in my book, didn't speak or respond to me, and didn't even look me in the eye. I'm still glad I bought tickets for the lectures, but I wish I'd completely avoided...

The shows put on by the Fischer Center are great. The Spiegeltent is beautiful. However, the shows there are lackluster. We have been to a few at Spiegeltent that were sub-par. We went to some event during the last weekend of July that was really disappointing. It was an LGBTQ-fest, which would have been fine with me, except the whole set of performances were boring. I'm sorry but Mx Justin Vivian Bond may be a fine coordinator of events but her singing is ... (I don't want to say anything bad here.) The other acts were so-so. I fell asleep through one act. The only one I thought was good was "Birth of an Asian Nation" by a talented duo. They were stellar. Otherwise, I would say: skip Spiegeltent (except for drinks before your show somewhere else) and go to all the other great...