STAGE TUBE: Sneak Peek at Bard SummerScape's THE WRECKERS

Ethel Smyth's The Wreckers is based in historical fact: in small, desperately poor villages on Britain's Cornish coast, bands of villagers formed secret cadres that at critical moments would extinguish the beacons established on the coast to guide ships, thus forcing them onto the rocks and then plundering the cargo and murdering the crews.

Check out a sneak peek below!

The story Smyth chose to set presents a tale that should be of intense interest to contemporary audiences. It concerns an isolated community in Cornwall that possesses a religiously based, fanatical self-regard that leads it to justify theft and murder as God-given rights and virtues. Led by the community's own pastor who invokes Christianity, violence becomes the instrument of realizing God's will. The opera depicts the consequences of mass hysteria and populist justice, framed by a powerful display of orchestral writing, memorable motivic recurrence, and a brilliant use of chorus.

Opera Talk: July 26 at noon

Evening at the Opera Package

Make an evening of it with dinner and tickets to the opera. Join us on Friday, July 24 or Friday, July 31 for a delicious three-course dinner at the Spiegeltent, and a ticket to The Wreckers (with no ticketing fees).

Currently available:

The Wreckers: July 24 or July 31

$80 Parterre seating (save $60); $100 Orchestra seating (save $50)

Joining us from New York City?

Out-of-Town packages are available for select performances during SummerScape. Packages include round-trip transportation from New York City to Bard in our SummerScape Coach, three-course lunch/dinner at the Spiegeltent, and your ticket to the performance (with no ticketing fee).

Currently available:
The Wreckers: July 24, July 26, and August 2 performances
$100 Parterre seating (save $60); $125 Orchestra seating (save $50)