Bard SummerScape’s Spiegeltent programming returns to Red Hook, New York for two months of live entertainment and late-night revelry. Running June 26 through Aug. 15, the beloved annual tradition will once again transform Bard’s mirrored pavilion into one of the Hudson Valley’s most vibrant performance spaces.
Set on Bard College’s campus, Spiegeltent delivers a sense of spectacle through its architecture alone. Built in 2016 with carved wood, parquet flooring, stained-glass windows and rich velvet canopies, the mirrored pavilion draws from a 19th-century Belgian tradition of traveling entertainment spaces. Today, it remains a striking home for intimate cultural gatherings and adventure.
Bard SummerScape Spiegeltent Highlights
Curated by Jason Collins, the 2026 season launches its 19th year with an eclectic summer bill spanning music, comedy and performance. Adrienne Truscott will serve as emcee, returning as both host and performer. Meanwhile, Andy Monk will host the After Hours series for patrons 21 and older.
Fourteen acts will make their Spiegeltent debut, including Underground System on June 26, “Saturday Night Live” cast member James Austin Johnson on June 27, and the Tray Wellington Band on July 3. Drag artist and burlesque performer BenDeLaCreme will also perform Aug. 14 and 15 with what is described as one of her most candidly personal works yet.
SummerScape Spiegeltent Performance Descriptions and Schedule
Underground System Friday, June 26 at 8 pm
Underground System opens the Spiegeltent season at Bard SummerScape with a high-energy night of New York City dance music. Known for fusing Afrobeat, punk and disco, the band has become a shape-shifting force in the city’s live music scene. Their debut LP, What Are You, earned cult status for its “David Byrne meets Soulwax” energy and helped bring them to international stages, including Eurockéennes and Fusion Festival. Led by Domenica, who returns to Bard after playing flute for Illinoise in 2023, Underground System launches the season with “exuberant dance music that blooms out into countless directions.”
Domenica (frontwoman, flute), Peter Matson (guitar, synths, samples), Jonathan Lee Granoff (bass, synth bass), Olatunji Ojore (congas).
James Austin Johnson Saturday, June 27 at 8 pm / Sold Out!
Comedian and actor James Austin Johnson makes his Spiegeltent debut with a stand-up set showcasing the sharp wit and chameleonic impression skills that have made him one of today’s most exciting comedians. Named “one of SNL’s most versatile celebrity impressionists” by The New York Times, Johnson is widely recognized for his uncanny portrayal of Donald Trump and is currently in his fourth season as a cast member on the show. Fresh off appearances in film (A Complete Unknown, Inside Out 2), television (Barry, Better Call Saul), and podcasting, Johnson brings a bold, unpredictable night of comedy to the Spiegeltent.
Tray Wellington Band Friday, July 3 at 8 pm
The Tray Wellington Band returns to the Spiegeltent with a forward-looking, high-energy performance that pushes the boundaries of acoustic music. Led by virtuosic banjo player Tray Wellington—winner of the Steve Martin Banjo Award and an International Bluegrass Music Association Award—the ensemble brings his compositions to life through rich instrumentation and inventive arrangements. Highly original and unconcerned with tradition, the Tray Wellington Band seamlessly fuses folk, bluegrass, jazz, and contemporary roots music into a thrilling, singular experience.
Chanel Ali Relative Stranger Friday July 17 at 8 pm
Comedian Chanel Ali returns with Relative Stranger, a triumphant comedy that blends the chaos of identity, family, and survival into a bold, hilariously raw theatrical event. Equal parts humor, heartbreak, and healing, Relative Stranger is packed with the punch only Chanel can deliver.
TaTa Sherise (NY Comedy Festival Comic to Watch) opens the evening with a stand-up set brimming with her signature charm, humor, and physical comedy.
Martha Redbone Guardian Spirit: The World of bell hooks
Friday, July 10 at 8 pm & Saturday, July 11 at 8 pm
Artist, composer and vocalist Martha Redbone returns to Bard SummerScape with a musical celebration of the words and legacy of bell hooks. In this developmental work-in-process, Redbone and longtime musical collaborator Aaron Whitby embark on a multidisciplinary musical exploration of bell hooks’s landmark poetry collection, Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place.
Martha Redbone (vocals, percussion), Aaron Whitby (music director, piano, keys), Charlie Burnham (violin, vocals), Robin Macatangay (guitar), Fred Cash (bass), Kevin Johnson (drums), Keith Anthony Fluitt (vocals), Ramona Renea (vocals), Vivian Sessoms (vocals).
Samora Pinderhughes The Healing Project Saturday, July 18 at 8 pm
Composer, pianist, vocalist, and activist Samora Pinderhughes makes his Spiegeltent debut with a unique and powerful evening of song. Known for striking intimacy and carefully crafted, radically honest lyrics alongside high-level musicianship, Pinderhughes has been named “one of the most affecting singer-songwriters today, in any genre” by The New York Times. He is the first-ever Art for Justice + Soros Justice Fellow, a United States Artist Fellow, a recipient of Chamber Music America’s Visionary Award, the 2025 Adobe Creative Residency at The Museum of Modern Art, and has received awards from Creative Capital and Sundance.
Adrienne Truscott and Le Gateau Chocolat Grey Arias: Unplugged Friday, July 24 at 8 pm
Le Gateau Chocolat is a man. Adrienne Truscott is a woman. Le Gateau Chocolat is a gay, black, English-Nigerian man and drag artiste. Adrienne Truscott is a cis white feminist American female performance artist. Le Gateau Chocolat is a multi-award-winning, plus-sized, bearded, drag diva feminist. Adrienne Truscott is a multi-award-winning comedian and provocateur who enjoys chocolate cake, up to a point. They are dear friends, and here, as in everyday life, they perform a multiplicity of identities: perceived, lived, and projected. As their comical banter turns personal, political debates erupt, and grey areas (and arias) are exposed. Between musical numbers that span Madame Butterfly and Annie, they spring rhetorical traps designed to catch any who overstep the blurred lines of the politically correct and interrogate the boundaries of allyship.
Jacqueline Novak 2026 tour Saturday, July 25 at 8 pm
Comedian and writer Jacqueline Novak makes her Spiegeltent debut on her 2026 tour. Her solo show Get On Your Knees sold out major New York runs at the Cherry Lane Theatre and the Lucille Lortel Theatre, toured nationally and internationally, and is now streaming on Netflix; the special, directed by Natasha Lyonne, received an Emmy nomination, praised by The Hollywood Reporter as “one of the most intricately conceived and written specials I’ve ever watched.” She co-hosts the podcast Poog with Kate Berlant, named one of TIME’s Top Ten Podcasts of the Year at its launch and Best of 2025 by The New York Times. Novak is a regular on Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Tonight Show.
American Patchwork Quartet Friday, July 31 at 8 pm
Making their Spiegeltent debut, the Grammy-nominated American Patchwork Quartet binds timeless American folk songs with jazz sophistication, country twang, West African hypnotics, and East Asian ornamentation—a deliberately designed homage to America’s past and a showcase of its dynamic present. The quartet’s music is grounded and sincere, resisting easy symbolism in favor of lived complexity, as each carefully chosen piece reflects the joys, sorrows, and enduring hope of a nation shaped by shared dreams and diverse histories.
Al Olender The Worrier Saturday, August 1 at 8 pm
Singer-songwriter and Kingston local Al Olender makes her Spiegeltent debut performing songs from her tender new album, The Worrier. Olender tries to grasp the brief, beautiful moments that make up our lives in slow motion—but finds that the tighter she holds on, the more they dissolve into a soupy blur.
Justin Vivian Bond Heated Revelry
Friday, August 7 at 8 pm Saturday, August 8 at 8 pm Sunday, August 9 at 7 pm
Grab some vodka, a blueberry smoothie, or some ginger ale and join Vivian Bond and her band for an evening of music to lose your gay virginity by. Featuring songs from the soundtrack of Heated Rivalry, and soundtrack-adjacent numbers. Pucker up for your rookie season. Don’t go back to Russia! Don’t be boring.
Matt Ray (musical director), Bernice Brooks (drums), Nath Ann Carerra (guitar), Claudia Chopek (violin), Mike Jackson (bass), David Schnirman (audio supervisor).
BenDeLaCreme
Friday, August 14 at 8 pm Saturday, August 15 at 8 pm
Lauded drag storyteller BenDeLaCreme is well known for her critically acclaimed multimedia solo works and glitzy camp productions. Now, she is ready to lay it bare. For the very first time, DeLa is dropping the trappings and trimmings and doing her most hilariously candid personal work yet. It’s DeLa unplugged; an intimate evening with the campiest of queens. For the very first time, DeLa will reveals her vulnerable side moving past the superficial outer self to explore the superficial self within.
Bluegrass on Hudson Thursdays at 7 pm
Returning for its fourth season at the SummerScape Spiegeltent, this series celebrates the contemporary bluegrass and roots music of America, featuring the next generation of talent carrying the tradition forward for a new time. The series is curated by Ruth Oxenberg and Rob Schumer.
The Fretliners Thursday, July 2 at 7 pm
The Fretliners are defined by their songwriting, powerful harmonies and dynamic arrangements. Their sound that feels both timeless yet new. Rooted in acoustic string traditions, their music reaches well beyond genre, resonating through honesty and craft. With songs that balance tradition and innovation, they continue to chart a bold path forward, creating music that otherwise connects as deeply on record as it does on stage.
The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project Thursday, July 16 at 7 pm
The musical legacy of John Hartford has found a new chapter with The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project. Mandolinist Sharon Gilchrist, fiddle player Rachel Baiman, and banjo/guitarist Ella Korth bring newly discovered Hartford tunes to old-time and bluegrass fans everywhere. These compositions, found handwritten in 60 notebooks after John’s death, were compiled in The John Hartford Mammoth Collection of Fiddle Tunes, and recorded on the Grammy-nominated album, The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project Vol. 1, and Vol. 2: Julia Belle (co-produced by Gilchrist and released in February 2025).
Darol Anger and Bruce Molsky Thursday, July 23 at 7 pm
Darol Anger and Bruce Molsky have been musical explorers together for years, sharing a creative universe that’s resulted in some epic collaborations, like the Grammy-nominated Fiddlers Four with Michael Doucet and Rushad Eggleston, crashing each other’s concerts and recordings, and just finding big joy in playing together.
Kittel & Co. Thursday, July 30 at 7 pm
Kittel & Co., fronted by acclaimed violinist Jeremy Kittel, brings together classical, acoustic roots, Celtic, bluegrass, folk and jazz influences. Its members have collaborated with Béla Fleck, Sarah Jarosz, Chris Thile and Yo-Yo Ma. Together, Kittel, Josh Pinkham, Quinn Bachand, Jacob Warren and Simon Chrisman create a singular sound that has reached audiences from Telluride Bluegrass Festival to “A Prairie Home Companion.”
The Onlies Thursday, August 6 at 7 pm
The Onlies are a longstanding collective of young friends defining a powerful new generation of string-band music. Their music moves with a pulsating drive, sharp arrangements and rich vibration, resounding firmly in the present.
Big Richard Thursday, August 13 at 7 pm
Big Richard delivers ferocious, unapologetic acoustic music with big energy and even bigger chops. Their live shows are raucous, emotional, and irreverent—mixing ripping instrumentals, dark humor, and raw, socially charged songs. Their new album Pet is now out on Signature Sounds. It was recorded live to tape to capture the chaos and catharsis that define their performances.
SummerScape Spiegeltent After Hours Fridays and Saturdays, June 26 – August 15
Andy Monk of Queer Conspiracy hosts and curates this year’s After Hours series, with a DJ lineup featuring fresh faces and returning favorites. Entry is available from 10:30 pm – 12 am and is open to patrons age 21 and older.
DJ Schedule
June 26 • Patrick Kyle
June 27 • Jams Bond
July 10 • Brandon Wolcott
July 11 • Flared Bass
July 17 • Scotia
July 18 • Michael V
July 24 • Nath Ann Carrera and Tommi Calamari
July 25 • Bright Light Bright Light
July 31 • Tikka Masala
Aug. 1 • Amber Valentine
Aug. 7 and 8 • Sammy Jo
Aug. 14 • PrettyWoman
Aug. 15 • Kristill Avalanche
$15 in advance; $18 at the door or free with same-day ticket to any performance
Note: There will be no SummerScape Spiegeltent performances or After Hours on July 4.
Spiegeltent Garden offers beer, wine and light bites for SummerScape patrons, weather permitting, from 6:30 p.m. to midnight Fridays, Saturdays and select Thursdays. Then, ticket holders can enjoy light fare and drinks from a full bar from 7 p.m. to midnight. Sunday food and beverage options vary.
Programs, dates and times are subject to change without notice. Friday, Saturday and After Hours performances may contain nudity and are intended for mature audiences. Guests under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Ticketing can be purchased through the Fisher Center at Bard’s website or by phone at 845-758-7900.
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