The Daily Freeman is reporting the Bard SummerScape festival this year will focus on the music and culture of Italy, specifically opera composer Giacomo Puccini. The 27th annual event will take place from July 1 to August 14 at venues on the Bard campus in Annandale-on-Hudson. The festival will feature music, opera, theater, dance, film and cabaret based on the theme, "Puccini and His World." Among the performances planned, is a rare, fully staged production of "Iris," a precursor of "Madama Butterfly" by Puccini's close contemporary Pietro Mascagni, as well as the world premiere of "Demolishing Everything With Amazing Speed," four newly unearthed puppet plays from Italian futurist Fortunato Depero. Information can be found online at Fisher Center [dot] Bard [dot] edu [slash] SummerScape. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.