Concerts For Spring

The Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival’s spring series of concerts, serving both to enlighten and entertain, returns for its fifth year. The spring series rides on the rather lengthy coattails of Long Island’s longest-running classic music festival, the BCMF summer series, which will celebrate its 36th year.

“When we started our spring series five years ago, we knew that there were music lovers looking for more opportunities to hear excellent chamber music year-round, and we have been thrilled by the overwhelming response from the community,” said artistic director Marya Martin. The New Zealand native and flutist has performed all across the globe, including the Sydney Opera House in Australia, Casals Hall in Tokyo, and London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Kicking off the series on Saturday, March 23, are pianists Orion Weiss and Shai Wosner, who will combine the sounds of Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms. The following month, on Sunday, April 14, the Jerusalem Quartet will make its festival debut with a program of masterpieces from Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, of the French quartet, and Béla Bartók’s Fifth String Quartet. A German Baroque program will conclude the series on Saturday, May 11, with Martin and returning artists James Austin Smith on oboe; Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu on violin; Nicholas Canellakis on cello; and Kenneth Weiss, harpsichord.

“I’ve been coming out to the Hamptons regularly since I was 14 years old,” said Orion Weiss. The soloist has performed with notable American orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic. “Many of my most inspiring and formative musical experiences took place in that magical part of the world. Pianofest in the Hamptons, the Perlman Music Program, and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival were major sites in my musical youth and are now some of the happiest parts of my musical middle-age.”

BCMF is dedicated to bringing worldly sounds to local shores. Each season the program features 10 to 15 contemporary works, including prior commissioned pieces from Pulitzer Prize-winners Paul Moravec, Kevin Puts, and Ned Rorem.

Each concert begins at 5 PM at the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church.

Martin said, “How thrilling it is for us to be celebrating the fifth season of our spring series, which couldn’t have happened without the support and energy of music lovers across the East End.”

For more information, log onto www.bcmf.org.

nicole@indyeastend.com