Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival Kicks Off 30th Anniversary Season Tonight

By: Jul. 24, 2013
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The Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Long Island's longest-running classical music festival, marks its 30th anniversary season in summer 2013. The 11 concerts programmed by BCMF founder and Artistic Director Marya Martin showcase the mix of renowned and emerging artists performing classic and new music that has made it one of the most noteworthy summer music festivals in the country.

"It seems like yesterday that we dreamed of creating a festival where good friends make good music together, and in the blink of an eye three decades have passed," said Marya Martin. "This 30th anniversary is all about celebrating our musicians, our composers, and our community, which together have made something more meaningful than I could ever have imagined."

Described by The New Yorker in 2012 as a "firmly established series, which combines an easygoing spirit with an ethic of polished professionalism," the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival is offered in one of the most beautiful seaside settings on the East Coast. The 30th anniversary season kicks off on July 24 with a free outdoor concert on the grounds of the Bridgehampton Historical Society, and continues with concerts featuring from four to 14 musicians in the unique settings of the 1842 Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, the Atlantic Golf Club, and the Channing Sculpture Garden. The music on the programs ranges from favorites by Bach, Mozart, and Mendelssohn, to new American music (a BCMF mainstay), and this year's festival features the world premiere of a BCMF-commissioned work by 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts.

Joining flutist Martin on the 2013 BCMF artist roster is violinist Ani Kavafian, who was at the first festival, in 1984. This year's invigorating mix of more than 40 musicians also includes violinists Jennifer Frautschi, Stefan Jackiw, and Nelson Lee; violists Ettore Causa and Jonathan Vinocour; cellists Colin Carr and Clive Greensmith; pianists Alessio Bax, Pedja Muzijevic, and Shai Wosner; mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway; and percussionist Ayano Kataoka, as well as the ensemble Brooklyn Rider (full roster below).

"This impressive festival balances the tried and true with the adventurous and mixes established performers with rising talent," said The New York Times in 2010. This year's programs continue in that tradition with Bach Brandenburg Concertos interspersed with new American works; an all-Mozart soiree; two chamber works of Shostakovich; music of Robert Beaser, George Crumb (Night of the Four Moons), Avner Dorman, Leon Kirchner, and John Musto, among others; and two works, Bruce Adolphe's 1993 Bridgehampton Concerto, and Paul

Moravec's 2003 Chamber Symphony, that are past BCMF commissions. In addition to the new commissioned work, Seven Seascapes for Flute, Horn, Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass, and Piano (Aug. 11), composer Kevin Puts is represented in the festival also by his 2003 work Traveler for Flute, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Piano.

The festival also features an opening program of tango music featuring the pianist Pablo Ziegler and BCMF musicians, an evening with gypsy-jazz guitarist Stephane Wrembel and his band, and a concert featuring Brooklyn Rider performing new music by Ljova, Dana Lyn, and Colin Jacobsen in anticipation of a new recording release. (The full program listing is below).

And some examples emblematic of the Festival's exceptional groupings of musicians: Stefan Jackiw, Edward Arron, and Alessio Bax playing Mendelssohn's Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 66; Frank Huang and Ani Kavafian playing Prokofiev's Sonata for Two Violins in C Major, Op. 56; and Rachel Calloway, Marya Martin, Clive Greensmith, Jason Vieaux, and Ayano Kataoka performing George Crumb's Night of the Four Moons.

Tickets may be purchased on the festival's website, www.bcmf.org, or by calling 631-537-6368.



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