After a year of quiet stages and online programs, the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Long Island’s longest-running classical music festival, is back in business for live, in-person performances this summer. BCMF 2021 presents a total of 13 concerts August 4 to 22, most at its home venue of the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, with returns to the Parrish Art Museum and Channing Sculpture Garden.
Bridgehampton Chamber Music’s 38th annual season is not a complete return to its pre-pandemic configuration: the festival is comprised of eight hour-long programs performed without intermission, five of which have repeat performances. Seating and capacity will be set, and updated if need be, to comply with state and local guidelines.
“We are so happy we can once again open our doors and share the joy of live music-making after a long year of quiet stages,” said BCM Founder and Artistic Director Marya Martin. “It’s been a difficult year for so many, so this summer we are presenting some of chamber music’s most beloved and life-affirming works.”
The festival opens with “Composer Portrait: Bach’s Chaconne,” a program devoted to this single movement of J.S. Bach’s Partita No. 2 for Solo Violin that is one of the most cherished works in the classical canon. Celebrated violinist Jennifer Koh performs the entire Partita, and renowned author and actor – and longtime friend to BCM – Alan Alda tells the work’s story. Other program highlights include an arrangement by Marya Martin of Mozart’s “A Little Night Music” for winds and strings; Beethoven’s arrangements of traditional folk songs; excerpts from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” and Astor Piazzolla’s “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires;” Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir de Florence;” Schubert’s “Cello Quintet;” and Brahms’s “Piano Quartet No. 1.” The season also includes the world premiere of a BCM commission: “Seasons of Our Time,” a work for flute, violins, viola, cello, bass, and harpsichord by Eric Ewazen.
The festival’s annual benefit, a concert with cocktails and dinner at the Atlantic Golf Club, and the annual Wm. Brian Little Concert, an event held at the Channing Sculpture Garden with wine and hors d’oeuvres, will go on as well – both events abiding by the health guidelines of their respective venues.
As always, the festival’s roster of artists comprises one of the best multi-generational groups of chamber musicians to be found anywhere. Led by flutist and festival founder Marya Martin, this summer’s BCM musicians are James Austin Smith, oboe; Yasmina Spiegelberg, clarinet; Peter Kolkay, bassoon; Stewart Rose, horn; Benjamin Beilman, Stella Chen, Frank Huang, Ani Kavafian, Jennifer Koh, Tessa Lark, Kristin Lee, Amy Schwartz Moretti, and Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, violin; Ettore Causa, Haesue Lee, Matthew Lipman, Cynthia Phelps, and Cong Wu, viola; Carter Brey, Clive Greensmith, Mihai Marica, Peter Stumpf, and Paul Watkins, cello; Xavier Foley and Donald Palma, bass; Michael Brown, Henry Kramer, and Gilles Vonsattel, piano; Kenneth Weiss, harpsichord; Gregory Feldmann, baritone; and Alan Alda, narrator.
For a full schedule and more info, visit www.bcmf.org.