4th Annual Rites Of Spring Music Festival To Open With Vespers String Sextet Performance

Castello de Borghese Vineyards will host the 4th Annual Rites of Spring Music Festival launch on Saturday, April 27. A groundbreaking performance by the Vespers String Sextet will be the centerpiece of the evening. Rites of Spring has quickly become the premier classical and contemporary music festival on the East End of Long Island. The festival is devoted to contemporary sounds in a setting that engages the community and invites the listener to participate on many levels. This year’s schedule is taking the Festival to new heights as it will explore new combinations of music, the natural environment and historic sites.

“I am delighted to present the fourth edition of Rites of Spring Music Festival,” Paolo Bartolani, Founder and Artistic Director of the Festival, remarked. “It is focused on bringing new and thrilling music programs to the East End of Long Island.”

“The concert will showcase two of the greatest musical masterpieces of the late 19th century: Brahms’ exquisite First-String Sextet and Schoenberg’s monumental Transfigured Night,” Bartolani continued.

Artistic visual images will surround the music at the concert as a tribute to Schoenberg, who was also a painter and whose work reflects strong visual imagination. The musicians of the Vespers String Sextet have garnered countless awards and performed extensively in the United States and abroad. This is their debut performance as a group on the North Fork.

The young Rites of Spring Festival has enjoyed ever increasing support for its innovative programs and commitment to bring classical and contemporary music in non-traditional venues to the East End of Long Island. This year’s Festival will present seven concerts.

The 2019 concert schedule is as followed:

Saturday, April 27, 5:00 p.m.: Transfigured Night at Castello di Borghese Vineyards, Brahms and Schoenberg String Sextet

Sunday, May 5th 4:30 p.m.: Nature’s Sounds Concert at Quogue Wildlife Refuge, The Four Winds Trio: Ray Anderson, Giovanni Perez, Jay Rozen, & Tony Valderrama

Saturday, May 11th 7:00 p.m.: A Doll’s House: A new opera at Jamesport Meeting House with Grace Oberhofer, Allison Benko, Sarah Crane. This performance is based on the play by Henrik Ibsen.

Saturday, May 18th, 5 p.m.:​ Latin American Art Songs at Castello di Borghese Vineyards with Nell Snaidas, Soprano, Francisco Roldán, Guitar, Danny Mallon, percussion

​Saturday, June 1, 8:00 p.m.:​ Stockhausen’s Tierkreis at Ris Gallery with Cliff Baldwin and Dwight Frizzell, woodwinds, percussion & electronics

​Saturday, June 8th, 7:00 p.m.:​ Liminal Highway at Custer Observatory, Flutist Timothy Munro and Chris Cerrone, electronics

​​Saturday, June 15th, 7:00 p.m.:​ Viennese Lyrical Evening Closing Festival at Laurel Lake Vineyard with Schubert and Schumann lieder Tammy Hensrud, soprano, Ginevra Petrucci, flute and Paolo Bartolani, piano

A complete description and listing of all seven concerts can be found on the Rites of Spring website at www.ritesmusic.org. For additional information regarding the festival, please email [email protected].