BCM Spring Concert Series: French Delights and Mozart Gems

BCM Spring, the annual series from Bridgehampton Chamber Music, Long Island’s longest-running classical music festival, welcomes spring in 2024 with two concerts, including a delectable French repertoire and Mozart gems featuring some of the finest chamber musicians performing today.

The Saturday evening concerts will take place at BCM’s home venue, Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, at 5:00 pm.

On May 4, a work for winds and piano by young New Zealand composer Salina Fisher joins Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds and Francis Poulenc’s Sextet for Piano and Winds. And on the May 18 program, great piano quartets by Mozart and Dvořák bookend another early-20^th-century French gem by Philippe Gaubert. 

Led by flutist and BCM Artistic Director Marya Martin, the series’ musicians include Bridget Kibbey, harp; Stewart Rose, horn; Peter Kolkay, bassoon; James Austin Smith, oboe; Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinet; Chad Hoopes and Kristin Lee, violin; Hsin-Yun Huang and Cong Wu, viola; Mihai Marica and Paul Watkins, cello; and Inon Barnatan and Michael Stephen Brown, piano

This longtime East End festival, directed by the flutist Marya Martin, has flourished by offering concerts both effervescent and distinguished,” said The New Yorker. In the 40 years since its founding, Bridgehampton Chamber Music has become known for presenting a broad range of music performed by some of the best musicians in the world in one of the most beautiful seaside settings on the East Coast.  With autumn and spring mini-series joining the summer festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music now offers programs almost year-round.

 BCM Concerts

BCM Spring: Mozart’s Spirit

Saturday, May 4, 2024, at 5pm

Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church

Mozart was known for profundity and elegance as well as a playful and impish spirit. Here we explore this duality, presenting Mozart’s exquisite Quintet for Piano and Winds alongside Salina Fisher’s thoughtful and probing Unfinished Portrait and Poulenc’s irresistible and playful Sextet.

A. MOZART                  Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat major, K. 452

SALINA FISHER                  Unfinished Portrait for Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano

FRANCIS POULENC          Sextet for Piano and Winds

Marya Martin, flute; Stewart Rose, horn; Peter Kolkay, bassoon; James Austin Smith, oboe;

Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinet; Michael Stephen Brown, piano

BCM Spring: Masters at Work – Mozart/Gaubert/ Dvořák

Saturday, May 18, 2024, at 5pm

Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church

Two of the great piano quartets bookend a program that presents three composers at the heights of their creativity: Mozart’s brooding G minor Piano Quartet is among his most profound works, and Dvořák’s E-flat major is an intense and wild ride. Gaubert’s Three Watercolors, on the other hand, provide a bit of impressionistic magic to balance out the program. 

A. MOZART                  Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478 

PHILIPPE GAUBERT          Trois Aquarelles (Three Watercolors) for Flute, Cello, and Piano

ANTONIN DVOŘÁK          Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 87

Marya Martin, flute; Inon Barnatan, piano; Chad Hoopes, violin; Hsin-Yun Huang, viola; Paul Watkins, cello

For tickets and information, visit www.bcmf.org/spring-concerts