Music For Montauk To Kick-off Season With “Spring Prelude” And Spring Awakening Party

Music for Montauk (M4M), a non-profit organization that presents classical music year-round, will launch its 2017 season with a Spring Prelude. Taking place at the Montauk School Auditorium on Saturday, May 13 at 4 p.m., the concert will feature a string quartet, piano quintet, and stunning vocal finale.

“We have everything from the most intimate song to a Mozart Symphony this season,” noted Miloš Repicky of M4M.

Emily Pogorelc will bring eloquent lyricism and requisite vocal fireworks to the program. (Courtesy Photo)

Mozart’s virtuosic Piano Quartet in G minor will kick-off a dynamic new season during the Spring Prelude. Claude Debussy’s delicately characterized La Fille aux cheveux du lin (The Girl with Flaxen Hair), performed in an arrangement for string quartet, gives the impression of the warmth of coming summer. Francis Poulenc’s song settings of femme-fatale Louise de Vilmorin’s poems Fiançailles pour rire (Betrothal for Laughs)  focus a distinctly feminine perspective on life and love, while Gabriel Fauré’s sumptuously flowing Piano Quintet in D minor brings the dynamism of the program to a richly melodic climax.

M4M will feature favorites like Annaliesa Place on the violin, Diego Garcia on the cello, and Repicky on the piano, who will be joined by Metropolitan Opera Orchestra’s Joanna Maurer on the violin and Angela Pickett of Sybarite 5 on the viola. Praised by the New York Times for her “lively and incisive” soprano, Emily Pogorelc will bring eloquent lyricism and requisite vocal fireworks to the program.

The entire M4M ensemble will turn into an opera orchestra to accompany Bellini’s Qui la voce sua soave from I Puritani that will provide a triumphant finale.

Following M4M’s Spring Prelude, a Spring Awakening Party at Gosman’s Restaurant (500 West Lake Drive, Montauk) will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The party will include a buffet dinner and drinks. Artists will be present to talk about the upcoming season. Advance reception tickets are $35 and $40 at the door, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit Music for Montauk. Tickets are available at White’s Liquors (771 Montauk Highway, Montauk) and Naturally Good (779 Montauk Highway, Montauk).

Looking ahead to summer, Music for Montauk concerts will fill the East End Sunday, August 20 through Sunday, August 27.

“There will be new venues like Art Barge, for a sunset event on the Summer Series,” addd Music for Montauk President Lilah Gosman.

Admission to the Spring Prelude is free.

The Montauk School Auditorium is located at 50 South Dorset Drive in Montauk. For more information, call 646-342-0157 or visit www.musicformontauk.org.