36th Annual Bridghampton Chamber Music Festival Launches 12-Concert Season In July

The Bridgehampton Chamber Music is returning this summer with their 36th annual Festival launching on Sunday, July 21 through Thursday, August 8. This year they are launching a 12-concert series. “Winds of Change” is the theme for this summer’s festival – meaning a spotlight on music for wind instruments and the work of women composers over the past century and a half. There will be a total of 12 composers featured, many of whom are still active today.

“I’m particularly thrilled to present this summer’s season,” said BCMF Founder and Artistic Director Marya Martin. “In this uneasy moment in history, we have focused our energies on creating a dynamic summer of programming that reminds us both of the capacity for artists to create works of incredible beauty, and also how music and beliefs change over time. We express this through a focus on the evolution of wind music, with a snapshot of Mozart’s gorgeous chamber works for wind instruments, and by highlighting the contributions of women composers.”

The Summer Festival schedule is as follows:

July 21: Dvořák in the New World at the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church

July 24: Free Outdoor Concert: Project Fusion Saxophone Quartet at Field behind the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church

July 28: Mozart/Crumb/Mendelssohn at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church

July 31: Summer Winds at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church

August 4: Mozart, Brahms & More at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church

August 5: BCMF @ the Parrish: Focus on Frankenthaler at Parrish Art Museum

August 9: Wm. Brian Little Concert: Music from the Movies at Channing Sculpture Garden

August 11: Schubert’s Trout Quintet at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church

August 14: Inspirations Abound: Mozart, Fauré & More at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church

August 17: Saturday Soiree: Dynamic Duos at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church

August 18: Season Finale: Mozart, Esmail, and Brahms at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church

Additionally, BCMF will host its annual benefit, A Rapturous Evening, on Saturday, July 27 at Atlantic Golf Club. The evening will be packed with “gorgeous melodies and heavenly harmonies sure to transport you to a realm of pure bliss.” The concert will commence at 6:30 p.m. and cocktails and dinner will follow.

In other exciting news, the Sony recording of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale performed by BCMF musicians and rock legend Roger Waters that was released last fall (to mark the centenary of the WWI Armistice) reached #1 on the classical charts of Billboard and Amazon, and was praised in a review by NPR: “Waters is surrounded by the terrific musicians of the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival…. This is a seriously enjoyable addition to the Stravinsky catalog.”

For more information on the 36th Annual Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, visit /www.bcmf.org/season.