Bridgehampton Chamber Music Gears Up for Fall Series of Concerts

As the busy summer season winds down, leading to quieter fall days and darker nights on the East End, flutist Marya Martin, founder and artistic director of Bridgehampton Chamber Music, is looking forward to what’s next for her organization. That’s BCM Autumn 2024, a lineup of three Saturday concerts to be performed in the coming months at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church that will usher in a calming and much-needed respite as we head into the final weeks of the year.

The first BCM Autumn 2024 concert this weekend, “The Heart of Beethoven,” will feature two of Beethoven’s sonatas, “Moonlight” and “Pathétique,” performed by pianist Gilles Vonsattel. For the last 15 years, audiences have come to know Vonsattel as a fixture at BCM’s summer concerts, but because he couldn’t fit the festival into his schedule this year, Martin is welcoming him to open the fall series.

“It’s more like a recital because it’s just piano — two of Beethoven’s most famous sonatas. It’s different, but I think it will be really interesting and Gilles will talk about the pieces,” Martin explained. “There’s something about Beethoven’s piano sonatas. He wrote 32 of them. Even Mozart, who was facile and wrote a lot, only wrote 18 sonatas. Beethoven’s sonatas are very intimate, very meaningful works, mainly because the piano was his instrument.”

She added that when the composer’s hearing started to fail, he turned to the instrument that was the most familiar to him as he continued to write music.

“There’s something called perfect pitch, where someone can identify any sound as a pitch,” she said. “A lot of musicians have it, and whatever instrument you play first is the instrument your ear automatically hears that pitch in. I played piano first and hear it there. I think Beethoven did too.”

Martin describes the composer’s sonatas on this weekend’s program as being full of emotion. Both were written relatively early in Beethoven’s career — “Pathétique” in 1798 when he was 27 years old, and “Moonlight” just three years later in 1801. By his mid-40s, Beethoven was totally deaf. He died in 1827 at the age of 56.

“While writing the ‘Pathétique,’ he still was hearing well. By the time of ‘Moonlight’ he had started losing his hearing,” Martin noted. “Beethoven’s late period, when he wrote most of the sonatas, he didn’t feel comfortable being with people because he couldn’t hear what they were saying. The piano sonatas kicked him to life. They enabled him to think his life was worth living. Instead of making him think of killing himself, the piano was his happy place.”

The second concert of the series on November 16 is “Schumann & Ravel,” piano trios performed by pianist Gloria Chien, violinist Soovin Kim and cellist Paul Watkins. Like Beethoven, Schumann carried troubled thoughts throughout his life.

“Schumann’s trio is a major work — Robert Schumann had some tough times in his later period with emotional stability,” Martin explained. “In 1850, he threw himself off a bridge and tried to commit suicide. He died in 1856. He was not a happy camper. This is a major piece and it was composed in 1847 in the middle of a tough time, but it was during quite a happy link of a good time.”

The second work on November’s program is Ravel’s piano trio in A minor, which was written in 1914.

“It is very French, with a different sort of flavor, a different way of being,” Martin said. “At the turn of the century, French composers were just finding their way. Ravel’s story is that he was quite young, but Germany had invaded France and he was in the midst of writing this trio and worked like a crazy man to finish it in five weeks instead of five months and then he shipped off to war.”

The series will close out on December 7 with “Baroque Bounty,” a festive program in celebration of the approaching holiday season, with Martin performing alongside three young artists making their BCM debuts — flutist Brandon Patrick George, violinist Kevin Zhu and cellist James Baik — as well as Michael Stephen Brown on the harpsichord.

While the music for this series will no doubt be, as always, stellar, Martin notes that the planning for the fall concerts is far less hectic for her than the summer festival, where she must oversee and program 12 different concerts over the course of a month at multiple East End venues.

“This fall series is a one-off,” she said. “It makes it easier for me.”

Also easier for Martin is the fact that for the “Baroque Bounty” series finale on December 7, she will be playing alongside a musician she already knows quite well — fellow flutist Brandon Patrick George, whom she taught at Manhattan School of Music when he was a student in the master’s degree program there.

“He was quite formed when he came to me and had already done his undergraduate work,” Martin said. “I loved his playing and his energy. We had a similar way of approaching music. It was a very good partnership — he and I musically were very compatible. He was really a treat to teach because he just gobbled it up.”

“I had a really positive experience at Manhattan School of Music,” confirmed George in a recent phone interview. “Marya is a brilliant flute player, her level of playing and artistry is so far advanced and she wants that for her students and pushes them to play their absolute best. She was very encouraging. When I came to New York, I had ideas about these things I wanted to do and she was completely encouraging and helped me find my own voice.

“In my graduate work, I was learning repertoire, preparing for competitions and doing things to challenge myself to be better,” he added. “She wasn’t trying to make me into any one kind of player, but was interested in finding out what I have to say and who I am as a player. So many people play well, but it’s special to have a teacher helping you find your own voice.”

George, 38, arrived in New York City 16 years ago to pursue his music career after taking the first steps in Ohio. A native of Dayton, he picked up the flute at his public school in fifth grade when he was 10. As a seventh-grader, he enrolled at Stivers School for the Arts, the city’s only public visual and performing arts school, where he spent his middle and high school years perfecting his talents on the flute. An undergraduate music degree at Oberlin College followed and soon, as it does for many creative Midwesterners, the East Coast beckoned.

“I always wanted to play solo music and chamber music, and I think it was a draw to go to New York because there are so many opportunities for people to find their own creative path,” George explained. “That’s why it’s a destination for so many young creatives and why I wanted to go — so I’d have this opportunity to grow and be challenged. Of course, the level is quite extraordinary, Manhattan School of Music is a big conservatory in New York, and simultaneously I wanted to find my way as a soloist. That was a draw for me.”

And find his way he did. In addition to performing in chamber music programs like “Baroque Bounty,” where he will make his BCM debut alongside his one-time teacher, George is also a member of the Grammy Award-winning quintet Imani Winds. Based in New York City, the group, which performed on Shelter Island in an April concert presented by the Shelter Island Friends of Music, is known for its diverse programming. Founded by flutist Valerie Coleman in 1997, from classical compositions and jazz to world music forms, Imani Winds has developed a reputation for presenting diverse programming and commissioning new music designed to introduce audiences to a wide diversity of composers. George joined Imani Winds in 2018 and is in his seventh season with the quintet.

“Imani Winds never sought to be an ensemble that was specific to having influences of jazz or classical, but we play the music that represents the world we live in,” George explained. “Representation is important, but also music that speaks to the times we live in. To do that, you have to consider the entire music landscape, not just classical music. By wanting to play programs that speak to the times we live in, the group sought out many types of music, like Simon Shaheen, the oud player, is known for his Middle Eastern music. For me, I find it really interesting. I play a lot of the standard repertoire we all know and love, but also programs that came about organically.

“In the grand scheme of things, this incorporating of styles has been going on for centuries,” he added. “But I love now that groups like Imani are normalizing it and bringing those influences into classical music that are made up of composers from these different places.”

During the December concert, George and the other musicians will be playing works by members of the Bach family, Telemann and more.

“Marya is the artistic director and it’s her responsibility to bring the artists together and put the program together,” George said. “I respected that she asked me for my thoughts of repertoire I would like to play. I proposed I would play a J.S. Bach sonata. I chose that based on factors like knowing what else is on the program and finding a work that will complement it.

“Around the holidays it’s very common to hear lots of Baroque musical performances,” he added. “So much of this chamber music was written for intimate settings and is often celebratory. Whether it’s small gatherings among friends or a larger concert, it’s very fitting having these.

“It’s going to be really fun at BCM,” he continued. “I came out to Bridgehampton as a grad student to hear concerts, the level of playing and the programming and the audience is so terrific. When Marya started it, she realized there was need for a festival like this. The love of music and a love of a chamber music in that community is so strong. I’m looking forward to it.”

BCM Autumn 2024 Schedule: “The Heart of Beethoven,” Saturday, October 26, 5 p.m.; “Schumann & Ravel,” Saturday, November 16, 5 p.m.; “Baroque Bounty,” Saturday, December 7, 5 p.m. Tickets are $75, $50 and $10 for students at bcmf.org/autumn-series. Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church is at 2429 Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton.