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Bridgehampton Chamber Music’s BCM Spring Series Welcomes the Season with Pre-Eminent Musicians in Three Saturday Evening Concerts: April 5, April 26, and May 17

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BCM Spring, Bridgehampton Chamber Music’s spring series, welcomes the season of renewal in 2025 with three lively Saturday evening programs featuring some of the best chamber musicians performing today.

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The Danish String Quartet, one of today’s most exciting chamber ensembles, makes its BCM debut on April 5 with a concert featuring a Caroline Shaw work and music by Britten, Shostakovich, and Schubert. “Spring’s Clarity” on April 26 evokes the freshness of spring with music for winds – Eugene Goossens’s Pastorale et Arlequinade for flute, oboe and piano; William Grant Still’s Summerland for flute and piano; and Grazyna Bacewicz’s Oboe Sonata – as well as Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 2. The series culminates on May 17 with a program spotlighting great piano quartets, featuring Mahler’s only existing piece of instrumental chamber music, his Piano Quartet in A minor, and Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G minor, which concludes with the popular “Rondo alla Zingaresque.” (The complete programs follow below.)

Led by flutist and BCM Artistic Director Marya Martin, the series’ esteemed musicians include James Austin Smith, oboe; Paul Huang, violin; Chad Hoopes, violin; Ettore Causa, viola; Clive Greensmith, cello; Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, cello; Michael Stephen Brown, piano; Shai Wosner, piano; and the Danish String Quartet.

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

The Danish String Quartet describes itself thus: “We are three Danes and one Norwegian cellist, making this a truly Scandinavian endeavor. Being relatively bearded, we are often compared to the Vikings. However, we are only pillaging the English coastline occasionally.” The group has been acclaimed worldwide for its inventive programming and startling clarity of ensemble, their ability to play as one. As the Boston Globe said, “So what is it about them that prompts such acclaim? …For my part, I’ve got to give it to two things: their commitment to connecting and contextualizing music from all areas of the concert music tradition and beyond, and the unbridled joy they take in playing with one another.” www.danishquartet.com

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Bridgehampton Chamber Music

“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 Festival: Usually comprising a dozen events over four weeks, the summer festival has developed a loyal core audience among local residents and summer visitors since it began with four artists in two concerts in the intimate setting of the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church. The festival is still based in the graceful 1842 church – which boasts glowing acoustics – and has expanded to include other special event venues, including the Channing Sculpture Garden and Atlantic Golf Club in Bridgehampton, the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, and the Madoo Conservancy in Sagaponack.

BCM Records: In 2012, BCM launched its own record label, BCMF Records.  Signifying the festival’s commitment to American composers, the label’s first recording was BCMF Premieres, a disc of contemporary American music. The label’s current discography of 12 releases includes music by Bruce Adolphe, Robert Beaser, Leon Kirchner, Howard Shore, Paul Moravec, Kevin Puts, and Elizabeth Brown, as well as Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, and more.

BCM Spring: Convinced that there were music lovers looking for more opportunities to hear excellent chamber music year-round, BCM introduced its Spring series in 2015, and in 2017 expanded it from two concerts to three.

BCM Autumn: This three-concert series was launched in the fall of 2021.

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Bridgehampton Chamber Music has a wide variety of performance videos

and online programs from past seasons posted on its website and YouTube channel.

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BCM website “Watch & Listen” pagehttps://www.bcmf.org/watch-listen

BCM YouTube channelhttps://www.youtube.com/user/bcmfmusic

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www.bcmf.org

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Marya Martin

Internationally acclaimed flutist Marya Martin enjoys a musical career of remarkable breadth and achievement. Gracefully balancing the roles of chamber musician, festival director, soloist, teacher, and supporter of musical institutions, she has performed throughout the world in such halls as London’s Royal Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall, Sydney Opera House, Casals Hall in Tokyo, and other international venues.

A native of New Zealand, Ms. Martin studied at Yale University, and shortly thereafter moved to Paris to study with flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal. After winning top prizes in the Naumburg, Munich International, and Jean-Pierre Rampal International competitions, and the Concert Artists Guild and Young Concert Artists International Auditions—all within a two-year period—she returned to the U.S. and has since appeared as a soloist with major orchestras and at leading festivals and chamber music series throughout the country.

In 2006 she received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Auckland, and in 2011 received the Ian Mininberg Distinguished Service Award from Yale University. Committed to expanding the flute repertoire, she has commissioned more than 20 new works. She most recently commissioned eight works for flute and piano comprising Eight Visions, an anthology published by Theodore Presser, and recorded them for the Naxos label. In 2011, Albany Records released Marya Martin Plays Eric Ewazen. Ms. Martin has been a faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music since 1996.

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BCM Spring 2025

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Saturday, April 5, 2025, at 5 pm

Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church

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BCM Spring: Danish String Quartet

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The astounding Danish String Quartet will make their Bridgehampton debut with a fascinating and luminous program that culminates in Schubert’s epic final String Quartet in G major.

CAROLINE SHAW                              Entr’acte for String Quartet

BENJAMIN BRITTEN                        Three Divertimenti for String Quartet

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH                 String Quartet No. 4 in D major, Op. 83

FRANZ SCHUBERT                            String Quartet No. 15 in G major, D. 887

Danish String Quartet: Frederik Øland, violin; Rune Tonsgaard Sørenson, violin; Asbjørn Nørgaard, viola; Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, cello

Tickets: $75, $50, $10 student ticket

Saturday, April 26, 2025, at 5 pm

Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church

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BCM Spring: Spring’s Clarity

Spring sparkles with a wide-ranging program that features works by William Grant Still, Eugene Aynsley Goosens, Grażyna Bacewicz, and finishes with Mendelssohn’s stunning Piano Trio in C minor.

EUGENE GOOSSENS                        Pastorale et Arlequinade for Flute, Oboe and Piano

GRAZYNA BACEWICZ                      Oboe Sonata

WILLIAM GRANT STILL                    Summerland for Flute and Piano

FELIX MENDELSSOHN                     Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor

Marya Martin, flute; James Austin Smith, oboe; Chad Hoopes, violin; Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, cello; Shai Wosner, piano

Tickets: $75, $50, $10 student ticket

Saturday, May 17, 2025, at 5 pm

Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church

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BCM Spring: Mahler and Brahms

The 2025 Spring season comes to a close with a fantastic journey from Mahler’s darkly-hued Piano Quartet, to Belinda Reynold’s propulsive trio for flute, cello, and piano, to Brahms’s heart-racing Piano Quartet in G minor.

GUSTAV MAHLER              Piano Quartet in A minor (10’)

BELINDA REYNOLDS        Cover for Flute, Cello, and Piano (10’)

JOHANNES BRAHMS       Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25

Marya Martin, flute; Michael Stephen Brown, piano; Paul Huang, violin; Ettore Causa, viola; Clive Greensmith, cello

Tickets: $75, $50, $10 student ticket 

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www.bcmf.org

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Danish String Quartet, photo by Caroline Bittencourt

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