Chamber music debuts in Quogue

Jane Deckoff doesn’t see why, with Quogue’s thriving arts community, classical music can’t carve out a niche in the village.

That’s why she spearheaded forming a new not-for-profit organization to organize three annual chamber music concerts in Quogue.

Quogue Chamber Music, the event, will debut with a performance at 7:30 p.m. on September 12 at Quogue Community Hall on Jessup Avenue by the Cavani String Quartet and six other musicians. Ms. Deckoff, the Quogue Chamber Music board president, hopes to host a concert every April, June and September at the Community Hall.

The Quogue community is heavily involved in the arts, Ms. Deckoff said. She thought that music lacked representation, and a chamber music series would fit in.

“There is an audience for chamber music in Quogue,” she said. “Classical music is an acquired taste. A lot love it, and a lot have to learn about it.”

Ms. Deckoff, who worked for 15 years as an independent music manager hooking up New York City-based musicians with gigs, flirted with the idea of a Quogue-based chamber music series for years before she started making it a reality.

“It’s been in the back of my mind for a long time,” she said.

After Ms. Deckoff retired from a management job two years ago, she started organizing Quogue Chamber Music. It soon became another full-time job. “Nothing done well is easy,” she said.

Ms. Deckoff joined an organization called Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, which matched her with a lawyer who organized all the paperwork and helped Quogue Chamber Music achieve its not-for-profit status, pro bono. The process took about a year to complete.

Quogue Village Mayor George Motz said he believes the series is great idea and that it will broaden Quogue’s cultural perspective. “I think it will be very popular,” he said. “It’s another form of cultural entertainment.”

Since community outreach is a part of Quogue Chamber Music’s mission, the Cavani Quartet will perform at the Quogue Elementary School and discuss music with the students on Friday, September 11. Ms. Deckoff mentioned that outreach will not be confined to schools—the board will also organize events at nursing homes and hospitals.

The Hampton Theatre Company puts on about four performances at Community Hall between September and May, and the Junior Theatre group performs twice during the summer months. However, there are two weeks in September and two weeks in June which Quogue Village officials purposely leave open to schedule other events, and the chamber music series can fit in there, Mr. Motz said.

Ms. Deckoff also acknowledged that some performances may have to be held elsewhere if Community Hall is booked up. “There may have to be a concert in people’s homes if the hall isn’t available,” she said.

At the September 12 performance, the Cleveland-based Cavani String Quartet will perform a Beethoven string quartet, and then its members will be joined by the six other musicians who play the flute, oboe, string bass, harpsichord, trumpet and violin, to perform Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2. Lastly, three string musicians and the oboist will play Mozart’s Oboe Quartet. The program will last about two hours, Ms. Deckoff said.

Subsequent concerts in the series won’t be as big as this one, but Ms. Deckoff wanted the debut concert to make a good impression. “I wanted the first performance to be really special,” she said.

As for the future, Deckoff wants the series to build a reputation in Quogue and the surrounding communities. “I want to build a good, solid organization where people are really excited to come to the next concert,” she said.

The September 12 concert, the inaugural in the series presented by Quogue Chamber Music, will start at 7:30 p.m. at Quogue’s Community Hall. Tickets are $100 for the concert and reception, or $50 for the concert only. To purchase tickets by mail, make checks payable to Quogue Chamber Music Inc., and mail to: P.O. Box 1984, Quogue, NY 11959.