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[caption id="attachment_52335" align="alignnone" width="800"] Victoria Bond, composer & Mark Mangini, conductor. Durell Godfrey photo.[/caption]
By Joan Baum
Although classical music composer, conductor and performer Victoria Bond founded an innovative music series 19 years ago which she called Cutting Edge Concerts, and is its Artistic Director, she identifies herself as someone who continues traditional music rather than breaking with it.
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Ileana Santamaria, soprano, will perform with the Choral Society of the Hamptons this weekend.[/caption]
“I love the tradition, it’s what attracted me to music in the first place . . . I see myself expanding, not destroying it,” said the East Hampton resident.
And that, hopes Ms. Bond, will be appreciated in her new choral work, “The Reluctant Moses,” a world premiere commissioned by The Choral Society of the Hamptons, which will be on the society’s summer program along with Beethoven’s monumental “Mass in C Major.” Aware that some people avoid modern music, fearful that it may be off-putting-atonal, Ms. Bond points out that “The Reluctant Moses” is lyrical and, as text, familiar. It captures that Biblical moment in Exodus 3:1-4:23 when God in the burning bush — the voices of the chorus — tells a diffident Moses to lead his people out of Egypt. Moses does not feel up to the task until God provides signs of His holiness and power.
Ms. Bond says that the work is “challenging” but “doable.” Mark Mangini, Music Director of The Choral Society of the Hamptons, concurs, noting that the piece is accessible, harmonic, mysterious, coloristic, and dramatic. He’s pleased, he adds, to have the opportunity of introducing the work by Ms. Bond whom he met a few years ago in a program on women composers at the Southampton Cultural Center.
But what to say to prospective concert goers who may be uneasy about contemporary music? Ms. Bond draws an analogy. “Think of travelling to a foreign land where you may not know the language or feel at home because the place is strange. You can still enjoy the sights, and the adventure of a new experience is itself rewarding. Then revisit.” She cites a skeptical acquaintance that once “hated” a contemporary work, but got to like it after hearing it a few times. She’s optimistic about introducing new music to new audiences of any age, convinced that if contemporary is presented “in a friendly way,” people will come, and come back. Certainly, as audience members testify, her pre-performance discussions at Guild Hall of the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts in HD, have gone a long way to making some of the more abstruse operas accessible.
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John Feeney, double bass, will perform with the Choral Society of the Hamptons in Sag Harbor.[/caption]
Ms. Bond has been a regular presence on the East End for over 20 years, starting when she and her husband, Stephan Peskin bought their home in East Hampton and made it their weekend and holiday retreat. “I love it here, it’s a great place to unwind and work. I have a studio and one of my mother’s two Steinways” (her mother, Jane Bond, was a concert pianist). Ms. Bond is also a member of the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society, and, in addition to her lectures at Guild Hall, she gives presentations at other East End venues, including, last year, “Wagner for Kids” at the Montauk Library.
She loves to talk about music. This past semester she taught music appreciation at a Manhattan branch of Nyack College, the class mainly minority students. “I gave them an assignment to go to a concert at Juilliard, which featured 15-year olds and then read their reviews to the class. Maybe it was seeing and hearing performers close to their own age, or maybe it was that some of them came from backgrounds where music was an integral part of church services,” but they connected and she “was excited by their positive reactions.” Of course, getting youngsters interested in classical music is a “global” problem, she points out. “Some may not be able to afford tickets, and some may be dependent on adults to drive them to concert venues. Besides, young people want to be with other young people — a big draw for rock and pop — and some may have been raised in an environment that stigmatized classical music as elitist.”
A native of Los Angeles, Ms. Bond majored in composition and voice at the University of Southern California, then came to New York to attend The Mannes School of Music and The Juilliard School, where, among various mentors, she studied composition with American composer and music critic Roger Sessions (d.1985) and conducting with the legendary Herbert von Karajan (d. 1989). She has a doctorate in conducting. She no longer sings but references a friend who once said, “You’re never an ex-singer, only a former singer.” Because Ms. Bond is a former singer, however, she has composed a work she feels confident The Choral Society of the Hamptons will carry it off well and have a good time performing it. She wasn’t out to be “tricky,” she says, though the work is “demanding.” She notes that the opening is mysterious, with the chorus whispering “Moses,” and that the piece ends positively on the note of G, for God. Mr. Mangini also emphasizes the optimistic conclusion of the piece, a fugue on the Ten Commandments, and believes that his singers will enjoy the dialogue that builds up between chorus and Moses, a bass, who is accompanied by an “acoustic halo” of sound, a kind of counterpoint, from a bass instrument. It’s no accident that “The Reluctant Moses” is dedicated to Ms. Bond’s father and grandfather. Her father, Philip Bond, who was a doctor, also sang professionally with the New York City Opera, and her grandfather, a liturgical composer, played the double bass.
As for audience members hearing about the piece and wanting to know what to expect, Adam Judd, Dean of Performing Arts at The Ross School and a music critic, has some intriguing ideas: First, consult the text — knowing the Biblical story should prompt interest in seeing how Ms. Bond musically fashions the drama. Second, read a bit about contemporary music. Knowing something to tell the person sitting next to you can be wonderfully rewarding. And third, listen to the composer’s music in advance, which is on You Tube, and hear how she manages dramatic lines. With apologies to Mark Twain who opined that “familiarity breeds contempt (and children),” let it be said that in regard to music, familiarity can do just the opposite — create a sense of ease, and pleasure, — that comes from knowing what lies ahead with chords and harmonies.
The Choral Society of the Hamptons will celebrate its 70th anniversary year on Saturday, June 25 at 7 p.m. at the Old Whalers’ Church on Union Street in Sag Harbor with Beethoven’s “Mass in C” and Victoria Bond’s “The Reluctant Moses.” Tickets are $30 in advance ($35 at the door), with youth tickets available for $10 in advance ($15 at the door) and preferred-seating tickets for $75. Tickets and information are at the Society’s website, choralsocietyofthehamptons.org, by calling (631) 204-9402, and at the Kramoris Gallery on Main Street in Sag Harbor. Immediately after the concert, the Society will host a benefit wine and dessert reception in a tent on the lawn of the church where the audience can meet the soloists, conductor, and composer. Reservations at $50 per person. Admission at the door is $60. Wines are being donated by Channing Daughters Winery.
