Gossamer Trio Performs On Shelter Island

The Gossamer Trio, featuring Nancy Allen on harp, Carol Wincenc on flute and Claire Marie Solomon (Allen’s daughter) on cello, returns to the East End to perform for Shelter Island Friends of Music (SIFM) on Saturday, September 3, at 7 p.m. at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church.

The concert is a celebration of nearly a half-century history of the SIFM, which was the brainchild of Nancy Allen, principal harpist of the New York Philharmonic, and her father, Don, an amateur “Buddy Rich-style” drummer and a professional medical photographer.

Forty-six years ago, Nancy, then a 20-something harpist already being hailed by The New York Times as “a major artist,” and her father teamed up with Shelter Island residents Dorothy Zabriskie and Dorothy Seiberling to deliver high-quality classical music regularly to the people of the island, for free.

“Many of my friends performed in the series, including the American and Emerson Quartets and flutist Ransom Wilson,” said Allen, noting those friends and performers included the American Brass Quintet, soprano Jan DeGaetani and pianist David Oei.

Allen herself returned to perform several times over the early years, including in SIFM’s 100th concert. She reached out during COVID-19, offering to play another concert for SIFM, to celebrate “the grassroots beginning of this series, which has developed so wonderfully,” she said. “I am impressed that the series has continued for so many years.”

Gossamer Trio has planned an eclectic program featuring music composed between 1730 and 2019 by J.S. Bach, Théodore Dubois, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Béla Bartók and Will Healy. The year’s concert will celebrate the lives of SIFM’s past presidents, Dorothy Seiberling and Forrest Compton.

The Gossamer Trio performs for the Shelter Island Friends of Music at 7 p.m. on Sunday, September 3, at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, 32 North Ferry Road, Shelter Island. A wine and cookies reception will follow the concert. Admission is free and masks are strongly encouraged. SIFM’s final concert of the season on Sunday, October 9, at 8 p.m. will be by the Balourdet Quartet. Visit shelterislandfriendsofmusic.org, for more information or call 631-749-3349