Musical Inspirations With BCMF

The Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival (BCMF) will present “Inspirations: Dvořák/Brown/Schumann” on Sunday, August 6, at 6 p.m. at the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church.

Composers often draw on personal relationships for their inspirations, and all the works on this program were inspired by others. Antonin Dvořák’s friend sparked the “Terzetto for Two Violins and Viola,” while Elizabeth Brown’s “Island Nocturnes for Flute, Horn, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Piano,” a 2018 Bridgehampton Chamber Music commission, drew on her admiration of BCMF founder Marya Martin’s flute playing, and Robert Schumann’s “Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47” was inspired by his wife, Clara.

BCMF marks its 40th summer season in 2023. Long Island’s longest-running classical music festival celebrates this milestone with 11 concerts from July 16 to August 13, that showcase a theme of “Beethoven as Innovator” alongside six of the festival’s favorite works from four decades of commissioning new music: pieces by Elizabeth Brown, Kenji Bunch, Eric Ewazen, Bruce MacCombie, Kevin Puts, and Ned Rorem.

“Who would have thought that from a pair of concerts over a single weekend — where I was selling tickets off my front porch — that 40 years later we would not only still be putting on concerts, but would have expanded to a month-long summer festival, a fall series and a spring series,” said festival founder and artistic director Marya Martin. “As we celebrate this landmark year, I also salute my husband, Ken Davidson, who has been my partner on this sometimes wild ride, always sure and steady as the rising sun.”

The “Inspirations” concert features Marya Martin, flute; Stewart Rose, horn; William Hagen, violin; Chad Hoopes, violin; Matthew Lipman, viola; Peter Stumpf, cello; Gilles Vonsattel, piano. Tickets are $75 and $50 ($10 students) at bcmf.org. The Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church is at 2429 Montauk Highway, Bridgehampton.