The Hamptons Festival of Music Presents a Community Tour of the East End

In 2022, a new music festival came to town and set up shop on the East End with an ambitious mission — to bring full symphonic concerts to local audiences on an annual basis.

Called The Hamptons Festival of Music (or TH·FM for short), it was created by Maestro Michael Palmer, who serves as artistic director and conductor, and his partner Michael Yip, the organization’s executive director. That first September, TH·FM christened its inaugural season with three concerts at LTV Studios in Wainscott performed by The New American Sinfonietta, a 41-member symphony comprising musicians that Palmer, who recently retired as Georgia State University’s director of orchestras, has recruited and assembled from major orchestras over the years.

TH·FM has continued to present its symphonic concert series each September, and will do so again for this fourth year from September 6 to 14 — this time at a new home venue — St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton Village.

While the full orchestra won’t be out here to perform until late summer, coming up the last week in May, key players from TH·FM will be here to offer a series of smaller community concerts and educational initiatives designed to introduce the music — and the organization — to a wider cross-section of the East End population.

Called the “Second Annual Tour of the Hamptons,” from Wednesday, May 28, to Saturday, May 31, four concerts will be offered to the public at venues across the East End. Led by TH·FM’s associate conductor Logan Souther, a protégé of Maestro Palmer at Georgia State University in Atlanta, the classical program will feature eight musicians from the TH·FM Salon Orchestra along with the vocal talents of Metropolitan Opera Award-winning soprano Greer Lyle and soloist Garry Ianco (a violinist and THFM’s assistant concertmaster).

A key component of the program is a TH·FM residency at East Hampton High School, where Souther will lead rehearsals of the school’s orchestral students during the week. The student musicians will then perform for their younger counterparts at Amagansett School and Wainscott School with Souther conducting and Lyle singing. Then, the professional musicians of the TH·FM Salon Orchestra will perform a program in the East Hampton High School auditorium for students there.

In addition to these school performances, Souther and Lyle will also visit Project Most and the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center where Lyle will sing for and with the students while Souther accompanies them on the keyboard.

“Last year was the first time we did the partnership with East Hampton High School and the tour of the performances,” Souther explained. When asked how the program came about, he added, “In the fall of ’23, we had a donor who came forward to earmark funds for school outreach.

“For us, it was a no brainer to sit down with East Hampton High School and [music department coordinator] Chris Mandato,” he said. “He was thrilled.”

While last year, Souther and Greer performed for the students, this year, they are piloting the new idea of having the students perform alongside them. The professional musicians will be joined by the East Hampton High School Chamber Ensemble, under the direction of Stephanie Quigley, and students from the high school’s band program, under the direction of Mandato. The young musicians will perform famous arias, including “Dove Sono” from the opera “The Marriage of Figaro” by Mozart, and “O mio babbino caro” from the opera “Gianni Schicchi” by Puccini.

“I think it ups their goals,” said Souther of the student musicians who will be performing these pieces for the younger students. “It really opens the doors for them to see what it’s like on the other side. For me, I didn’t have opportunities like this in my band program. Once you’re going to honor ensembles and being able to program opera arias, it opens the door and you get a different perspective.”

The week will end with the TH·FM Salon Orchestra presenting four performances of “Sunset Serenades: A Hamptons Summer Celebration” for the wider community. The first public concert will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 29, at Springs Community Presbyterian Church; followed on Friday, May 30, at 7 p.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton Village; Saturday, May 31, at 2 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church in Sag Harbor; and finally, at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 31, at St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in Bridgehampton. At the St. Luke’s concert on Friday, all students who took part in the events at the participating partner schools will be admitted free. The program for all four concerts will include “Summer” from “The Seasons” by Vivaldi (with Garry Ianco, violin soloist), “Casta Diva” from the opera “Norma” by Bellini, “Song to the Moon” from the opera “Rusalka” (sung by soprano Greer Lyle), and “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” by Mozart.

All four concerts will be conducted by Souther, who explained that his path to becoming a professional conductor began with his first instruments, clarinet and bassoon.

“But once I got a taste for what it’s like to play with an orchestra with strings, I shifted my focus early on to conducting,” he said. “I was 15 when I first started studying with Michael Palmer. I grew up in Flowery Branch, Georgia, and my parents would drive me down to Atlanta for weekly conducting lessons.”

“I stayed on to work with Michael at Georgia State, and got a lot of conducting experience as an undergrad, which is rare,” Souther said. “Usually, it’s only offered as a graduate program.”

But because he started so early, Souther was able to create a conducting major for all four of his undergrad years.

“Part of the reason I started studying with Michael is, although I had some piano lessons with a local church organist, I was interested in composition,” he said. “I told Michael I was a bassoonist, but he said I needed to play piano if I was going to be a conductor. When learning scores, it’s important for you to develop your own personal sound of the piece.”

Now, with TH·FM, Souther is able to share his passion for conducting with the East End community. Though the organization has only been around for three years, he has been encouraged by the reception its programming has received from residents.

“It’s been very overwhelmingly positive. Because we’ve invested so much time and energy to build relationships, it creates an atmosphere where the audience feels close to the music,” said Souther, adding that the intimate nature of TH·FM shows here is unlike anything he’s witnessed in his career. “Though a lot of our supporters have spent a lot of time in the city, nowhere else have I seen people sitting just feet away from the orchestra. It’s the equivalent of hearing the New York Philharmonic in Geffen Hall, but the only people there are in the first three rows.

“We’re able to develop a close relationship with students and patrons, and they see that this is a way that people really live their lives.”

And hopefully, the experience will encourage the next generation of musicians — and perhaps conductors — to consider pursuing classical music as they set out to create their own careers as young adults.

Tickets to “Sunset Serenades: A Hamptons Summer Celebration” at any one of the four venues are $40 at thehamptonsfestivalofmusic.com. A portion of all proceeds go to underwrite free and reduced tickets for students in the community.

The Schedule:

Thursday, May 29, 7 p.m. - Springs Community Presbyterian Church, 5 Old Stone Highway, East Hampton.

Friday, May 30, 7 p.m. - St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sanctuary, 18 James Lane, East Hampton Village.

Saturday, May 31, 2 p.m. - Christ Episcopal Church, 5 Hampton Street, Sag Harbor.

Saturday, May 31, 7 p.m. - St. Ann’s Episcopal Church, 2463 Main Street, Bridgehampton.