Celebrating Leonard Bernstein
“Bernstein! From Bible to Broadway,” this year’s Choral Society of the Hamptons summer concert, will be presented in two performances on Saturday, at 5 and 7:30 p.m. at the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church.
The program includes Leonard Bernstein’s most significant sacred work, “Chichester Psalms,” performed in Hebrew, along with selections from his “Mass,” arrangements from “West Side Story,” a song from the seldom-performed score of “Peter Pan,” and choruses from the operetta “Candide.”
Mark Mangini, the choral society’s musical director, will lead the singers. “Chichester Psalms,” performed in its entirety, will include a solo by Olivia Knutsen, an eighth-grade student at Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn. Thom Bohlert will accompany on organ, along with a bass player and percussionist.
The selections from “Mass,” “West Side Story,” “Peter Pan,” and “Candide” will be performed by the chorus, along with the soloists Joanna Howard, a cabaret artist and Broadway performer, and Dominic Inferrera, a baritone who has sung every type of music from opera to musical theater to pop. Liliane Questel will accompany on piano, with Mr. Bohlert joining her for one piece.
A cabaret interlude of Bernstein songs will be performed in the middle of the program by Ms. Howard and Mr. Inferrera, accompanied by two nationally recognized jazz musicians from the East End, Jane Hastay on piano and Peter Martin Weiss on bass, with contributions from the chorus and a trumpet player.
Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 at the door, with youth tickets available for $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Preferred-seating tickets may still be available for $75.
A buffet supper and cabaret will follow the 7:30 concert in the Channing Family Sculpture Garden, adjacent to the Channing Daughters Winery in Bridgehampton. Ms. Howard, Mr. Inferrera, Ms. Hastay, and Mr. Weiss will perform together. Tickets to the supper and cabaret, which include tickets to the concert, are $300, $150 for those 35 and under. Reservations for the supper are due today and may be made at choralsocietyofthehamptons.org or by calling 204-9402.
The Choral Society of the Hamptons has been presenting high-quality choral music on the East End since it was founded in 1946 by Charlotte Rogers Smith, a local choir director. The group has performed works by all the great choral composers and commissioned new pieces as well, occasionally expanding its repertory to include jazz and musical theater. Members of the chorus, from across the East End, are of all ages and include professionals from other areas of music.
The society’s winter concert, featuring Mendelssohn’s “Magnificat in D Major,” will take place in December. Auditions for prospective singers will be held in September.