Choral Society’s Holiday Concert Sunday in Bridgehampton
The Choral Society of the Hamptons will celebrate the holiday season on Sunday afternoon with two performances, at 3 and 5:30, at the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church. The program includes Mozart’s Missa Brevis in F, Bach’s Cantata No. 61, festive works by Purcell and Schutz, and Christmas carols.
Led by their music director, Mark Mangini, the singers will be joined by the soloists Rada Hastings, soprano; Nils Neubert, tenor, and Jason Eck, bass-baritone, and the strings of the South Fork Chamber Ensemble.
The 5:30 performance will be followed immediately by a free holiday reception at the Parish Center of Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Church in Bridgehampton. The evening will include homemade food, wine from Channing Daughters Wintery, a carol sing-along, and a silent auction.
Written when Mozart was only 18, Missa Brevis in F, K. 192, is one of the era’s most beautiful settings of the Mass in miniature. Members of the chorus will participate as soloists in this piece. Henry Purcell’s “Behold, I Bring You Glad Tidings,” Heinrich Schutz’s “Hodie Christus Natus Est,” and the Bach cantata will complete the program.
Ms. Hastings, who lives in New York City, performs frequently on both the operatic and concert stages. She has appeared in recital in Trinity Church’s Noonday Concert Series and at the Liederkranz Foundation and Estonian House. In addition, she has performed with the Opera Theatre of Connecticut, Liederkranz Opera Theater, Amato Opera, and the Greenwich Village Chamber Singers.
A frequent soloist with the choral society, Mr. Neubert is a sought-after interpreter of Lieder, oratorio, opera, and chamber music, and a frequent guest at international music festivals. A doctoral candidate at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center, he teaches at the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, the Mannes School of Music, and the Music Academy of the West.
Mr. Eck has sung with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis as the Sergeant of Police in “The Pirates of Penzance” and as Angelotti in the Atlanta Opera’s production of “Tosca.” He studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Indiana University, where he was bass soloist in Arvo Part’s “Passio” and in Giuseppe Verdi’s “Requiem.”
Mr. Mangini is one of New York’s most active choral conductors and is the founder and music director of the Greenwich Village Chamber Singers. His repertory ranges from the pre-Bach era to numerous commissions of contemporary works.
Tickets to individual concerts are $30 in advance, $35 at the door, and, for youth, $10 and $15. Preferred seating is $75. Tickets and information are available at choralsocietyofthehamptons.org.
The Choral Society of the Hamptons is an auditioned chorus that performs with professional conductors, soloists, orchestra, and accompanists. It has presented high-quality choral music on the East End of Long Island since the late Charlotte Rogers Smith, a local choir director, founded it in 1946.