Guild Hall Brings New York Philharmonic East for Summer Concerts
Two concerts that will be welcome summer events for lovers of chamber music will take place at Guild Hall tomorrow and Saturday night at 7, well before other established festivals here. Six musicians from the New York Philharmonic will give the back-to-back concerts along with a guest pianist, the first time the Philharmonic has been represented on the Guild Hall stage.
“Musicians from the New York Philharmonic” will showcase masterworks of color, form, drama, and emotion by Mozart, Brahms, Dvorak, and Dohnanyi, using various combinations of two violins, two violas, cello, horn, and piano.
Tomorrow night’s program features Mozart and Brahms. It is said that Mozart’s genius was revealed in his quintets, and the evening begins with his String Quintet in C, which is considered on par with his last symphonies.
In an unusual bit of music history, three composers took part in writing one sonata, one movement each — the young Brahms, Robert Schumann, and his pupil Albert Dietrich — as a gift to the violinist Joseph Joachim. Brahms’s Scherzo from this work for violin and piano will be heard.
A more mature Brahms wrote the rich and melancholy Horn Trio in E flat that closes the first concert. It was specified for waldhorn, or natural horn, but will be heard on the modern French horn, along with violin and piano.
Saturday evening’s program also leads off with Mozart, his Horn Quintet in E flat. Written for the uncommon combination of violin, two violas, cello, and horn, the quintet is regarded more as a horn concerto than chamber music.
Dohnanyi’s Serenade for String Trio follows. It is a five-moment work that reminds one of Brahms, but with a touch of Hungarian flavor. Dvorak’s Quintet in A has been chosen to end the chamber music weekend; it is acknowledged as one of the few masterpieces of the form.
Leading the ensemble is Michelle Kim, who has been assistant concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic since 2001. She has performed at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Bravo! Vail, and teaches at the Mannes College of Music.
William Wolfram has been has been invited to be the guest musician for the programs. Mr. Wolfram said recently that he has performed before with Ms. Kim and other members of the Philharmonic on some occasions, but this is the first time for this particular combination of players. “I’ve never performed on the East End,” he said, “but I’ve vacationed here with my family, so I’m looking forward to the concerts.” He described the Brahms Scherzo as “super fun, accessible, with infectious rhythms and a juicy ending.”
Tickets are from $30 to $100 ($28 to $95 for members) with a $10 discount for both nights. Free student tickets may also be available at curtain.
Both laughter and tears should be flowing at Guild Hall in the days and nights to follow.
“Inside the Hamptons (Literally!) With Jonathan Adler” will tilt toward the former on Sunday morning at 11, when the home furnishings designer, potter, author, and interior designer will chat with Pamela Fiori, a noted editor and author. While pottery continues to be the core of Mr. Adler’s business, his design empire now consists of 25 stores, and he has designed restaurants and hotels around the world. A former lead judge on Bravo’s “Top Design” and a self-described incurable optimist, he will sign books after the discussion. Tickets are $15, $13 for members, and everyone in the audience will be entered to win a signed piece of his pottery.
Things will take a serious, if inspiring, turn Sunday at 3 with a screening of “Defiant Requiem,” an Emmy Award-nominated documentary that tells the story of Terezin, a Nazi concentration camp where the prisoners, led by Rafael Schachter, a Czech conductor, staged plays, composed opera, and created a choir of 150 inmates, who performed, among other things, Verdi’s “Requiem.” Free tickets can be obtained by emailing [email protected].
Freddy Roman, a stand-up comedian and the creator and star of “Catskills on Broadway,” will bring his Borscht Belt humor to Guild Hall on Sunday evening at 7:30. Reviewing “Catskills on Broadway,” Mel Gussow of The New York Times said of Mr. Roman, “His effervescence becomes infectious as he shifts targets from the Catskills to Florida” in a “finely honed routine.” He will share the stage at Guild Hall with Cory Kahaney, a regular on late-night television, “The View,” and “Politically Incorrect.” Tickets range from $45 to $100, $43 to $95 for members.
Bob Balaban, the noted actor, director, and producer, will introduce a screening of Julie Taymor’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the imaginative stage production filmed in 2014 at the Theatre for a New Audience in Brooklyn, at 8 p.m. on Tuesday. Ms. Taymor, whom Ben Brantley of The Times has called “the cosmic P.T. Barnum of contemporary stagecraft,” will attend the screening. Tickets are $25, $23 for members.
The jazz and cabaret vocalists Cole Rumbough and Molly Ryan will bring their show “Around the World in 80 Minutes” to Guild Hall next Thursday night at 8. The program travels the globe through the music and lyrics of such 20th-century American composers as Cole Porter, Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen, Frank Loesser, and Johnny Burke. Ticket prices range from $22 to $45; $20 to $43 for members.
With reporting by Mark Segal