‘Viva Vivaldi!’ Welcomes Spring
As a composer, Antonio Vivaldi rather owns spring through the popular co-opting of his violin concerto “La primavera.” So it is appropriate that the Choral Society of the Hamptons welcomes spring with “Viva Vivaldi!” — opting not to offer a cliched response to the arrival of the equinox, but to give a varied program of joyous music by the composer and others to awaken senses dulled and dormant from the long winter.
The concert, to be held on March 30 at 5 p.m. at the East Hampton Presbyterian Church, will include Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata 71, “Gott is mien Konig,” and Ralph Vaughan Williams’s “Five Mystical Songs.” Walter Klauss will guest conduct. The soloists will be Mary Hubbell, a soprano; Barbara Fusco, a mezzo-soprano; Nathan Siler, a tenor, and Michael Maliakel, a baritone. The South Fork Chamber Ensemble will accompany the singers.
The society described “Gloria” as triumphant and tuneful, festive and glorious. It features unusual instrumentation — strings and a single oboe and trumpet — with two female soloists and chorus. Bach’s Cantata 71 “explores themes of aging and renewal with strong tempos and vibrant counterpoint.”
The Vaughan Williams selection uses the verse of George Herbert as the text for his “Five Mystical Songs,” in which musical imagery, mysticism, and sensuality weave a spellbinding effect.”
Mr. Klauss is a part-time resident of East Hampton and founder and conductor of New York City’s Musica Viva concert series as well as minister of music at All Souls Unitarian Church in the city. The soloists have performed regularly with Musica Viva and groups throughout the U.S. and abroad.
Tickets cost $30 in advance and $35 at the door, with youth tickets available for $10 and $15. Preferred-seating tickets cost $75. Tickets can be purchased online at choralsocietyofthehamptons. org or at the Romany Kramoris Gallery in Sag Harbor.
Following the concert, a benefit dinner will be held at the Living Room restaurant at c/o the Maidstone in East Hampton. Tickets for the dinner are available from the society for $300 per person, and reservations are being accepted until Wednesday through the society’s website.
The society’s summer concert will take place June 28 in Bridgehampton and will celebrate Leonard Bernstein with music from “Chichester Psalms,” “Mass,” “West Side Story,” “Wonderful Town,” and “Candide.” Singers will be invited to audition for the Choral Society in April.