The Hamptons Festival of Music is celebrating the holidays on Thursday afternoon at 2 with a free film screening of “Robert Shaw: Man of Many Voices” at the East Hampton Library, and with concerts next Thursday and on Friday, Dec. 19, in Springs and East Hampton.
Directed by Peter Miller and Pamela Roberts and narrated by David Hyde Pierce, “Man of Many Voices” premiered in 2019 on the PBS American Masters series. Self-taught and without formal musical training, Shaw became the most celebrated choral conductor in the United States, winning 16 Grammys and the first-ever classical gold record.
In 1941, after leading choruses for noted orchestra conductors, he founded the Collegiate Chorale in Manhattan, one of the first racially integrated chorales. He later conducted orchestras and choruses in San Diego, Cleveland, and Atlanta, serving for over 20 years as the music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Michael Palmer, founder and artistic director of the Hamptons Festival of Music, will take questions after the screening. Maestro Palmer’s own acclaimed career began when Shaw invited him to be the associate conductor of the Atlanta Symphony.
Donations will be accepted to support the Springs Food Pantry.
The centerpiece of the music festival’s “Christmas Concertos: The Sound and Spirit of the Season” is a performance of “Winter” from Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” by Garry Ianco, a violinist and assistant concertmaster of the New American Sinfonietta.
Other Baroque classics, performed by members of the music festival’s Salon Orchestra and complemented by readings of poems that reflect the joy of the holidays, are also on tap.
“The Salon Orchestra concerts have become a cherished fixture for our community during the off-season,” said Logan Souther, the festival’s associate conductor. “These performances are intimate, joyful, and filled with the kind of music that brings people together — from the brilliance of Vivaldi’s ‘Winter’ to the timeless elegance of the baroque.”
In addition to Vivaldi’s “Winter,” the program includes Corelli’s Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 6 No. 8 “Christmas”; Torelli’s Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 8 No. 6 “Christmas,” and Handel’s Concerto Grosso in G Major, Op. 6 No. 1.
Performances will take place at 6 p.m. next Thursday at the Springs Community Church, and on Friday, Dec. 19, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton. Tickets are $50.
