The Reflections in Music series, which brings classical music to new audiences and inspires new ways for experienced music lovers to engage with the classical experience, will return to The Church in Sag Harbor with “Turning Points” Friday night at 6.
Each work in the program represents a pivotal moment — personal, artistic, or historical — that changed the course of music and of the composer who created the piece. The performers are Bruce Wolosoff, a pianist and composer who is the artistic director of the series, and three other musician-composers, Narek Arutyunian on clarinet, Deborah Buck on violin, and Clarice Jensen on cello and electronics.
The performance will begin with the “Liturgie de Cristal” from Olivier Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time,” a work composed during World War II while he was being held in a Nazi prison camp. The composer explored new approaches to musical time and tonal organization, making extensive use of birdsong.
Ferruccio Busoni’s “Elegy No. 1, After the Crisis,” a solo piano work written during a period of artistic change, continues the theme of transformation. The composer disavowed all of his earlier work after composing the “Elegies.” He himself said, “My entire personal vision I put down at last and for the first time in the ‘Elegies.’ ”
The contemporary voices belong to Ms. Jensen, whose new work for cello and electronics explores the intersection of classical music and technology, and Mr. Wolosoff, whose “blues for the new millennium” was commissioned by the Smithsonian to mark the transition into the 21st century.
Bach’s “Gavotte” from the “E Major Partita” serves as a historical cornerstone in the development of solo violin repertoire. The program returns to Messiaen with “Abîme des Oiseaux,” the solo clarinet movement from “Quartet for the End of Time,” before concluding with Astor Piazzolla’s “Spring” movement from “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires,” which reimagines Vivaldi’s Baroque masterpiece through the lens of nuevo tango, a turning point in the fusion of low and high art.
Tickets are $25.
The Peter Matthiessen Center, in collaboration with The Church, will launch the Matthiessen Talks, a new series dedicated to exploring relationships between humanity and nature, on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Inspired by the legacy of Matthiessen, an author, an explorer, a naturalist, and a Zen Roshi, the series aims to bring together voices who share his commitment to environmental stewardship, Indigenous knowledge, and spiritual harmony.
The speakers, Chief Oren Lyons and Shane (Bizhiki Nibauit) Weeks, will each make brief presentations before engaging in a dialogue about generational perspectives, shared values, and the wisdom passed down through their respective cultures. They will later be joined by Rex Lyons, the son of Chief Lyons, who will provide a bridge between the two generations. Alex Matthiessen, the writer’s son, will then moderate an audience question-and-answer session.
Chief Lyons, a traditional Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan and a member of the Onondaga Indian Nation Council of Chiefs of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, or the Haudenosaunee (People of the Long House), is an accomplished artist, activist, and writer. He recently retired from the State University at Buffalo, where he was a professor in American Studies and directed the Native American Studies Program.
A leading advocate for American Indian causes, Chief Lyons is recognized internationally as an eloquent and respected spokesperson on behalf of Native peoples and is a sought-after speaker on such topics as American Indian traditions, Indian law and history, human rights, environmental issues, and interfaith dialogue.
Mr. Weeks, a member of the Shinnecock Nation of Southampton, is an author, traditional singer and dancer, cultural consultant, and artist. He is a founding member of Southampton Town’s arts and culture committee, the Watermill Center Community Fellowship, former co-chairman of the Graves Protection Warrior Society, and a former member of the board of Slow Food East End.
Tickets are $20, $15 for members of The Church.
