01/28/2024
- 01/28/2024
Time: 2 p.m.
St. Peter’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church, 500 South Country Road in Bay Shore, N.Y.
The annual Island Symphony Bach Festival returns to Bay Shore’s beautiful St. Peter’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church on Sunday, Jan. 28.
The 2 p.m. concert will feature guest soloists, violinist Tianyou Ma, the joint Grand-Prize winner of the 2021 Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition, and organist Stephan Garamy, recipient of five American Guild of Organist Achievement Awards.
Mr. Ma, who was described by competition juror Colin Carr as “a masterful performer with vision, virtuosity, and exquisite taste,” will perform J.S. Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1005. Mr. Garamy, an organist at Brentwood’s St. Anne’s Church, will perform Bach’s magisterial Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582.
The second half of the program will be devoted to a performance of Johannes Brahms’ popular Symphony No. 4 by the Island Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Eric R. Stewart. A fellow German composer from the nineteenth century Romantic period, Brahms found great inspiration in the works of Bach.
First established in 1971, the Island Symphony Orchestra is one of Long Island’s pre-eminent community orchestras. Its 2024 season will feature performances by New York Philharmonic French hornist, Leelanee Sterrett, and by acclaimed classical guitarist, Gohar Vardanyan. For more information visit the Island Symphony Orchestra website.
Tickets will be sold at the door: $15 for adults and $10 for students. A snow date for the event has been set for Feb. 4.
About Tianyou Ma
Violinist Tianyou Ma has earned prizes in numerous prestigious international competitions, including the 2021 Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition (joint grand prize), the Singapore International Violin Competition (Bach prize), the Sendai International Music Competition, and the Menuhin International Violin Competition (Bach prize).
He has performed as a soloist with such orchestras as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, Webern Kammerphilharmonie and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and he has performed as a soloist and a chamber musician in countries across Europe, Asia, the United States and Oceania. Ma began studies at the Elder Conservatorie of Music in Adelaide, Australia, in 2010, when he
was awarded a full scholarship to study with Keith Crellin. Since 2014, he attended The Yehudi Menuhin School in the United Kingdom. Ma started his undergraduate studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 2019-2023, studying with Pamela Frank and Shmuel Ashkenasi. He is now pursuing his master’s degree with Catherine Cho at the Juilliard School.
About Stephan Garamy
Stephan Garamy is an organist, pianist, vocalist, and violist living in Brentwood, New York. He grew up studying classical and jazz piano. In high school, he gained experience playing in school and community orchestras. Notably, from 2007-2009, he joined the Long Island Youth Orchestra and went on two summers of international concert tours as principal violist.
After high school, Garamy went to college as a piano performance major. In early 2020, he began to learn the organ and joined the American Guild of Organists (AGO). In May 2022, he was a recipient of the Suffolk AGO Carol Landis Memorial Scholarships and started his organ studies with Mark Engelhardt. In July 2022, Garamy won five AGO Achievement Awards. He has participated in a masterclass with Dr. Ann Labounsky at St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre and received the Suffolk AGO Carol Landis Memorial Scholarships for the second time in May 2023.
On May 19, 2023, he played for internationally acclaimed organist Felix Hell in a masterclass at St. Peter’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church. He is currently music director and organist at St. Anne’s Church in Brentwood. Previously, he was music director and organist at Immaculate Conception Church in Westhampton Beach (March 2022-2023).
