East Hampton - A work marking a lifetime peak of Mozart's artistic achievement, the "Grand" Mass in C minor, will receive a fitting performance on Saturday, June 18, at 7:30 p.m. by the combined choruses of the Choral Society of the Hamptons and the Greenwich Village Singers with the South Fork Chamber Orchestra and professional soloists from the worlds of opera and oratorio.

The music, known for being "joyous," "intense" and "impressive," will celebrate the Choral Society's 65th anniversary.

The performance will take place at a new venue for the society, the Most Holy Trinity Church Parish Hall, 79 Buell Lane, East Hampton. The society chose the hall for its "beautiful acoustics and perfect sight lines from every comfortable seat," according to a flier. Tickets are $35 for adults, $15 for youth, available online or by phone, 631-204-9402, or at the Romany Kramoris Gallery in Sag Harbor.

Mark Mangini, the society's music director, will conduct. The soloists, who have impressed audiences in earlier Choral Society concerts, are Darynn Zimmer, soprano, Cherry Duke, mezzo-soprano, Nils Neubert, tenor, and Mischa Bouvier, baritone.

Benefit In A "Secret Garden"
A week later, on Saturday, June 25, at 6 p.m., the private garden park of a famous Gardiner family home on Main Street, East Hampton, will be magically illuminated for "Mozart by Moonlight," a fund-raising cocktail and dinner party for the Choral Society. Cocktails will be $100 per person, cocktails and dinner, $300 per person. Reservations and information are at 631-204-9402.

The benefit committee includes the Gardiner house's current owners, Shahab and Libby Karmely, Edward and Magda Bleier, Molly and Walter Channing, Marjorie Chester, Tim and Susan Davis, Barbaralee Diamonstein and Carl Spielvogel, Lois and Robert Geller, Cornelia Foss, Mac Griswold, Judith Hope and Tom Twomey, Patti Kenner, Jack Lenor Larsen, Ngaere Macray and David Seeler, Michelle Murphy and Robert Strada, Liliane Questel and Julie Ratner.

"Joyous"' And "Powerful"
The Mozart Mass, K. 427, considered a masterwork of the choral repertoire, was written as a joyous musical celebration of Mozart's marriage. The critic Melvin Berger has called it "incredible," noting its "powerful impact and strong theatricality" and adding that "the solo sections are more akin to opera than liturgical music." It will be preceded by Haydn's Te Deum, a cheerful hymn of praise commissioned by Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa.

Darynn Zimmer, the soprano, is making her sixth solo appearance with the Choral Society of the Hamptons - and reprising a role in Mozart's Mass with which she made her Carnegie Hall debut. Past appearances here included Orff's "Carmina Burana" and Poulenc's "Gloria." A 2010 recital for the Shelter Island Friends of Music moved a reviewer to call her work "luminous" and "beautifully focused." In her debut with the Miami Lyric Opera in the title role of "Lucia de Lammermoor," she was hailed for her "thrilling account" showing "dramatic range, pure tone, and polished technique." Her latest CD is of classic folk music from Spain, France and the U.S.



Cherry Duke's passionate charm was a highlight of the society's performance last July of "The Joys of Opera" in Sag Harbor. The versatile mezzo-soprano has been a soloist with orchestras from coast to coast and in major halls such as Avery Fisher Hall, in works such as Bach's B-Minor Mass and Mozart's "Vespers Solennes." She has played leading roles for the New York City Opera and in operas such as "Carmen," "Der Rosenkavalier," "Le Nozze di Figaro," and "Madama Butterfly."

The tenor Nils Neubert, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, is a rising opera and oratorio soloist who has performed with the Opera Company of Brooklyn, Pocket Opera New York, Amore Opera, Queens College Choral Society, and 4x4 Baroque Music Festival. When he played the title role in Rameau's "Pygmalion‚" with the Underworld Productions Opera Ensemble, The New York Times wrote that "his attractive tenor, beautifully controlled vibrato, and amusing, flexible portrayal of Pygmalion carried the evening."

Noted by The New York Times for his "rich timbre" and "fine sense of line." Mischa Bouvier, the baritone, has been cast and conducted at Tanglewood by James Levine in Kurt Weill's "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahogany" and performed as bass soloist and Pilate in Bach's St. Matthew Passion under the baton of Kent Tritle. A graduate of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, he has performed numerous opera roles and given recitals in this country and in Europe.

The Choral Society's six-plus decades have been marked by presenting concerts to local audiences at modest prices. A community organization with deep roots, its 100 members donate some 100 hours a year to rehearsal and performance. It counts 1,500 regulars at concerts. Although the chorus is comprised largely of amateurs, it engages outstanding professional soloists, and its repertory and technique have continued to grow under Mangini's leadership.

The group was founded by Charlotte Rodgers Smith, who for years was director of music at the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church. The society has sung at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and abroad, has commissioned one choral work and expects to commission another, and awards scholarships for vocal study to talented local high school students.