The Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival in Bridgehampton, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, was founded in 1984 by New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

-born flutist Marya Martin

Marya Martin

Marya Martin is an American flautist with an active career as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. Born in New Zealand, Martin studied at the University of Auckland, where she had lessons with Richard Giese, then principal flute in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. After graduating in...

 and her husband, Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 businessman Ken Davidson. The festival presents thirteen concerts of chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

 from the end of July to the end of August every summer, and features some of the world's finest musicians. Past performers include: male soprano Michael Maniaci

Michael Maniaci

Michael Maniaci is an American opera singer who has appeared at many of the world's best opera houses. Possessing a unique male soprano voice, Maniaci is noted for his unusual ability to sing into the upper soprano register without using falsetto...

, violist Cynthia Phelps

Cynthia Phelps

Cynthia Phelps is an American violist whose versatile career involves work as a chamber musician, solo artist, and orchestral musician. Phelps is currently the Principal Violist of the New York Philharmonic, a position to which she was appointed in 1992...

, and violinist Catherine Cho, among many others.