Island Symphony Orchestra Bach Festival performance

The St. Peter’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church, in Bay Shore, was filled with the sounds of the Island Symphony Orchestra as the group performed at the J.S. Bach Festival on Jan. 26. The orchestra was conducted by Eric R. Stewart, the music director for the Island Symphony Orchestra, and featured internationally acclaimed French violinist, Emmanuel Coppey. The performance began at 2 p.m., with a variety of pieces from J.S. Bach, before closing with Johannes Brahms.

Stewart is a conductor and composer based out of New York City. He has previously collaborated with a variety of artists, including the New York Philharmonic and the Cambridge Modern Orchestra. Additionally, Stewart has performed at renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Canadian Opera Company.

To start, the Island Symphony Orchestra performed selections from “St. Matthew’s Passion” (BWV 244) by Bach. Bach was an influential German composer and organist from the 1700s who had a significant impact on the Baroque era of music. His work continues to be performed to this day, as Bach is known as the “father of music.”

The performance before the intermission was “Sonata No. 2 in A minor” (BWV 1003) by Bach, performed by Coppey. Coppey took the stage as a violin soloist and swayed as he performed the work of Bach.

Coppey has been playing the violin since he was 4 years old. He was born and raised in Paris, France, and began studying at the Paris Conservatory at the age of 14. He performs with a 1735 Guarnerius violin from the Guttman Collection.

Coppey has established himself as a musician not only in France, but in the United States as well. He is the winner of the 2023 Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition. As of July 2024, Coppey is an artist-in-residence at the Singer-Polignac Foundation, located in his hometown of Paris, France.

After the intermission, the orchestra shifted away from Bach and led the audience out with the work of Brahms, “Symphony No. 3 in F major, Opus 90, Allegro con brio, Andante, Poco allegretto and Allegro – Un poco sostenuto.”

Brahms was a German composer and pianist from the Romantic period during the mid-1800s. His music features a variety of expressions and is still studied by composers and musicians all around the world.

“Bach, in his compositions, was such an incredible teacher, and the way he was able to use counterpoint and many layers of music happening at the same time is something that is still studied to this day by modern composers like myself, and especially by composers like Brahms,” Stewart said. “Brahms was truly a 19th-century master of counterpoint, and so much of that came through the study of Brahms, so we hope that you will enjoy this celebration of Brahms and our guest artists, of course; we hope you enjoy this concert.”

Counterpoint in music refers to the use of two or more musical lines in a musical composition. They are simultaneous and each dependent on each other harmonically, but are independent in rhythm.

By the end of the performance, the Island Symphony Orchestra received a standing ovation from the audience. Tickets were sold at the door for $15 and students received free admission.

The Island Symphony Orchestra’s 2025 concert season is made possible by Long Island Grants for the Arts by funds made available by the office of the Governor and NYS Legislature, administered by the Huntington Arts Council.