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SI Friends of Music welcomes Perlman alumni

BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO | SIFM kicked off its new concert season with violinist Sean Lee and accompanist Peter Dugan in concert at the Presbyterian Church on February 18.
BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO | SIFM kicked off its new concert season with violinist Sean Lee and accompanist Peter Dugan in concert at the Presbyterian Church on February 18.

Sean Lee is an astonishing young violinist. Peter Dugan is an astounding young pianist.

Together, they opened the 41st season of the Shelter Island Friends of Music with an indelible performance that took the chill right out of a winter afternoon. A packed house cheered both the musical selections and the playing of these distinguished artists, both of whom are alums of the Perlman Music Program and are members of the faculty at Juilliard. 

Ranging from baroque to jazz, the event included a masterful account of the Schubert “Fantasie in C Major for Violin and Piano.” This long and challenging work demanded both prodigious power and hushed sensitivity, both of which the duo beautifully delivered.

Mr. Lee and Mr. Dugan also played their own charming arrangements of several “Songs Without Words” of Felix Mendelssohn. And in addition to their up-tempo jazz arrangements of  popular tunes from the 1930s, they included exquisite versions of Rachmaninov’s “Vocalise” and “It’s Peaceful Here.”

Altogether a great start to a new season for the Friends of Music, a season that will continue with one  of the Island’s favorite performers, the young American pianist, Drew Petersen, in his third Island appearance, on Saturday April 21 at 8 p.m. Please join us.