Classical music groups

Their favorites go back centuries

Classical music thrives among small, tightknit groups of performers

by Mark Lord Chronicle Contributor

“Con brio,” a term used frequently as a direction in music, means “with great liveliness or energy.” It’s also the name of a nonprofit chamber music organization based in Forest Hills, one of several groups in the borough that specialize in providing live classical music to all who will listen.

The Con Brio Ensemble is aptly named. Its director, Diana MittlerBattipaglia, who founded the group in 1978 with her late husband, has spirit to spare, as evidenced when her fingers glide across the keys on her piano and even when she talks about the art to which she has devoted much of her life.

Looking back, she recalled in a recent telephone interview, “We wanted to bring fine chamber music performances to the community. We knew professional musicians and we invited them to play.” The collaboration led to a series of performances in Queens and at Lincoln Center, she said.

Mittler-Battipaglia, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music who received a doctorate from the Eastman School of Music, began an association with Lehman College of the City University of New York in 1986. She is currently a professor of music as well as choral director at the college. She has also served as an education consultant for the New York City Department of Education.

She comes by her mastery of music quite naturally. Her father was Franz Mittler, an Austro-American composer and musician.

While classical music might not be commercially promoted as much as some other genres, particularly toward younger people, Mittler-Battipaglia believes that there are “many people who value it, who enjoy it. It transcends ethnic groups.”

She lamented that “only one radio station in New York plays classical. The music business is not in a good state. It’s partly a cultural thing and partly a peer thing.”

All the more reason, she said, to keep it alive. And bringing it to the people of Queens is of utmost importance to her.

“Older people travel to Manhattan for a concert,” she said, adding, “It’s a burden for them. They deserve to hear it. They’re not dead yet.”

She sees what she does as a “present for the community. The music we play is written by famous composers. They’re masterpieces.”

A Con Brio concert typically features a variety of instrumental combinations and styles. The size of the ensemble varies, according to Mittler-Battipaglia, “depending on the repertoire.”

After being forced to cancel multiple concert dates because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the group gave its first live performance in two years in May. “We had a large audience,” Mittler-Battipaglia said, indicating that the concert was dedicated to the people of the Ukraine, as well as to those who had passed away from Covid.

Two concerts are on the group’s upcoming agenda, on October 9 at 4:30 p.m. at the Church-in-theGardens in Forest Hills and in February of 2023. For further information, visit conbrioensemble.org.

Another popular local classical music organization is Musica Reginae Productions, which bills itself as “Your natural choice for fine music in Queens.”

The group, founded in 2000, aims to provide “affordable, informative and family-friendly concerts featuring music that draws its inspiration from the classical, chamber, opera, jazz and world music literature.” According to Executive and Artistic Director Barbara Podgurski, a lifelong resident of Maspeth, where there is life there must be music. “When we listen to and engage in making music, we engage parts of our brain that would otherwise remain dormant,” she said. “It’s a universal language of sounds. We can enjoy it as a community even if we don’t speak the same language. The most important thing we’re doing is community building.”

Music, she said, is “soothing, especially in these times. Music speaks to us as individuals and as a group.”

Musica Reginae provides a performance venue for both young and established artists. It is increasingly devoted to presenting new music by emerging composers.

Among the company’s most popular events are its Community Concerts for Kids, kid-friendly versions of its late-afternoon and evening concert series. They include performances and workshops and run about an hour in length and take place on weekend afternoons. Best of all, they’re free!

“The kids love it,” Podgurski said.

When Covid hit, the group went virtual. “We didn’t skip a beat,” Podgurski said.

“We stopped live streaming in May,” she said. “People wanted to come back in person.”

Following a recent performance at Flushing Town Hall, the group will begin its fall season in September at the Church-in-the-Gardens in Forest Hills. Already on the schedule is a performance aimed at young people, “Cow Goes to the Opera,” on Oct. 2 at the church.

Podgurski would appreciate hearing from anyone with suggestions on spaces for other future concerts, particularly in underserved areas of Queens. She may be reached at musicareginae@gmail.com.

The Queens Consort is a professional early music ensemble playing on period instruments, its mission being “to bring engaging chamber music programs of the baroque period to Queens.”

The group’s repertoire spans many countries and time periods, revealing a particular fondness for the music of the Venetian baroque.

Co-founded by Margret Hjaltested and Claire Smith Bermingham in 2015, the group has presented a wide range of 17th- and 18th-century music programs, featuring diverse instrumentation, solo singers and choral accompaniment.

Much like her counterparts in the other groups, Hjaltested said she and Smith Bermingham “wanted to do something in the community. We are so lucky because we have St. Mark’s Church in Jackson Heights,” their home base. “They’re extremely welcoming.”

She agrees with Podgurski that music is more important now than ever. “It’s so beautiful,” she said. “If we ever needed something beautiful in our lives, we need it now.”

Smith Bermingham pointed to the group’s mission: bringing this type of music to Queens. “Manhattan has a lot of wonderful opportunities for concerts. It shouldn’t be necessary for Queens residents to travel to Manhattan,” she said.

“People are so thirsty for it,” Hjaltested said.

The group played a concert on June 11, and will begin a new season in the fall. For further information, visit queensconsort.com.

Anton Miller, left, Hamilton Berry, Rita Porfiris and Diana Mittler-Battipaglia of the Con Brio Ensemble take a break from rehearsing before a September 2019 concert. PHOTO BY MARK LORD / FILE Classical At left, the Queens Consort players Aya Hamada, left, Margret Hjaltested, Claire Smith Bermingham, Anneke SchaulYoder and Dan McCarthy. At right, a November 2021 Musica Reginae performance featuring Elizabeth Pitcairn with her 1720 “Red Mendelssohn” Stradivarius, Barbara Podgurski on piano and Gjilberta Lucaj on cello. PHOTOS BY SHARON GUNDERSON / FILE, LEFT, AND COURTESY BARBARA PODGURSKI