WESTERLY — “Summer Evenings at the Watch Hill Chapel” returns for a second season beginning Saturday at 5 p.m. with a concert featuring the internationally acclaimed Pacifica Quartet.
The series will feature concerts and lectures throughout July and August and all are free and open to all. The concerts will begin at 5 p.m. and the lectures at 5:30 p.m.
Pacifica Quartet, a multiple Grammy Award-winning group that has achieved international recognition as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today “with its powerful energy and captivating, cohesive sound,” has established itself as the embodiment of the senior American quartet sound.
Pacifica Quartet, whose career spans three decades, will present a program that includes Turina’s “La Oración del Torero, Op. 34;” Prokofiev’s “String Quartet No. 2 in F Major, Op. 92” and Mendelssohn’s “String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 13.”
On Aug. 13, the Borromeo String Quartet with Marcus Thompson on viola, will present a program featuring Bach: “Prelude & Fugue from The Well-Tempered Clavier; Sibelius: “String Quartet in D Minor, ‘Voces intimae,’ Op. 56; and Mozart: “Viola Quintet in G Minor, K. 516.”
The concert part of the chapel series will close on Aug. 10 with the Catalyst Quartet playing Rivera: “But just a minute, Farewell mambo, Wapango”; Piazzolla: “Introduction, Milonga, Muerte del Angel, Resurrection”; Gershwin’s “Lullaby”; and Ravel’s “String Quartet in F Major, M.35.”
The speaker portion of the series, titled “Solving Historical Mysteries of Early Christianity,” will begin on July 23 with Dr. Susan Hylen, from Emory University, giving a talk titled, “Hidden Women Leaders of Early Christianity.”
On Aug. 6, Dr. Michael Peppard from Fordham University will give a talk titled “Jewish-Christian Relations through the Ages.”
The speaker series will close on Aug. 29 when Dr. Robin Jensen from the University of Notre Dame will speak about “Christian Art from Idols to Icons.”
