Rites of Spring Music Festival scores Billy Joel grant 

In 2015, when Paolo Bartolani moved with his family to Southold from Rome, he wanted very much to bring with him the music he played in Europe as a well-established and classically trained concert pianist.

They arrived in November that year, and the winter was harsh, with a lot of cold and snow, and Mr. Bartolani wondered what he’d gotten himself into. Then a North Fork spring arrived. And, wow, that changed everything. 

“After a most difficult winter — it was not a happy situation — spring arrived and I saw the blooming of the flowers and the trees and this gave me the inspiration for the Rites of Spring Music Festival,” he said.

He was inspired by Igor Stravinsky’s composition and ballet, “The Rite of Spring,” and thought that here, in his new home, was the perfect place to be a music entrepreneur.

The festival’s first concert was at Brecknock Hall in Greenport. It was a perfect start for the new festival, and it complemented Mr. Bartolani’s vision of combining classical music, history and the outdoors. The hall was built in the 1850s by David Floyd, the grandson of William Floyd, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

After several years of struggle to raise funds to keep the festival going, Rites of Spring has arrived at a good moment in its short history. Last week, in a positive sign for the future of the festival, and an affirmation of Mr. Bartolani’s musical vision, the Joel Foundation, begun by the singer/composer Billy Joel, gave the festival a $5,000 grant for its programs.

“It was very wonderful news when I received the letter,” Mr. Bartolani said. “We are very happy for the grant. I would really like to meet the Joel foundation. I want to share a vision that can create something unique.”

This year, the festival put on 13 concerts that began, appropriately, in the spring. Its last two for the year are Nov. 4, at Quogue Wildlife Refuge and a holiday concert Dec. 9 at Castello di Borghese vineyard in Cutchogue.

What has made the festival stand out is the quality of the well-known musicians — last Friday’s concert at Pindar Vineyard in Peconic featured Christina Bouey on violin and Grace Ho on cello — but also the settings for the events. Vineyards have been favorite venues, but also historic buildings like the Jamesport Meeting House, which was built in 1731 and is on the National Register of Historic Places, and Custer Institute and Observatory in Southold.

“We believe in innovation, creativity and community,” Mr. Bartolani said, “and combining music, history and nature. That is our mission.”

That mission came together perfectly on an evening in 2022, when the festival performed at Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island. The manor, which dates to 1651, is the largest intact former slaveholding plantation north of Virginia. For generations it was home to enslaved Africans and indentured Native people who had lived on the island for centuries.

“The goal of the festival there was to celebrate all cultures that lived on the island,” Mr. Bartolani said. “Our performances represented those cultures. It’s an amazing place.”

Now in its seventh year, Mr. Bartolani sees the festival’s long-term potential. 

“I started from scratch,” he said. “I had no connections here or even knew the area. And my hope was the create a space, but something I was familiar with, and to be part of a community in this new landscape. It feels very good right now.”