A Small-Scale Southampton Symphony

James Day travels to Italy every so often and spends his spare time digging through libraries for music pieces that haven’t seen the light of day in over 200 years.

He is a violinist and one of the three founders of the Southampton Chamber Music Society. Founded about 20 years ago, the society showcases performances of a small group of local musicians—two-to-six—who each play their own individual part to make up a complex-sounding piece.

Day and harpist Cheryl Dungan Cunningham are the two remaining founders left in Southampton, and their aim is to give themselves and the town something not typically available in a sleepy Philadelphia suburb.

“There’s not a lot of opportunity to play chamber music for the public,” said Cunningham. “I do a lot of orchestras for weddings.”

Another appeal to it, Day said, is to keep his passion local.

“(I do this) because I live in Southampton and I like the idea of being able to do these things locally, making them available,” Day said. “And to be do some music that the people wouldn’t be able to hear anywhere else in the area.”

He said there are orchestras in Philadelphia and Upper Bucks County, but those performances don’t have the local feel to them.

“They tend not to use local musicians,” Day said. “And they also tend to have a more traditional selection.”

The more well-known pieces by Mozart and Beethoven, he said, are commonplace in the performances of other groups.

“We do a lot more interesting, obscure pieces,” he said. “(Like) world premieres or first modern performances of pieces.”

Day used to live and work as a violinist in Italy, and said he often travels back to visit friends or perform. When he does hop the pond to Europe, he makes use of his time.

“You end up with music that no one has heard in at least 200 years that’s been sitting in libraries,” said Day. “Not because it’s not good, but because there’s so much of it.”

Day said pieces typically performed by other groups are from Germany or Eastern Europe. While he never opts not to select music from these regions, several of the pieces he chooses for the Southampton Chamber Music Society are from Italy, Canada or France—all places he’s performed and studied over the years.

The group also incorporates a composer into their lineup if it’s a noteworthy anniversary—such as the hundredth anniversary of Franklyn Marks’ birth.

Marks produced music for Disney, as well as for TV and even for a ballet. He was also the father of Carolyn Ellman, a cellist from Philadelphia who frequents the group.

“The duet that we’re going to play violin and cello is a family piece,” Ellman said. “it was written for me and my husband.”

Ellman said the piece is supposed to simulate and argument between a man and a woman—a cello as the man’s voice and a violin as the woman’s voice.

“It’s an unusual special little moment,” Ellman said of her father’s song.

The unusual nature of several of the songs performed, Day said, is to hopefully open the eyes of those well versed in music to uncommon and unpopular pieces of the genre.

“A lot of people have no idea about some of these pieces,” he said. “It’s just not known here.”

But Day said the performances are for everybody. And he encourages those who know nothing about chamber music to come check it out.

“A lot of people are scared by the idea of chamber music,” said Day. “They are afraid that it’ll be stuffy, difficult to listen to, but we try to break down the barriers between players and the audience.”

Day said they keep the performances short—about an hour and a half long—and as informal as possible.

Performances include short introductions to keep the audience informed on the composer, and the musicians stick around at the end of the performance to chat with the audience members.

“The nice part about the venue is that it’s not like you’re up on a stage isolated from the audience,” he said.

The Southampton Chamber Music Society’s next performance in this year’s series is 3 p.m. Sunday, July 31 at the .

Admission is $14, or $9 for students or seniors.