Clarinet Legend Sailing to Vineyard

In June, when the New York Times announced clarinetist Stanley Drucker’s retirement from the New York Philharmonic, the paper said he was entering “something bigger than folklore. Legend maybe? History? He is retiring from the Philharmonic after 60 years, the longest tenure of any player in the orchestra’s existence.”

It also mentioned that he would be taking his 30-foot cabin cruiser, the Noni, on an annual summer cruise up the Atlantic Coast, during which he would play on Martha’s Vineyard.

The 80-year-old virtuoso is expected to sail in today, and he will be the featured guest in the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society concerts on Monday, August 10, at the Old Whaling Church and Tuesday, August 11, at the Chilmark Community Center.

The society notes that if you’ve seen the Woody Allen movie, Manhattan, you’ve heard Mr. Drucker’s clarinet soaring above the orchestra in the famous opening lines of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Among the great conductors for whom he’s played in his six decades with the Philharmonic are Leonard Bernstein, Leopold Stokowsky, George Szell and Dimitri Mitropoulos.

Here he will be joined by the society’s artistic director, Delores Stevens, on piano; Paul Stevens on French horn; and violinist Diana Cohen, who is concertmaster of the Kalamazoo Symphony and also has appeared with Mr. Drucker in the New York Philharmonic.

On the program are two pieces for horn and piano performed by Ms. Stevens and her son, Paul. Mr. Drucker will join Ms. Stevens, performing Claude Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie for Clarinet and Piano, and Mr. Drucker, Ms. Cohen and Ms. Stevens will then present Bela Bartok’s Contrasts for Clarinet, Violin and Piano.

After an intermission, the program will conclude with Paul Stevens, Dee Stevens and Ms. Cohen performing the classic Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano, opus 40, by Johannes Brahms.

Both concerts are at 8 p.m. Admission is $30, and students are always admitted free.