Newport Classical

Last updated
Newport Classical (Newport Music Festival)
Hermitage Piano Trio .jpg
Hermitage Piano Trio performs at Marble House
Genre Chamber Music and other genres
VenueHistoric Newport Mansions and Venues
Location(s) Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.A.
Years active1969–present
Inaugurated1969 (1969)
Most recentJuly 1, 2022 (2022-07-01) – July 17, 2022 (2022-07-17)
Next eventJuly 4, 2023 (2023-07-04) – July 23, 2023 (2023-07-23)
Organized byRhode Island Arts Foundation at Newport Inc.
Website newportclassical.org

Newport Classical, previously known as Newport Music Festival, is an annual chamber music-oriented music festival and year-round classical music arts organization in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in July 1969. The festival consists of dozens of concerts each year, held in a variety of historic sites around town. The festival has hosted over 2,500 concerts featuring nearly 150 artists making their American debuts. The year-round programming includes a Chamber Series, with performances held at the Newport Classical Recital Hall, and Community Concerts, held in green spaces around Aquidneck Island.

Contents

History

Early years

In 1966, the Newport Metropolitan Opera Festival was incorporated. According to George Wein, legendary founder of both the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals, The Newport Metropolitan Opera Foundation was dissolved to create the non-profit Rhode Island Arts Foundation at Newport Inc. in 1968. [1] Glenn Sauls, who had worked at the Metropolitan Opera with Rudolf Bing, was hired as the first General Director and programmed the first summer season in 1969, with the full panoply of the performing arts, including; chamber music, ballet, film, vocal ensembles, and a full-scale performance of The Barber of Seville.

In 1971, year three of the Festival, Mr. Sauls noted,

You can well imagine how gratifying it is for those of us who have worked so hard to launch the Newport Music Festival in the face of formidable difficulties to now begin to detect a sense of permanence, and to have had our efforts as handsomely acknowledged as they recently were by Harold Schoenberg, the distinguished music critic of the New York Times. He wrote recently of the Newport Festival, “Serious musicians return season after season because they find much to admire in a forgotten repertory ignored by the Establishment. They love to play it, audiences love to hear it. There is no more relaxed, unusual and, in its own way, enterprising festival anywhere. [2]

The Festival's partnership with the Preservation Society of Newport County realized the possibility of performing chamber music in the historic Newport Mansions, the kind of grand rooms for which that music had originally been written.

Mark Malkovich III

In 1975, Mark Malkovich III became the festival's General Director. Under his leadership, the Festival became world-renowned for presenting young international artists in their North American debuts, for providing a showcase for emerging American artists, and performing rare repertoire. As described by Richard Dyer,

The repertory that Mark chose for Newport was astounding in its extent, range, and variety. Over the years the Festival has presented the complete keyboard music and chamber music of every major composer from Bach through the mid-20th century, as well as an interesting sampling of music written since then. Mark placed familiar masterpieces alongside neglected works by the same composers; most programs were full of illuminating juxtapositions… [3]

The Newport Festival became celebrated for the prestige of its debut artists; during Mr. Malkovich’s tenure more than 120 artists made their US debuts. [4] Italian pianists Andrea Lucchesini and Pietro De Maria, French violinists Augustin Dumay and Raphael Oleg, and pianists Jean-Phillipe Collard, François-René Duchâble and Alain Jacquon all had their American debuts at the Newport Music Festival.

Mr. Malkovich's untimely passing in 2010 ended a remarkable career, curating 36 consecutive seasons and leading the Festival to prominence both here at home and around the globe.

Mark Malkovich IV

In 2008, Mark Malkovich IV, assumed the title of General Manager and was later conferred leadership of the organization following his father's passing. The younger Malkovich shared his father's passion and brought his own vision to the organization. While still devoted to the Romantic era, the Festival began to feature a broader range of musical periods. Bach to Bernstein and new works by both established and emerging composers, became part of the repertoire, as well as discoveries of forgotten minor masterpieces. Examples include the world premiere of a four-hand Andante Cantabile by Claude Debussy, found in a manuscript at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, and an unknown Prelude of Rachmaninoff, found at the Library of Congress in Washington.

Malkovich and his mother, Joan Malkovich, retired from the festival after the 2017 season. Pamela A. Pantos became the new executive director. [5]

The 50th anniversary season (July 4–22, 2018) featured a broadening of the festival's musical landscape — celebrating the anniversaries of Rossini, Debussy and Bernstein — and included works by living composers. The festival continued to honor its legacy by presenting the Mark P. Malkovich III Memorial Concert, the highly regarded French Opera Night and three Sunrise Concerts at the Chinese Tea House. It also renewed its pledge to the local community and visitors to Newport by presenting free public concerts and strengthening its commitment to local artists and music programs.

Today

On November 22, 2020, the board of directors of the Newport Music Festival appointed Gillian Friedman Fox as the organization's new executive director. [6] During her recent and much-celebrated tenure at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fox received critical acclaim for curating innovative and thought-provoking classical music performances and programs. Fox will usher in a new era for the festival as it enters its 53rd season in 2021. [7]

On October 8, 2021, the organization went through a name change and rebranding, following an extensive audit by Sametz Blackstone Associates. [8] Moving forward the organization will be known as Newport Classical, better reflecting the current mission of looking toward the future and celebrating the diversity of expression within the art form through year-round programming.

The 2023 Festival will run from July 4–23, 2023.

Festival lineups

Notable past performers at the Newport Music Festival include:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Adès</span> British composer, pianist and conductor

Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: The Tempest (2004), Violin Concerto (2005), Tevot (2007), In Seven Days (2008), and Polaris (2010).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aspen Music Festival and School</span> Music festival in the United States

The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) is a classical music festival held annually in Aspen, Colorado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wigmore Hall</span> Recital venue in London

The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good acoustics. It specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals, and hosts over five hundred concerts each year, as well as a weekly concert broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stefan Milenkovich</span> Musical artist

Stefan Milenkovich is a Serbian violinist.

The Del Sol Quartet is a string quartet based in San Francisco, California that was founded in 1992 by violist Charlton Lee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottawa Chamberfest</span>

The Ottawa Chamberfest summer festival is a music festival held by Ottawa Chamberfest, also known as Chamberfest, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. This year's edition will be held between July 25 and August 8, 2019.

The Celebrity Series of Boston is a non-profit performing arts presenter established in Boston, Massachusetts by Boston impresario Aaron Richmond in 1938 as Aaron Richmond's Celebrity Series. Since its founding the Celebrity Series has evolved into one of New England's major presenting organizations with over 100 performance and outreach activities annually.

Musica Angelica is an internationally renowned Baroque orchestra based in Long Beach, California and led by music director Martin Haselböck, award-winning organist, conductor, and composer. Musica Angelica is dedicated to the historically informed performance of Baroque and early Classical music on period instruments. Its programs include a mixture of known masterworks by composers such as Bach, Handel and Vivaldi, along with rarely heard ‘musical gems’ by lesser-known composers.

The Bowdoin International Music Festival is an annual summer music school and concert series that takes place in Brunswick, Maine. Founded in 1964 as a program of Bowdoin College, it has operated as an independent nonprofit organization since 1997.

Thomas Gallant is an American oboist who performs with the Adaskin String Trio as well as other chamber music groups. Gallant is managing director of General Arts Touring, Inc., a classical and contemporary musicians agency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wu Han (pianist)</span> Musical artist

Wu Han (吴菡) is a Taiwanese-American pianist and influential figure in the classical music world. Leading a multifaceted career, she has risen to international prominence through her activities as a concert performer, recording artist, educator, arts administrator, and cultural entrepreneur. She is currently the Co-Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival and Institute in California and Co-Founder of ArtistLed. She also serves as Artistic Advisor for Wolf Trap’s Chamber Music in the Barns series and the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. She was appointed Artistic Director of La Musica in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Albright</span> American pianist and composer

Charlie Albright is an American pianist and composer. He is an official Steinway Artist, 2014 Avery Fisher Career Grant Recipient, 2010 Gilmore Young Artist (2010) and former Young Concert Artist. He graduated from Harvard College (AB) and the New England Conservatory (MM) as the first classical pianist in the schools' five-year AB/MM Joint Program, was named the Leverett House Artist in Residence for 2011–2012, and was one of the 15 Most Interesting Seniors of the Harvard College Class of 2011. He graduated from the Juilliard School of Music with his post-graduate Artist Diploma (AD) in 2014.

Rockport Music is a presenting organization in Rockport, Massachusetts, bringing music and other artistic programming in variety of genres to audiences in the greater Boston area and the Massachusetts North Shore. Founded in 1981 as the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Music has been under the artistic direction of violinist/violist Barry Shiffman since 2017. From 1995-2017, the Festival was under the artistic direction of pianist David Deveau. In Summer 2010 the organization completed construction on a year-round permanent home, the Shalin Liu Performance Center. Situated on the Atlantic coast, one hour north of Boston, Rockport has long been a destination for seaside tourism and historically a fishing village and artist colony.

Chamber Music Detroit, formerly the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, was founded in 1944 and is the tenth oldest chamber music series in the United States as recognized by Chamber Music America. It is widely respected as metropolitan Detroit's anchor organization for chamber music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Finckel</span> American musician

David Finckel is an American cellist and influential figure in the classical music world. The cellist for the Emerson String Quartet from 1979 to 2013, Finckel is currently the co-artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York, co-founder of the independent record label ArtistLed, co-artistic director and co-founder of Music@Menlo in Silicon Valley, producer of Cello Talks, professor of cello at The Juilliard School, and visiting professor of music at Stony Brook University.

The Missouri Chamber Music Festival and Adult Chamber Music Intensive (ACMI) was founded in 2010. The goal of the MOCM Festival concerts is to present the fine art of small ensemble music to a wide audience through an accessible, community-based festival. The ACMI workshop is the educational portion of the festival, placing adult instrumentalists in chamber ensembles with Festival artists for coaching and performance.

Kenji Bunch is an American composer and violist. Bunch currently serves as the artistic director of Fear No Music and teaches at Portland State University, Reed College, and for the Portland Youth Philharmonic. He is also the director of MYSfits, the most advanced string ensemble of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Kwan Loucks</span> American musician

Kevin Kwan Loucks is a Korean–American classical pianist, arts entrepreneur, and nonprofit executive. In September 2021, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Chamber Music America in New York City. He previously served as Director of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships at the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, a presenting organization in residence at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, CA, and also served as Director of Innovation and Program Development at Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. He co-founded Chamber Music | OC, an arts organization headquartered in Lake Forest, California, and is a founding member and current pianist of the award-winning piano trio, Trio Céleste.

Grace-Evangeline Mason is a British composer of contemporary classical music.

Matthew Whiteside is a composer based in Scotland. His work includes opera, chamber music, sound installations and soundtracks.

References

  1. ↑ [1] George Wein, Myself Among Others (Da Capo Press: 2003), page 271.
  2. ↑ Glenn Sauls, The Newport Music Festival Program Book- A Foreword by the General Director, (Newport Music Festival – Volume Three, 1971), page 2.
  3. ↑ Richard Dyer, Mark Paul Malkovich, Newport Music Festival 2010.
  4. ↑ "Mark Malkovich; brought new music talent to Newport". boston.com. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  5. ↑ "Artistic director Mark Malkovich IV to step down after this year". Providence Journal. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  6. ↑ McDonald, Susan. "Diversity is key for new Newport Music Festival director". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 2021-10-14.
  7. ↑ "Newport Music Festival plans a summer of genre-defying concerts - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2021-10-14.
  8. ↑ "After 53 years, Newport Music Festival is changing its name". Newport Daily News. Retrieved 2021-10-14.
  9. ↑ "2019 Brochure" (PDF). Newport Music Festival. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  10. ↑ "Summer Music Festivals Throughout the Land". New York Times. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  11. ↑ "2018 Brochure" (PDF). Newport Music Festival. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  12. ↑ "2019 Brochure" (PDF). Newport Music Festival. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  13. ↑ "2021 Festival Concerts". Newport Music Festival. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  14. ↑ "Music Festival". Newport Classical. Retrieved 2022-03-29.
  15. ↑ "Music Festival". Newport Classical. Retrieved 2023-04-01.

41°28′47″N71°18′44″W / 41.4796°N 71.3123°W / 41.4796; -71.3123

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.