Newport Music Festival

Timeless Music For Today

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Newport Classical (Newport Music Festival)

Hermitage Piano Trio performs at Marble House

Genre| Chamber Music and other genres
Venue| Historic Newport Mansions and Venues
Location(s)| Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.A.
Years active| 1969–present
Inaugurated| 1969 (1969)
Most recent| July 4, 2021 (2021-07-04) – July 20, 2021 (2021-07-20)
Next event| July 1, 2022 (2022-07-01) – July 17, 2022 (2022-07-17)
Organized by| Rhode 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

* 1 History
* 1.1 Early years
* 1.2 Mark Malkovich III
* 1.3 Mark Malkovich IV
* 1.4 Today
* 2 Festival lineups
* 3 References
* 4 External links

## History[edit]

### Early years[edit]

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[edit]

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; the list of world-class musicians who made their American debuts at Newport is endless...

Mark had a particular affection for great old masters whose appearance in this country were rare...He also reintroduced to this country many artists still in mid-career. Naturally he was always interested in young talent and every season featured new and promising musicians...

American Debuts at the Newport Music Festival:

* Italian pianists Andrea Lucchesini and Pietro De Maria, French violinists Augustin Dumay and Raphael Oleg, and pianists Jean-Phillipe Collar, Francois-Rene Duchable and Alain Jacquon all had their American debuts at the Newport Music Festival.
* Since 1969 nearly 150 emerging American artists have made their festival debuts at Newport.

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[edit]

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 fathers’ 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.

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[edit]

On November 22, 2020, the board of directors of the Newport Music Festival appointed Gillian Friedman Fox as the organization's new executive director.[4] 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.[5]

On October 8, 2021, the organization went through a name change and rebranding, following an extensive audit by Sametz Blackstone Associates.[6] 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.

On March 29, 2022, the organization announced programming for the 2022 Newport Classical Music Festival, running from July 1 - 17 with 24 concerts featuring 32 guest artists and ensembles at 11 venues.

## Festival lineups[edit]

Notable past performers at the Newport Music Festival include:

* 1976: Andrei Gavrilov (American Debut)
* 1979: The Swingle Singers,[7] Bella Davidovich (American Debut)
* 1982: Dimitris Sgouros (American Debut)
* 1997: Valery Afanassiev (American Debut)
* 2018: Joshua Bell
* 2019: The Swingle Singers, Sierra Boggess, Marc-André Hamelin, Charlie Albright,[8]
* 2021: A Far Cry, Harlem Quartet, Third Coast Percussion, Aaron Diehl, Boston Trio, Lara Downes, Sergey Antonov & Ilya Kazantsev, Lara Deutsch & Rupert Boyd, Chanticleer, Brooklyn Rider, Anthony McGill[9]
* 2022: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with Chad Hoopes, Gavilán Brothers and a World Premiere by Shawn Okpebholo, Johannes Moser & Marc-André Hamelin, The King’s Singers, Sō Percussion, Joyce Yang, Junction Trio, Spektral Quartet, and more![10]

## References[edit]

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. ^ McDonald, By Susan. "Diversity is key for new Newport Music Festival director". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 2021-10-14.
5. ^ "Newport Music Festival plans a summer of genre-defying concerts - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2021-10-14.
6. ^ News, Newport Daily. "After 53 years, Newport Music Festival is changing its name". Newport Daily News. Retrieved 2021-10-14. `{{cite web}}`: `|last=` has generic name (help)
7. ^ "2019 Brochure" (PDF). Newport Music Festival. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
8. ^ "2019 Brochure" (PDF). Newport Music Festival. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
9. ^ "2021 Festival Concerts". Newport Music Festival. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
10. ^ "Music Festival". Newport Classical. Retrieved 2022-03-29.

## External links[edit]

* Official website

Coordinates: 41°28′47″N 71°18′44″W﻿ / ﻿41.4796°N 71.3123°W﻿ / 41.4796; -71.3123

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