Newport Classical Chamber Series brings world-class musicians to Newport. See who's coming

This summer’s Newport Classical Music Festival was a wonderful success, drawing nearly 7,500 attendees to 27 concerts in Newport’s stunning mansions and historic venues over the course of three weeks in July. While our team has been catching our breath and relishing the last days of summer, we are excited to be preparing for the third year of our nine-concert Chamber Series. Our Chamber Series concerts are held monthly at our home venue, Newport Classical Recital Hall on Dearborn Street, on Friday nights at 7:30 p.m. from September through June. We can’t wait to share these performances by world-class musicians with Newport audiences.

The Chamber Series opens on Sept. 1 with a performance by Young Concert Artists on Tour. Young Concert Artists (YCA) is an organization that for 60 years has identified and supported extraordinary young musicians at the start of their professional careers, and YCA’s touring programs showcase today’s emerging star performers from around the world. Chinese violinist Lun Li (who also joined us this summer in Newport as a Festival Artist), Spanish/Dutch pianist Albert Cano Smit, American bass-baritone Joseph Parrish (who performed our Classical Lieder program this summer), and American tenor Daniel McGrew join forces on our stage for a concert featuring the unusual combination of voice with violin and piano. Their exciting program will take us from Felix Mendelssohn’s Germany in 1844, through Julian Anderson’s Great Britain in 1995.

On Oct. 6 we will present a very special evening with internationally renowned soloists and chamber musicians, violinist Chad Hoopes and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott. Chad Hoopes previously performed at the Newport Classical Music Festival in 2022, lighting up the stage as soloist with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Anne-Marie McDermott performs over 100 concerts a year throughout the world, and has a long relationship with Newport Classical – from 1990 to 1997, she was in residence as a Festival Artist! Chad and Anne-Marie have put together a beautiful concert program, anchored by Beethoven’s Sonata No. 9 and featuring music by Mozart and Fauré.

Violinist William Hagen, who performs on Nov. 3, has been hailed as a “brilliant virtuoso…a standout” (The Dallas Morning News), whose playing is, "captivating, floating delicately above the orchestra” (Chicago Classical Review). He will perform with one of the most sought-after soloists and chamber musicians of his generation, pianist Orion Weiss. The duo is making its Newport debut with us in a program featuring Clara Schumann’s final compositions, plus music by Dvořák, Beethoven, and Brahms.

After the holidays, on Jan. 26, we will present rising-star pianist Eric Lu, who has been described by The Guardian as “a veritable poet of the keyboard," in his Newport Classical debut performing music by Schubert, Mendelssohn, Bach, and Chopin. Eric has recently debuted with a number of major orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has performed at venues throughout the world, including Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and the Seoul Arts Center, and we are thrilled to welcome him to our own Newport Classical Recital Hall.

The Galvin Cello Quartet, which burst onto the scene after capturing the Silver Medal at the 2021 Fischoff Competition and the 2022 Victor Elmaleh Competition, will perform on Feb. 23. This incredible all-cello quartet is composed of members from China, Brazil, South Korea, and the US. They will give a concert that explores empathy and diversity, gathering music by composers of different cultural backgrounds in one evening. Their program includes Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout by Gabriela Lena Frank - which combines elements of the composer’s American, South American, and Asian heritage - as well as music by Rossini, Vivaldi, and Piazzolla.

Bassoonist Eleni Katz and pianist Evren Ozel will take our stage on March 22 in a program celebrating the many facets of the bassoon, featuring music by Debussy, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Coleridge-Taylor, and more. Hailed for her virtuosity and vibrant musical spirit, Eleni Katz has established herself as a prominent soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. She is a winner of the 2022 Concert Artist Guild Competition. Eleni trained as a classical singer, and believes that the bassoon should, “emulate the organic nature of the human voice,” as she puts it. It’s no surprise then, that The Royal Gazette, describes her playing as, “uncannily human.”

On April 26, the award-winning Balourdet Quartet, which recently won the Grand Prize at the 2021 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, comes to Newport from Boston to perform music by Hadyn, Kurtág, and Schubert. Their program opens with Haydn’s signature humor and tone painting in The Bird, and the modern-day Hungarian bard Kurtág ponders the cycle of life in a tribute to musicians meaningful to him, none more so than Schubert in Six Moments Musicaux.

Polish-American soprano Magdalena Kuźma, praised as a "standout" with "star quality" by Opera News, joins us on May 17 for a program exploring the many facets of the word “home,” in music by Barber, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and more. Her recent accolades include being named a winner of the 2021 ACPC Marcella Sembrich Vocal Competition and the CT District of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.

On June 7, pianist Asiya Korepanova closes our 2023-24 Chamber Series season with music by Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky, Beach, Chopin, and more. Asiya is the only pianist currently performing Liszt’s 24 Etudes as a single program and one of few to tout a concerto list featuring over 60 works. She is truly a pianistic powerhouse, and is recognized not only as a pianist but also as a composer, visual artist, and poet. She debuts with Newport Classical in an eclectic program, Transformations, featuring self-transcribed works for piano exploring how music takes on different meanings when performed on alternative instrumentation.

The Chamber Series is not the only program that Newport Classical presents during the fall, winter and spring. As part of Newport Classical’s desire to create connections between classical music, the artists who perform it, and the Newport community, musicians performing on the Chamber Series will also go into the Newport-area public schools to perform for and speak with students through our Music Education and Engagement Initiative during the school year. Additionally, with the generous support of our presenting sponsor BankNewport, we offer several free, family-friendly performances in neighborhood-centered locations through our Community Concerts Series. In December, Newport Classical presents two holiday programs, which will be announced in the coming months. And, you can mark your calendars now for the 2024 Newport Classical Music Festival, which will take place from July 4-21, 2024.

Through this monthly column, we will introduce the musicians who will perform during each month’s Chamber Series concert, so stay tuned! We hope you will join us for one or all of the Chamber Series concerts at the Newport Classical Recital Hall downtown, as we continue to bring timeless music for today to Newport.

Tickets for Newport Classical Chamber Series concerts can be purchased online at www.newportclassical.org/concerts. 

Trevor Neal is Newport Classical's director of artistic planning and engagement. Newport Classical's column appears monthly in The Newport Daily News and at newportri.com.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Newport Classical Chamber Series presents nine concerts in 2023-2024