Newport Classical presents soprano Magdalena Kuźma in Concert Exploring 'Home' on May 17
Newport Classical is bustling – we continue our Chamber Series concerts at Newport Classical Recital Hall, present our first two free Community Concerts Series performances of 2024 this spring, and are preparing for our highly anticipated summertime Newport Classical Music Festival, celebrating its 55th anniversary this July. Last summer, we welcomed more than 7,500 audience members to our city’s historic venues and mansions during the Festival, and we look forward to meeting or exceeding that this year.
Set against the picturesque backdrop of the City-by-the-Sea, the Newport Classical Music Festival presents 27 concerts held in 11 historic venues over 18 days from July 4-21, featuring a total of 120 musicians from around the world. Patrons can easily craft a Festival itinerary tailored to their preferences – be it the discovery of a new composer, the rhythm of percussion, or revisiting a beloved work with a fresh perspective. We invite audiences to broaden their musical horizons. Tickets are on sale now via our website at www.newportclassical.org/music-festival, and we encourage you to book early since many concerts are already close to being at capacity.
Our Festival performances will take place inside stunning historic mansions and venues including The Breakers, Blithewold Mansion in Bristol, The Elms, Castle Hill Inn, Chinese Tea House, Newport Art Museum, Redwood Library & Athenæum, and more. Highlights include Opening Night at The Breakers with Sphinx Virtuosi, one of the nation’s most dynamic professional chamber orchestras, comprised of 18 of the nation's top Black and Latinx classical soloists, with featured soloist cellist Thomas Mesa; a sensational recital by GRAMMY-nominated violinist Anne Akiko Meyers; the return to Newport of male-voiced “orchestra of voices” Chanticleer, the genre-transcending Canadian Brass, and the riveting conductor-less chamber orchestra A Far Cry with special guests Kinan Azmeh and Dinuk Wijeratne; the Music Festival debut of the storied, Boston-based Handel and Haydn Society; two enchanting evenings with Tony Award-winning Broadway star Laura Benanti, recently a featured guest on HBO’s The Gilded Age; plus performances by star pianists Lara Downes, Joyce Yang, Llewellyn Sánchez-Werner, Drew Petersen, and Daniel del Pino; and appearances by numerous celebrated chamber ensembles including the Isidore String Quartet; PUBLIQuartet; Duo Kayo; Lincoln Trio; Fenway Quintet; Poulenc Trio with accordionist Hanzhi Wang; and Sō Percussion with vocalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw.
Every summer, Director of Artistic Planning and Engagement Trevor Neal and I aspire to curate a festival that celebrates the legacy of Newport Classical and introduces our audience to the musicians who are shaping the future of classical music. I am excited to share the incredible talent of the musicians we have assembled this year.
Up next on our Chamber Series, we present Polish-American soprano Magdalena Kuźma, who will perform at Newport Classical Recital Hall on May 17. Not only has Magdalena been praised as a “standout” with “star quality” by Opera News, she also holds multiple degrees in music and social neuroscience from The Juilliard School, Oberlin College and Conservatory, and Yale University. Currently establishing a name for herself in both concert and operatic repertoire, she is a Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist and she made her mainstage debut at the Met this season as Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore. After she performs in Newport, she’ll make her debut at the Aspen Music Festival later this summer.
Magdalena will be singing a beautiful recital program exploring the many facets of the word “home,” through music from Carousel and The Music Man; a selection from Ukrainian Folk Songs by Stefania Turkewich, widely recognized as Ukraine’s first prominent woman composer; Tom Cipullo’s song cycle Late Summer based on the poems of William Heyen, Emily Dickinson, and Stanley Kunitz; plus selections by Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Barber. We are very excited to welcome Magdalena to the Newport Classical Recital Hall stage, and grateful to Donald Osborne and Frank Garofolo for their generous sponsorship of this recital. With this summer’s Opera Night during the Music Festival already sold out, Magdalena’s concert is a wonderful alternative.
On June 7, Newport Classical presents Asiya Korepanova in our final Chamber Series concert of this season. The only pianist currently performing Liszt’s 24 Études as a single program and one of few to tout a concerto list featuring over 60 works, Asiya is a pianistic powerhouse. She 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.
Newport Classical's Chamber Series takes place at our Recital Hall in downtown Newport, known for its striking architecture and excellent acoustics. The Chamber Series reaffirms Newport Classical’s commitment to year-round classical music programming. We invite audiences to enjoy performances by world-class classical musicians in a relaxed setting, with a complimentary glass of wine from Greenvale Vineyards. Both performers and audience members alike have described these concerts as some of their favorites. Our patrons have given rave reviews, saying, “The energy of performers and audience was amazing. A truly culturally diverse audience, something we all strive for in the arts.”
Whether you are joining us for the first time or are regular patrons at our concerts, we look forward to welcoming you to Newport Classical’s performances this spring and summer. Tickets and more information are available at www.newportclassical.org.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Newport Classical Classical Music Festival to be held July 4-21, 2024
