Music festival season has arrived on Aquidneck Island with the Newport Classical concert series kicking things off. With over 25 indoor and outdoor performances scheduled, this series offers something for everyone from the casual listener to the serious classical music fan. Here’s our list of six “not to be missed” performances. For more information and the complete concert line-up, click here.
July 6: Opening night at The Breakers features top-selling Grammy Award-nominated pianist Simone Dinnerstein, feted by The Washington Post as “an artist of strikingly original ideas and irrefutable integrity.” The program includes selections from Schumann, Couperin, Glass and Satie. Limited tickets remain available – click here for details.
July 9: Strings in Nature is a unique outdoor performance at the Norman Bird Sanctuary in Middletown. Festival artists will connect music and nature, anchored by a string quartet reduction of Benjamin Britten’s “Simple Symphony.” Selections by Haydn, Jean Francaix, and John Blackwood McEwan are also scheduled. The performance will be moved to the barn indoors in case of inclement weather. Click here for details.
July 15: Festival artists will gather at the historic Emmanuel Church for an afternoon benefit concert of exciting works, including Mozart’s “Violin Sonata No. 17,” Debussy’s “Cello Sonata,” Rebecca Clarke’s “Dumka” and Frank Bridge’s “Phantasy for Piano Quartet in F-sharp minor.” Click here for details.
July 18: George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” is one of the most recognized pieces of classical music on earth. Award-winning pianist Charlie Albright, a Newport Classical favorite, performs at the Castle Hill Inn. Also on the program Beethoven’s “Sonata No. 17 in D minor: Tempest” and Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” Click here for details.
July 22: One of the more interesting programs this summer will come from the Excelsis Percussion Quartet. Comprised of an international and multilingual group of women, the New York City-based ensemble has been described as “one of the most innovative and exciting percussion ensembles to emerge in the golden age of chamber music.” Check out the video below for a preview, and head to the afternoon show at Colony House in Newport. Click here for details.
July 23: The Knights are a New York-based orchestral collective of musicians dedicated to transforming the concert experience and eliminating barriers between audiences and music. They perform the festival finale at The Breakers with works by Vivaldi, Bartok, Colin Jacobsen, and Copland’s masterpiece “Appalachian Spring.” Click here for details.
