Newport Classical will open its 2025-2026 Chamber Series on Sept. 12 with a performance by the Poiesis Quartet, a rising string ensemble that has won multiple national competitions in recent years.
The concert, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Newport Classical Recital Hall, will feature the quartet performing Beethoven’s Op. 59 No. 3 alongside contemporary works by Kevin Lau, Brian Raphael Nabors and Sky Macklay. The program will conclude with an arrangement of the African American spiritual “Calvary” and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s String Quartet No. 1.
The Poiesis Quartet — comprising violinists Sarah Ma and Max Ball, violist Jasper de Boor and cellist Drew Dansby — won the Grand Prize and Gold Medal at the 2023 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. The group also took gold at the 2023 St. Paul String Quartet Competition and joined the Concert Artists Guild roster after winning the Louis & Susan Meisel Competition in 2024.
The quartet has performed internationally in Uruguay, Italy and France, and released its debut album “as we are” on the Bright Shiny Things label in 2024.
Ma said the Newport program centers on the ensemble’s first commissioned work, Lau’s String Quartet No. 7, which the Chinese-Canadian composer wrote while his newborn son was undergoing treatment for a rare liver condition.
“After Kevin’s newborn baby son was diagnosed with a rare liver condition requiring surgeries and a rigorous recovery process, he wrote this work during this time as a ‘surfacing’ from grief and pain,” Ma said. “Today, his family is healthy and happy, and his quartet ends with virtuosity, defiance, and joy.”
As part of Newport Classical’s community engagement initiative, the quartet will perform at the Edward King House during the day before their evening concert.
The Chamber Series features 12 concerts running through June 2026. Upcoming performances include violinist Blake Pouliot on Oct. 3, Trio Zimbalist on Oct. 17 and pianist Charlotte Hu on Nov. 7.
Tickets and information are available at newportclassical.org.
