Newport Classical Presents Two Free Community Concerts
L-R: Sybarite 5, Kinan Azmeh’s CityBand
Sybarite 5 photo credit: Shervin Lainez | CityBand photo credit: Liudmila Jeremies
Newport Classical Announces Fall Community Concerts
Free, Casual, and Welcoming to All
Presented by BankNewport
Sybarite5
Sunday, September 10, 2023 at 2:30pm
Great Friends Meeting House | 21 Farewell Street | Newport, RI
Kinan Azmeh’s CityBand
Sunday, October 8, 2023 at 2:30pm
Newport Craft Brewing | 293 JT Connell Highway | Newport, RI
Newport, RI – Continuing its commitment to ongoing year-round programming, Newport Classical presents two fall Community Concerts featuring Sybarite5 on Sunday, September 10, 2023 at 2:30pm at Miantonomi Memorial Park (120 Hillside Ave) and Kinan Azmeh’s CityBand on Sunday, October 8, 2023 at 2:30pm at Newport Craft Brewing (293 JT Connell Highway). Audiences can look forward to casual, engaging, and welcoming concerts right in their own Newport neighborhoods. The performances are free and advanced registration is requested but not required.
On September 10, Sybarite5, described as “hyper-accurate yet fiercely vivacious” by I Care If You Listen, presents its signature cocktail of post-genre musical goodness expressed through the virtuosity of five accomplished string musicians – violinists Sami Merdinian and Suliman Tekalli; violist Caeli Smith; cellist Laura Andrade; and double bassist Louis Levitt. This exciting quintet is constantly evolving, defying categorization, and has been keeping audiences on their toes for ten years. Diversity is a strength and Sybarite5 is known for bridging genre gaps to bring unexpected musical combinations together, creating unique, dynamic, and intoxicating concert experiences. Expect works from John Coltrane, Radiohead, Xavier Foley, Komitas, The Punch Brothers, Pedro Giraudo, Marc Mellits, Jessica Meyer, Kenji Bunch, Shawn Conley, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Astor Piazzolla, Aleksandra Vrebalov, and more.
On October 8, Kinan Azmeh’s CityBand comes to Newport Craft Brewing for an afternoon of music, food trucks, and beverages. The Kinan Azmeh CityBand (Kinan Azmeh, clarinet; Kyle Sanna, guitar; Josh Myers, bass; and Shane Shanahan, drums) immediately gained recognition for their virtuosic and high energy performance, receiving praise from critics and audiences alike. With this New York ensemble, clarinetist Azmeh strives to reach a balance between classical music, jazz, and the music of his homeland, Syria. Azmeh’s expressive clarinet meets Kyle Sanna’s rustic guitar, soaring at times over the dynamic and volatile backdrop of Shane Shanahan’s percussion and Josh Myers’ double bass. Each band member has come from varied backgrounds to add their personal flair to this ensemble, resulting in a thoroughly exciting and rewarding listening experience.
“BankNewport is proud to support Newport Classical as presenting sponsor for the Community Concert Series again this season," said Jack Murphy, President and CEO, BankNewport. “Throughout our more than 200 year history, we have been committed to arts and culture within our local communities. Newport Classical's efforts to ensure that music is accessible to all perfectly aligns with our ‘All In’ mission.”
This concert is generously presented as part of the BankNewport Community Concerts Series, with additional support from the Newport County Fund at the Rhode Island Foundation, Rhode Island Foundation Community Grant and Rhode Island State Council on the Arts.
Up next, Newport Classical’s Chamber Series opens on September 1 with musicians from Young Concert Artists on Tour, featuring today’s emerging star performers and arts leaders in music by Mendelssohn, Strauss, and more. On October 6, internationally renowned soloists and chamber musicians violinist Chad Hoopes and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott come together to create an exciting duo in a program anchored by Beethoven’s Sonata No. 9. Hoopes previously performed on the series in 2022, and McDermott has a long relationship with the organization – from 1990 to 1997, she was in residence as a Festival Artist. Violinist William Hagen, who performs on November 3 with pianist Orion Weiss, has been hailed as a “brilliant virtuoso…a standout” (The Dallas Morning News). On January 26, rising-star pianist Eric Lu, who has been described by The Guardian as “a veritable poet of the keyboard," will make his Newport Classical debut in a program featuring music by Schubert, Mendelssohn, Bach, and Chopin. 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 February 23. Bassoonist Eleni Katz and pianist Evren Ozel take the 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. On April 26, the award-winning Balourdet Quartet, which recently won the Grand Prize at the 2021 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, will present a program featuring Hadyn, Kurtág, and Schubert. Polish-American soprano Magdalena Kuźma, praised as a "standout" with "star quality" by Opera News, performs a program spanning from Chopin to Rachmaninoff to Rodgers and Hammerstein on May 17. On June 7, pianist Asiya Korepanova closes the Chamber Series with music by Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky, Beach, Chopin, and more.
For Newport Classical’s complete concert calendar, visit
www.newportclassical.org/concerts
About Newport Classical
Newport Classical is a premier performing arts organization that welcomes people of every age, culture, and background to intimate, immersive musical experiences. The organization presents world-renowned and up-and-coming artistic talents at stunning, storied venues across Newport – an internationally sought-after cultural and recreational destination.
Originally founded in 1969 as Rhode Island Arts Foundation at Newport, Inc. and previously known as Newport Music Festival (NMF), Newport Classical has a rich legacy of musical curiosity presenting the American debuts of over 130 international artists and rarely heard works and is most well-known for hosting three weeks of concerts in the summer in the historic mansions throughout Newport and Aquidneck Island. The organization has produced more than 2,000 concerts and hosted more than 1,000 musicians and singers. In 2021, the organization launched a new commissioning initiative – each year, Newport Classical will commission a new work by a Black, Indigenous, person of color, or woman composer as a commitment to the future of classical music.
Newport Classical is proud to be an essential pillar of New England’s cultural landscape, and to invest in the future of classical music as a diverse, relevant, and ever-evolving art form. Newport Classical’s four core programming initiatives – the iconic summer Music Festival taking place across Newport; the year-round Chamber Series at the organization’s home base Newport Classical Recital Hall at Emmanuel Church in downtown Newport; the free family-friendly Community Concerts held in green spaces around Aquidneck Island; and its newly expanded Music Education and Engagement Initiative program – illustrate the organization’s ongoing commitment to presenting “timeless music for today.”