March 22: Newport Classical Brings Eleni Katz and Evren Ozel in Music by Saint-Saëns and Debussy to Downtown Newport
Eleni Katz (left) and Evren Ozel (right). Photo by Geneva Lewis available in high resolution here.
Eleni Katz and Evren Ozel play Saint-Saëns and Debussy
Friday, March 22, 2024 at 7:30 PM
Newport Classical Recital Hall | 42 Dearborn St | Newport, RI
Tickets and Information
Read an interview with Eleni Katz in the Newport Daily News
“potent and agile bassoon”
–South Florida Classical Review
“daring creativity and fierce passion”
–ClevelandClassical.com
Newport, RI – Continuing its commitment to ongoing year-round programming and following two sold out concerts in January and February, Newport Classical presents its next Chamber Series concert featuring bassoonist Eleni Katz and pianist Evren Ozel on Friday, March 22, 2024 at 7:30pm at Newport Classical Recital Hall (42 Dearborn St.). In her Newport Classical debut, Eleni Katz performs music by French composers Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Noël Gallon, and Camille Saint-Saëns alongside Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Deep River, 2024 GRAMMY-winner Jeff Scott’s Elegy for Innocence, and Cindy Hsu’s Spring Fever. Katz will be joined by pianist Evren Ozel in his return to the Newport Classical stage – together the two bring to life classical bassoon repertoire exploring themes of dance styles, rhythms, lyricism, and emotion.
Newport Classical's Chamber Series takes place at Newport Classical Recital Hall in downtown Newport, known for its striking architecture and excellent acoustics. Audiences are invited to enjoy these 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. “I always enjoy the artist, but I also enjoy the attendees. Each attendee seems to have such a genuine interest in the music,” raved one concert goer. “The concert was absolutely breathtaking ... What beautiful music and a perfect setting for the performance,” said another.
Hailed for her virtuosity and vibrant musical spirit, bassoonist Eleni Katz has established herself as a prominent soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player – and one of the country’s foremost bassoonists. What makes Katz’s performances special is her approach to this instrument. Eleni Katz is a classically trained singer and has always believed that the bassoon should emulate the human voice. The Royal Gazette described her playing as “uncannily human.”
A native of Iowa City, Iowa, Eleni Katz trained at University of Wisconsin’s Mead Witter School of Music before earning her master’s degree at the Yale School of Music. In 2022, she was named a winner of the Concert Artist Guild Competition and enjoyed her Carnegie Hall debut through Young Performers Career Advancement. She performs across the country including with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Jupiter Chamber Players, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra.
Pianist Evren Ozel has established himself as a musician of “refined restraint” (Third Coast Review), combining fluent virtuosity with probing, thoughtful interpretations. He is the recipient of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, 2022 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and is currently represented by Concert Artists Guild as an Ambassador Prize Winner of their 2021 Victor Elmaleh Competition. Most recently, he was selected as a Bowers Program Artist for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Since his debut at age 11 with the Minnesota Orchestra, Ozel has gone on to be a featured soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Boston POPS Orchestra, and The Orchestra Now at Bard College.
More about the Concert Program:
Eleni Katz and Evren Ozel will begin their concert in Newport with Camille Saint-Saëns’ Sonata for Bassoon and Piano, Op. 168, showcasing the full range of the bassoon’s rich dynamics and lyricism, before performing Debussy’s Images II and Ravel’s Pièce en forme de Habanera. Originally written for bass voice and piano, Ravel later transcribed his Pièce en forme de Habanera for cello and piano. The work incorporates the grace and movement of the habanera dance form with technically difficult melodic passages and lush accompaniment. Cindi Hsu’s Spring Fever opens the program following intermission. Composed in the spring of 2017, Hsu’s two-movement piece for bassoon and piano is inspired by the spring-bloom of flower fields outside her Colorado home.
The penultimate work on Katz’s and Ozel’s program, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Deep River, draws on the tradition of Black spirituals. Coleridge-Taylor famously noted, “What Brahms has done for the Hungarian folk music, Dvořák for the Bohemian, and Grieg for the Norwegian, I have tried to do for these Negro Melodies.” Closing out the program is Jeff Scott’s Elegy for Innocence. Beginning with emotive melodic ascensions, the piece quickly turns darker, with virtuosic interplay between the bassoon and piano, encompassing the hardships of personal growth. The program also includes selections from Debussy’s Preludes, Book 1; Noel Gallon’s Récit et Allegro, a mainstay of the bassoon repertoire; Leon Kirchner’s Interlude II; and Coleridge-Taylor’s The Phantom Tells his Tale of Longing, Op. 66.
More about Eleni Katz: www.elenikatzbassoon.com
More about Evren Ozel: www.evrenozel.com
Newport Classical’s next Chamber Series concert is on April 26, performed by the award-winning Balourdet Quartet, which recently won the Grand Prize at the 2021 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, featuring music by Mozart, Beethoven, and Karim Al-Zand. 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. The 2024 Newport Classical Music Festival will take place from July 4-21, 2024, with programming to be announced on March 26.
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, Newport Classical has a rich legacy of musical curiosity having presented the American debuts of hundreds of international artists and is most well-known for hosting three weeks of concerts in the summer in the historic mansions throughout Newport and Aquidneck Island. 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 programs – the one-of-a-kind Music Festival; the Chamber Series in the Newport Classical Recital Hall; the free, family-friendly Community Concerts Series; and the Music Education and Engagement Initiative that inspires students in local schools to become the arts advocates and music lovers of tomorrow – illustrate the organization’s ongoing commitment to presenting “timeless music for today.”