Newport Classical Announces Spring Community Concerts Free, Casual, and Welcoming to All
L-R: Empire Wild (photo by Titilayo Ayangade), Invoke (photo by Nathan Russell) available in high resolution here.
Newport Classical Announces Spring Community Concerts
Free, Casual, and Welcoming to All
Presented by BankNewport
Empire Wild
Sunday, April 28, 2024 at 2:30pm
Newport Craft Brewing | 293 JT Connell Highway | Newport, RI
Invoke
Sunday, May 19, 2024 at 2:30pm
Miantonomi Memorial Park | 120 Hillside Ave | Newport, RI
Information & Registration: www.newportclassical.org
Newport, RI – Newport Classical presents two spring Community Concerts featuring Empire Wild on Sunday, April 28, 2024 at 2:30pm at Newport Craft Brewing (293 JT Connell Highway) and Invoke on Sunday, May 19, 2024 at 2:30pm at Miantonomi Memorial Park (120 Hillside Ave). Audiences can look forward to these casual, engaging, and welcoming concerts – presented right in their own Newport neighborhoods. The performances are free and advanced registration is required for Empire Wild due to the limited capacity of the Taproom. Registration is requested but not required for Invoke’s performance at Miantonomi Memorial Park.
On April 28, Empire Wild brings a genre-bending musical experience to Newport Craft Brewing, where audiences can purchase beer and bites to enjoy during the performance. Empire Wild channels their love for musical exploration into their sound, fusing pop, folk, jazz, and more. In this program, the group puts its own spin on music by composers whose work has endured the test of time. Hear classics by Beethoven, Ravel, Bach and more brought to new life in the trio’s unique arrangements, at this free concert – fun for listeners of all ages.
On May 19, Invoke, described as “...not anything but everything: Classical, Folk, Bluegrass, Americana and a sound yet to be termed seamlessly merged into a perfect one,” brings its signature blend to Miantonomi Memorial Park. Invoke strives to successfully dodge even the most valiant attempts at genre classification. The multi-instrumental quartet encompasses traditions from across America, including bluegrass, Appalachian fiddle tunes, jazz, and minimalism. Featuring violin, viola and cello, plus banjo, mandolin, and vocals, this free, family-friendly concert promises a joyful afternoon outdoors, with music and community.
These free concerts are generously presented as part of the BankNewport Community Concerts Series with additional support from the NewportFed Charitable Foundation, RISCA, and a Rhode Island Foundation Community Grant.
Up next as part of Newport Classical’s Chamber Series, on March 22 bassoonist Eleni Katz and pianist Evren Ozel bring to life classical bassoon repertoire exploring themes of dance styles, rhythms, lyricism, and emotion, at Newport Classical Recital Hall in downtown Newport. Newport Classical’s April 26 Chamber Series concert will be performed by the award-winning Balourdet Quartet, which recently won the Grand Prize at the 2021 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, and will feature 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. Celebrating its 55th anniversary, the 2024 Newport Classical Music Festival will take place from July 4-21, 2024, with programming to be announced on March 26, and tickets going on sale to the general public on April 10.
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.”