The Buzz
ON THE BAY
By Antonia Ayres-Brown • In Partnership with The Public’s Radio • ThePublicsRadio.org
Embracing a New Tune Newport festival is reimagining classical music for a wider audience
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The Bay • June 2022
Executive Director Gillian Friedman Fox and Trevor Neal, Director of Artistic Planning and Engagement, have been leading Newport Classical through a renaming and rebranding
pioneered for over three decades by artistic director Mark Malkovich III, who made a point to bring in international musicians for their American debuts. During those years, the organization was largely built around an annual summer festival that attracted many visitors with concerts in Newport’s iconic Gilded Age mansions. Fox says that photos from the 1970s and 80s show people at the festival wearing black tie attire, like tuxedos and gowns. “And I think it’s very charming, looking back,” she said, but noted, “That is not contemporary.” Since Fox took the helm last year, Newport Classical has broken from its past and undergone a complete rebrand and renaming. Until 2021, it was called the Newport Music Festival, which was easy to confuse with the city’s Folk and Jazz festivals. Fox says the organization is
also reimagining its relationship with the surrounding community, with the goal of being more relevant to Newport locals. Last September, Newport Classical launched a year-round chamber series with monthly concerts throughout the winter. These concerts are shorter than usual, kept to about an hour and fifteen minutes, so young children and people with busy schedules can attend. While in town, the professional musicians also visit local public schools to meet with students and give workshops. Trevor Neal, Newport Classical’s Director of Artistic Planning and Engagement, says these initiatives are important to reaching community members who often haven’t been included in the past. “Music knows no discrimination of color, or
Photos by Antonia Ayres-Brown
Fun, casual, approachable. For many people, those aren’t the first words that come to mind when they think of classical music, a genre that’s often associated with music lessons and formal concert halls. But the group that hosts Newport’s long-running classical music festival is hoping to change that. It’s part of a larger effort to reimagine the summer concert series into a year-round organization with programs and performances for Newport residents less familiar with the musical genre. The concert had already begun at Emmanuel Church in Newport, and people were still streaming inside, looking for seats in the crowded pews. Towards the front of the nave, in the glow of the church’s purple stained glass, a quartet of saxophones rang out. This group, The Sinta Quartet, is an award-winning ensemble that tours across the country and abroad at venues where tickets can be fairly expensive. On an April weekend, however, the concert was completely free to the public, put on by the local organization Newport Classical. Among those in the audience were older seniors, couples that looked like they were on an afternoon date, and parents cradling young children. For many of the listeners, it was their first time hearing saxophones play classical music. “I was like, ‘Woah, what is that dude doing?’” said Newport local Peter Bartram. “The acoustics of the church, when the bass and the tenor would hit those low notes – oh my god, it just reverberates inside. And I love it when it makes your whole body vibrate.” Gillian Friedman Fox, the executive director of Newport Classical, says these kinds of moments are the goal of the free concerts. They aim to bring the community together and help people experience new forms of classical music, or introduce them to the genre for the first time. Fox says they’re mindful that listening to classical music can be intimidating. “Classical music — and this is everywhere — is plagued with this stigma of being for an educated audience, or that it’s something that can’t be enjoyed unless you are an expert,” she said. “We’re really trying to change that.” The organization was founded in 1969, and
