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The sun hangs low over the ocean as the sky turns a delicate shade of peach. Walking over a sumptuous, immaculately kept lawn down to the water\u2019s edge, I look back at what can only be described as the stateliest of mansions \u2013 with its Greek-style pillars, expansive veranda and Juliet balconies. Inside the ostentatious marble entrance, a deep-red carpet lines an enormous staircase and heavy chandeliers hang from gargantuan brass chains. This is The Breakers<\/a><\/strong> in Newport, Rhode Island \u2013 improbably termed a \u2018cottage\u2019 by its original owners, the New York Vanderbilt family.<\/p> Newport is chock full of such \u2018cottages\u2019, built by America\u2019s wealthiest families as summer homes during the Gilded Age of the late-19th century. The beautiful seaside destination was the perfect spot for New York\u2019s Fifth Avenue set to escape from the sweltering inland heat, and although these families spent just a few months each year in Newport, their summer homes were equipped with every mod con and luxury. Think Edith Wharton\u2019s novel\u00a0The<\/em> Age of Innocence,\u00a0<\/em>whose high society cast of characters inhabits this world.<\/p> These days, Newport is still very much a holiday destination. Its harbours are lined with elegant yachts and sailboats, throngs of tourists walk among its generous range of shop, and any number of restaurants offer the region\u2019s delicious lobster roll \u2013 though for freshly caught fare you can\u2019t get better than the Newport Lobster Shack, whose unassuming exterior belies the quality of its food. For those with an interest in sport, the town has also hosted the International Tennis Hall of Fame<\/a><\/strong> since 1954, and the National Sailing Hall of Fame<\/a><\/strong> since 2019 \u2013 and the Newport Country Club was the site of golf\u2019s first US Open in 1895.<\/p> Thanks to the Newport Preservation Society, 11 of the town\u2019s cottages and gardens have been preserved as museums, complete with original furniture and finishings. These mansions also host year-round events staged by Newport Classical<\/strong><\/a>, founded in 1969 as the Rhode Island Arts Foundation \u2013 including an annual Music Festival in July, a year-long Chamber Series, free community concerts and an extensive Education and Engagement programme involving local schoolchildren.<\/p> Under the relatively recent leadership of executive director Gillian Friedman Fox, former director of Contemporary Programs for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Music Festival now commissions new music annually, while also honouring its more than 50-year legacy. Thus far, Fox has been very successful in commissioning works with ties to the community \u2013 a case in point was 2023\u2019s world premiere, a piano quintet titled \u2018The Gilded Age\u2019 by Grammy- nominated violinist<\/a><\/strong> and composer<\/a><\/strong> Curtis Stewart, who coincidentally spent some years growing up in Newport and whose piece draws on the stories of those who worked at The Breakers.<\/p> \u2018We want to commission new works, support living composers and to be a part of the narrative of the future of classical music,\u2019 Fox told me. \u2018That\u2019s something that is incredibly important to me and I think should be important to all classical music organisations. We can\u2019t just look backwards but instead should embrace the future of the artform.\u2019<\/p> The 2023 edition, which I attended in July, was exciting and dynamic. On my first evening at The Breakers, former Tchaikovsky Competition<\/a><\/strong> winner Zlatomir Fung treated us to fleet-footed accounts of the complete Bach<\/a><\/strong> Cello<\/a><\/strong> Suites, performed from memory with spoken introductions. The next morning, I headed to another cottage, The Elms<\/a><\/strong>, for \u2018Classical Rivalries\u2019, a highly energetic performed and spoken account of the \u2018famous feud\u2019 between Brahms<\/a><\/strong> and Liszt<\/a><\/strong>, featuring 2023\u2019s Festival Artists \u2013 young musicians at the outset of their careers brought together annually by Newport Classical for an intense three-week period of music-making. <\/p> But it wasn\u2019t all about the youngsters: there were also headline performances by pianist<\/a><\/strong> H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Grimaud in Brahms and Bach\/Busoni \u2013 treading an astonishing line between passion and elegance \u2013 and by violinist Eldbj\u00f8rg Hemsing in enchanting Norwegian trifles alongside Ravel<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s epic\u00a0Tzigane<\/em>.<\/p> It all pointed to a thriving musical community, generously supported by locals whose love of the arts equals their pride in the town\u2019s elegant past. And with Fox\u2019s bold new refresh, the next 50 years of Newport Classical look set to equal the success of the last.<\/p>Newport: summer destination for the Gilded Age<\/h2>
Newport: a home to classical music<\/h2>
\u2018We can\u2019t just look backwards, but should embrace the future of the artform\u2019<\/h2>
A successful Newport Classical Music Festival in 2023<\/h2>
Newport’s big plans for the future<\/h2>