Songs of Childhood, Songs of Play
The Newport String Quartet perform a side-by-side concert with their students at Jamestown Arts Center
Sunday, March 8th at 3pm
Jamestown Arts Center, 18 Valley Street, Jamestown, RI
Inspired by the Jamestown Arts Center’s current exhibit “Picturing Play”, the Newport String Project presents a unique event that celebrates the creative voices of young people, by featuring performances by the students of the Newport String Project alongside their mentors in the Newport String Quartet.
The Newport String Quartet will perform an eclectic set of works that draw inspiration from children’s folk songs from Mexico, Haiti, Afghanistan, Mali, Syria and Ghana. From handclapping games to lullabies, these pieces are sure to delight and offer some unexpected surprises along the way! This side-by-side event will also feature selections performed by the quartet along with their students who participate in NSP’s free youth mentoring programs.
This event invites audiences to delight in the creativity, joy and playfulness of childhood through music.
Program
The Newport String Quartet will perform
Miguel Bernal Jiménez – Selections from Cuarteto Virreinal (1937)
Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté – Tegere Tulon: Funtukuru arr. J Garchik (2018)
Kareem Roustom - Songs from Home (2024)
and
Selections performed the students of the Newport String Project, alongside their mentors in the Newport String Quartet
This event will last approximately 1 hour without intermission.
This is a free event. Gifts in support of the Newport String Quartet’s free performances and
youth mentoring programs are welcome.
Annual Community Concert at Ochre Court
Sunday, March 22 at 3pm
Ochre Court, 100 Ochre Point Ave, Newport, RI
The Newport String Project returns to Ochre Court for an exceptional afternoon of chamber music. The centerpiece of the concert will be a performance of Frank Bridge’s String Sextet in E flat. The Newport String Quartet will be joined by celebrated guest artists Jesse Holstein (viola) and Elizabeth Cook (cello). This sweeping, magnificent masterpiece was first performed in 1912 and thanks to increased interest in Frank Bridge’s compositions in recent years, this rarely heard gem is finally taking its rightful place in the repertoire. A highlight of the Newport String Project’s season each year, this free community concert offers audiences the extraordinary opportunity to experience rarely heard works in a setting that is both intimate and breathtaking.
Program
Henry Purcell – Chacony in g minor, Z. 730
Frank Bridge – String Sextet in E flat Major, H107
About the guest artists
Jesse Holstein graduated from Oberlin where he studied with Marilyn McDonald and then received his Master’s with James Buswell at the New England Conservatory. Prior to Oberlin, he studied violin with Philipp Naegele in Northampton, Massachusetts. Jesse would be remiss if he did not send a huge thank you to his wonderful Suzuki teacher Diana Peelle who started him at age 5 and was extremely patient with his slouching posture for years. An active recitalist, orchestral and chamber musician, Jesse is currently concertmaster of the New Bedford Symphony. In recent summers, he has performed at the Bravo! Festival in Vail Colorado, the Montana Chamber Music Festival in Bozeman, the Bay Chamber Concerts in Rockport, Maine, the Green Lake Festival in Wisconsin, the South Coast Chamber Music Series, among others. While an undergraduate, Jesse taught for the Oberlin Preparatory Program in the Lorain, Ohio public schools. Also at Oberlin, he served as Assistant Concertmaster and later as Music Director of the Royal Farfissa Disco Juggernaut, the premier disco orchestra in the greater-Cleveland area in the mid-1990s. Currently, Jesse is a teacher and resident musician for Community MusicWorks and was a founding member of the Providence String Quartet. Jesse performed with the Muir, Borromeo, Miro, Apple Hill, Orion, Turtle Island, and St. Lawrence Quartets, as well as pianists Jonathan Biss and Emanuel Ax, cellist Matt Haimovitz; Cleveland Orchestra Principal Oboe, Frank Rosenwein, and violist Kim Kashkashian, among many others. Jesse also has attended the Violin Craftsmanship Institute in Durham, New Hampshire, where he learned about instrument repair. He manages all of the instruments at Community MusicWorks and the program’s 150 students. Jesse has been a Violin Professeur at L’Ecole de Musique, Dessaix Baptiste in Jacmel, Haiti and is currently on the faculty at Brown University. Some of his life forces are mindfulness, running, animals, and visiting Donegal, Ireland with his wonderful wife, violinist Ealaín McMullin.
Elizabeth Cook is a Boston-based cellist originally from North Carolina. She began her musical training at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and later earned degrees from Mannes College of Music and SUNY Purchase, where she studied with distinguished cellists Marcy Rosen, Brooks Whitehouse, Zvi Plesser, and Julia Lichten.
In 2018, Elizabeth was awarded the Gloria Miner Fellowship at the Sitka International Cello Seminar and appeared as a soloist with the Western Piedmont Wind Symphony in the Music Beyond Borders concert series, which highlights the stories of refugees.
Deeply committed to music as a vehicle for social connection and change, Elizabeth spent nearly a decade living and working in the Middle East and Asia, collaborating with organizations including Sounds of Palestine in Bethlehem and Children of Cambodia. She spent three years teaching cello at Al Kamandjati, a music organization based in Ramallah that serves Palestinian youth in marginalized communities, and has been on the teaching faculty at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music. Elizabeth currently serves as an ensemble leader with Shelter Music Boston, Artist Director and Resident Cellist at musiConnects, and is on faculty at the Center for Arabic Culture.
Newport County Concert Series - IV
Saturday, May 2nd at 5:30pm
Rough Point, 680 Bellevue Ave, Newport, RI
Sunday, May 3rd at 3pm
United Congregational Church, 1 Commons, Little Compton, RI
Resounding 2026
Saturday, June 7th at 5:30pm
Great Friends Meeting House, 21 Farewell St, Newport, RI 02840 ·
Save the date for the Newport String Project's annual fundraising concert featuring
the Newport String Quartet and their students.
PAST CONCERTS
Pocket Concerts
Sunday, September 21 at 10am - 4pm
Art Museum - Belmont Chapel - A Secret Garden Room
Back by popular demand, Pocket Concerts (formerly known as One to One) are personalized
micro-concerts that pair one musician (occasionally two) with an individual or small group audience
for an engaging performance experience. Pocket Concerts will feature musicians from the Newport String Quartet,
NSP’s resident ensemble, as well as phenomenal guest artists from throughout New England.
Audiences will enjoy 15-minute concerts in an array of unique settings at
The Newport Art Museum, Belmont Chapel and even, a Secret Garden Room!
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Newport County Concert Series - I
Saturday October 25th at 3pm
St. Columba’s Parish Hall, 55 Vaucluse Ave, Middletown, RI
Sunday, October 26th at 3pm
St. Matthew’s Church, 87 Narragansett Ave, Jamestown, RI
Program
Caroline Shaw – Selections from Plan and Elevation
Bryce Dessner – Le Bois
Ludwig Van Beethoven – String Quartet in F Major No 7, Razumovsky, op. 59 no. 1
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NSQ performs at
Chapel of St John the Divine in Saunderstown
Thursday, November 13th at 6:00pm
The Chapel of St. John the Divine,
Church Way at Willet Road, Saunderstown, RI
Rarities, Remembrance and Passion
The quartet’s program featured rarely heard music by 18th century Italian composer Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen
who drew widespread acclaim in her lifetime for both her compositions and her performances.
Also featured on the program was a performance of Bryce Dessner’s Le Bois - an evocative musical tribute
to the Notre-Dame Cathedral and its restoration after the catastrophic fire in 2019.
The evening concluded with a performance of Mendelssohn’s passionate String Quartet
in e minor op 44 no 2. This atmospheric and effervescent program was simply not to be missed.
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Newport County Concert Series - II
Saturday, December 6th at 2pm
Four Corners Arts Center, 3848 Main Road, Tiverton
Sunday, December 7th at 2pm
Newport Art Museum, 76 Bellevue Ave, Newport, RI
Featured works by Lombardini Sirmen, Bach & Mendelssohn
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Newport County Concert Series - III
Sunday, February 8th at 3pm
Trinity Church, 1 Queen Anne Square, Newport RI 02840
This colorful program was a musical celebration of childhood, playfulness and memory. Inspired by the Jamestown Arts Center’s upcoming exhibit “Picturing Play”, the Newport String Quartet performed an eclectic set of works that draws inspiration from children’s folk songs from Mexico, Haiti, Afghanistan, Mali, Syria and Ghana. Closer to home, Shelley Washington’s evocative Middleground depicts her memories of travelling cross country with family gathering memories of cycling, fireworks and ice-cream. The quartet also performed Mozart’s beloved String Quartet in B-flat “The Hunt” which brims with optimism and delight. This heartwarming afternoon of chamber music was not to be missed.
