"The new executive director, Gillian Friedman Fox, is stitching together a rich tapestry of works..." - The New York Times

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“This summer’s Newport Music Festival concerts, socially distanced on the lawns of the Great Houses, makes a special point of celebrating cultural diversity in music." - WBUR

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"This year’s line-up will continue the festival’s long legacy of bringing the best classical music to Rhode Island’s shores. The Boston-based chamber orchestra A Far Cry will kick off the summer with back-to-back performances followed by New York’s Harlem Quartet and Chicago’s Grammy-winning Third Coast Percussion. Sergey Antonov, Lara Downes and Ester Ning Yau will share their talents throughout the week, before Anthony McGill closes yet another remarkable year." - Culture Trip

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One of "10 Ways to Fill Your Summer with Classical Music" - The Boston Globe

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“Newport Music Festival has always really been a significant part of the cultural fabric for Newport County and Rhode Island, but has also attracted people from all over the country and all over the world,” Friedman Fox said. “So my hope is that as restrictions ease and things start to open back up again, that folks from all over the country will feel comfortable coming out and experiencing everything that Newport has to offer.” - Gillian Friedman Fox in The Newport Daily News

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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.

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Originally founded in 1969 as Rhode Island Arts Foundation at Newport, Inc. and previously known as Newport Music Festival (NMF), Newport Classical has a rich legacy of musical curiosity presenting the American debuts of over 130 international artists and rarely heard works and is most well-known for hosting three weeks of concerts in the summer in the historic mansions throughout Newport and Aquidneck Island. The organization has produced more than 2,000 concerts and hosted more than 1,000 musicians and singers. 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.

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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 programming initiatives – the iconic summer Music Festival taking place across Newport; the year-round Chamber Series at the organization’s home base Newport Classical Recital Hall at Emmanuel Church in downtown Newport; the free family-friendly Community Concerts held in green spaces around Aquidneck Island; and its newly expanded Music Education Residency program – illustrate the organization’s ongoing commitment to presenting “timeless music for today.”

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