Oct 18: Newport Classical Presents Ensemble Mélange in Two Free Community Concerts
Ensemble Mélange, photo by Nir Arieli, available in high resolution here.
Newport Classical Presents Ensemble Mélange in Two Free Community Concerts in October
Free, Casual, and Welcoming to All
Presented by BankNewport
Sunday, October 18, 2026 at 1:00pm and 3:30pm
Newport Classical Recital Hall | 42 Dearborn St. | Newport, RI
Information & Registration: newportclassical.org/event/melange
Newport, RI – Newport Classical announces two free concerts as part of its Community Concerts Series presented by BankNewport taking place on Sunday, October 18, 2026 at 1:00pm and 3:30pm, performed by Ensemble Mélange at Newport Classical Recital Hall (42 Dearborn St.).
Ensemble Mélange puts the audience in the driver's seat for a pair of interactive concerts unlike any other. With a menu of more than 30 selections spanning classical favorites, jazz, Latin, Broadway, and beyond, audience members are randomly chosen to select what the ensemble performs next. The result is an engaging, high-energy concert where no two performances are ever the same, offering an exciting musical adventure for concertgoers of all ages.
The New York Times praised the ensemble's unique concert experience, describing Mélange as the kind of group that relishes "the bond with a living, choosing audience." Ensemble Mélange’s members are accomplished soloists and chamber musicians who perform extensively worldwide, including Ariadne Greif, soprano; Grace Park, violin; Sofia Nowik, cello; Moran Katz, clarinet; Stuart Breczinski, oboe; plus pianist to be announced. Audiences will help shape these concerts in real time during these free, fast-paced, family-friendly performances that are sure to be full of surprises.
Newport Classical's Community Concerts Series is free and open to the community; advanced registration is requested but not required for all performances. These concerts are generously presented as part of the BankNewport Community Concerts Series with additional support from the Newport County Fund at the Rhode Island Foundation.
Up next, Newport Classical's Chamber Series opens on September 18, 2026 with returning favorites Invoke, a multi-instrumental quartet encompassing traditions from across America, including bluegrass, Appalachian fiddle tunes, jazz, and minimalism. On October 9, the rising Trio Azura, a recent Grand Prize and Gold Medal winner at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, invites audiences to explore the world of the piano trio across eras from the Impressionist and Romantic works of Maurice Ravel and Felix Mendelssohn to the contemporary voice of Jennifer Higdon. The Boston-based Rasa String Quartet makes its Newport Classical debut on October 23 with “Portraits of an American Patchwork,” a musical quilt that weaves together the cultural traditions that have shaped the nation’s identity, spanning jazz, bluegrass, Latin pop, Indigenous traditions, global folk music, and classical favorites. Pianist Michael Leonardo Davidman, winner of the 2025 American Piano Awards and praised by Upstage for his “thunderous authority and loads of interpretive nuance,” makes his Newport debut on November 6. On November 20, Raphaël Feuillâtre, hailed as one of the leading classical guitarists of his generation, performs “Latin Passions.”
Cellist Sterling Elliott, a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, and pianist Elliot Wuu perform on January 29, 2027 in the sonatas of Maurice Ravel, Richard Strauss, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. On February 19, flutist Anna Urrey and harpist Kristi Shade perform a program of Nino Rota, Lili Boulanger, Jules Mouquet, Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, and Astor Piazzolla. The Dorian Wind Quintet, praised by the Los Angeles Times for delivering “chamber music as it was meant to be,” performs on March 12 in “Preludes and Variations,” pairing J.S. Bach chorale arrangements with Antonín Dvořák's Wind Quintet, Op. 105 and a set of Anniversary Variations by Richard Rodney Bennett, George Perle, Billy Childs, Bruce Adolphe, and Lee Hoiby on a theme from a wind quintet by Antonin Reicha written specifically for the Dorian Wind Quintet to celebrate the ensemble’s 40th anniversary. Versatile artist Chelsea Guo, the first musician to win the Young Concert Artists auditions in both voice and piano, and hailed by Gramophone as “clearly a special talent,” takes the stage on April 9 in a program of Frédéric Chopin, Pauline Viardot, Johannes Brahms, and Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe, singing while accompanying herself on piano. On April 23, Newport Classical presents violinist Rubén Rengel and Friends, with pianist Gabriel Chakarji and percussionist Juan Diego Villalobos, who come together for an evening celebrating the music of Latin America. Accordionist Radu Ratoi, winner of the 2024 Young Concert Artists “Susan Wadsworth” International Auditions, will be joined by violinist Alexandra Tirsu, a 2021 ARD Competition prizewinner, on May 7. The 2026-2027 Chamber Series concludes on June 4 with violinist Njioma Grevious, a Juilliard graduate and founding member of the Abeo Quartet, who appears regularly at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and the Concertgebouw.
The 2027 Newport Classical Music Festival will take place from July 1-18, 2027.
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., 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 the 56 years since, Newport Classical has become the most active year-round presenter of live performing arts on Aquidneck Island, and an essential pillar of Rhode Island’s cultural landscape, welcoming thousands of patrons all year long.
Newport Classical invests in the future of classical music as a diverse, relevant, and ever-evolving art form through its 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 Enrichment and Engagement Initiative that inspires students in local schools and community organizations to become the arts advocates and music lovers of tomorrow. These programs illustrate the organization’s ongoing commitment to presenting “timeless music for today.”
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. To date, Newport Classical has commissioned and presented the world premiere of works by Stacy Garrop, Shawn Okpebholo, Curtis Stewart, Clarice Assad, and Cris Derksen.
After a year-long community-driven process, and rooted in the organization’s mission “to celebrate the living art form of classical music in intimate and iconic locations,” Newport Classical released its 2025-2028 Strategic Plan, presenting a clear roadmap to become a stronger, healthier, and more vibrant organization that enhances its programs and community engagement, promotes responsible financial growth and sustainability, and centers artistic excellence in every decision, as the organization aspires to open its doors even wider.