Violist

Artistic Director

Meet the musicians behind the Festival in an informal, up-close setting. The artists will perform selections from the summer’s program of works they have just begun, pausing between movements to chat with the audience and share something of themselves beyond the stage. Part performance, part conversation, this is a chance to experience both the music and the people making it.

EPSG:4326

Works-in-Progress/Meet the Artists

First Religious Society Unitarian Universalist

Hausmusiks are NCMF sight-reading parties, the equivalent of actors doing a table reading with a play they’ve never seen before. Music is laid out on the floor (usually string quartets) and the audience is asked to choose the music and then the Festival artists sight-read the music. It is a kind of high-wire act without a net and things go wrong all the time.

Hausmusik #2

Private Residence (address on tickets)

Hausmusik #1

If you like “Peter and the Wolf,” you'll love this delightful hour of storytelling and music with Theatre in the Open. This family-friendly event invites children and adults alike into a world where words, characters, and music come together to bring stories to life.

Puppetry, Storytelling & Music #1

Maudslay State Park

Music of Haydn, Castillo (world premiere), Brown (“Rural Electrification”), Kurtág, Ravel

2024 Concert #5

This intimate concert with limited seating is held in the beautiful Brown Chapel at Oak Hill Cemetery. Come experience a concert unlike any other with the music played in complete darkness. Tickets sell out very quickly.

2024 Concert #3 Nachtmusik

Oak Hill Cemetery

Ever want to be a fly on the wall and see how a classical work is prepared for performance? Come see the festival artists assemble this summer’s repertoire. Central to NCMF, open rehearsals allow the audience to obtain an unvarnished look at the sometimes difficult and controversial process in which a piece is transformed from black marks on a page to a piece of music by individuals working together to make an artistic statement. This rehearsal will allow the musicians to interact closely with Composer-in-Residence Patrick Castillo.

2024 Open Rehearsal #5 with Composer

Parker River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center

2024 Concert #2

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

2024 Concert #1

Zach Field Drums and Music

Ever want to be a fly on the wall and see how a classical work is prepared for performance? Come see the festival artists assemble this summer’s repertoire. Central to NCMF, open rehearsals allow the audience to obtain an unvarnished look at the sometimes difficult and controversial process in which a piece is transformed from black marks on a page to a piece of music by individuals working together to make an artistic statement.

2024 Open Rehearsal #4

2024 Open Rehearsal #2

2024 Open Rehearsal #3

Jabberwocky Bookshop

Listen to the Festival Artists share selections they're rehearsing for the summer festival, discuss a wide range of topics, and take questions from the audience in a free panel led by NCMF Artistic Director, David Yang.

2024 Panel Discussion with Festival Artists

Newburyport Art Association

Hausmusiks involve a small group of guests gathered closely around the artists in a living room for an informal evening of chamber music. David shows up with a stack of string quartets followed by lively voting from the attendees on which composer they want the musicians to play: sight reading as a contact sport!

2024 Hausmusik #1

Theater in the Open teams up with NCMF for a FREE puppet show with storytelling and music on Wednesday, July 31 at 4:00pm (Salisbury Public Library, 17 Elm Street, Salisbury, MA 01952.)  If you enjoy "Peter and the Wolf," you will love this.  (No tickets required)

2024 Puppetry, Storytelling & Music #2

Salisbury Public Library

György Kurtág and the Fulsome Gesture: A guided tour to the string quartet "Officium Breve in Memoriam Andreae Szervánszky." Artistic Director, David Yang, takes an in-depth look at the profoundly moving work by the Hungarian master. Knowing just a little about how to approach this work cracks open a world of meaning and emotion that can, frankly, be a bit more difficult to access hearing it unprepared for the first time.

2024 Lecture: György Kurtág and the Fulsome Gesture: A guided tour to the string quartet "Officium Breve in Memoriam Andreae Szervánszky"

Illume Books

These two masterpieces mark the extreme ends of the string trio genre. Mozart's late work, written three years before his death, was the first work written for string trio (and Mozart played viola at the premiere!). Schoenberg's autobiographical trio, too, was composed at the end of his life while recovering from a near-fatal heart attack. Both works take the listener along emotional extremes that range from great sadness to unfettered joy.

2024 Spring Concert: The Cret String Trio

The Barrage

Join us for the culminating concert of the festival.

2023 Concert #4

St. Paul’s Church

Music of Ysaÿe, Webern, George, Deak, and Schoenberg.

2023 Concert #3

2023 Concert #2 Nachtmusik

Music of Kreisler, Webern, Shostakovich, and Haydn

2023 Concert #1

Union Congregational Church

Sit down and listen to selections from the summer programs in an informal concert. Children are welcome. 

2023 Family Concert

Newburyport Public Library

2023 Panel Discussion with Festival Artists

2023 Hausmusik #2

Private Residence

2023 Hausmusik #1

Experience a unique evening of music while supporting future NCMF festivals.

Join an intimate gathering in a private home for an evening of chamber music performed by Festival artists—including Artistic Director David Yang. Experience music and conversation unfolding together, with composer Jon Deak and soprano Lucy Shelton sharing insights along the way. As the evening draws to a close, linger with the musicians over wine and hors d’oeuvres —an easy, elegant gathering where cocktail attire feels right at home.

The salon address will be provided to ticket holders a few days before the evening.

Salon

It is always a good day when Jon Deak shows up on your doorstep. This concert marks his triumphant return (indeed, his third visit!) to Newburyport and the first appearance at NCMF of his friend and collaborator, legendary Metropolitan opera soprano Lucy Shelton. The concert begins with Lucy performing Cathy Berberian’s tour-de-force for solo soprano with a score written not in musical notation but as a cartoon (the score will be projected so the audience can follow along). Also featured on the program is Haydn’s B Minor quartet. Papa Haydn was famous for his sunny disposition but this is an unusually dark and enigmatic work. As long as we are flipping traditional roles, Shostakovich, known a bit as the king of despair, has, with his first quartet in C Major, a work that is warm and even sunny at times.

Return of Jon Deak

Immaculate Conception Church, Newburyport

Nachtmusik

St. Anna's Chapel, Newburyport, MA

For 25 years I’ve wanted to perform the Mendelssohn Octet in Newburyport. Finally, I’m getting the chance. One of the most adored works in all the repertoire, which is affectionately referred to by my colleagues as the “Mocktet” - not to be confused with Shostakovich’s own version known as the “Shocktet” - which opens the final concert. The two octets are a natural pairing and fitting conclusion to a celebration of all that chamber music can be. The Mendelssohn is one great movement after another and an astonishing mature piece of music from a composer who was, annoyingly, only 16 when he wrote it. The festival artists are joined by the Miró String Quartet, one of the world’s great ensembles with multiple Grammys and first prizes from international competitions under their belt.

Violist, Artistic Director

David Yang

Events

Upcoming events

Aug 12, 2026

Salon · Newburyport Chamber Music Festival

Aug 13, 2026

Return of Jon Deak · Newburyport Chamber Music Festival

Aug 14, 2026

Nachtmusik · Newburyport Chamber Music Festival

Aug 15, 2026

Twenty-Five Years of NCMF · Newburyport Chamber Music Festival

Past events

Aug 9, 2026

Works-in-Progress/Meet the Artists · Newburyport Chamber Music Festival

Aug 9, 2026

Hausmusik #2 · Newburyport Chamber Music Festival

Future and recently performed repertoire

Viola in String Quartet in B Minor, 33/1 by Haydn

Newburyport Chamber Music Festival

Viola in String Quartet No. 1 in C Major by Shostakovich

Newburyport Chamber Music Festival

About

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