Violinist

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.

Twenty-Five Years of NCMF

Immaculate Conception Church, Newburyport

Nachtmusik

St. Anna's Chapel, Newburyport, MA

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

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

Private Residence (address on tickets)

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

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

Hausmusik #1

With performances acclaimed for both “high-octane” excitement (The Strad) and “dusky lyricism” (New York Times), the Aeolus Quartet has been awarded prizes at nearly every major competition in the United States and performed across the globe with showings “worthy of a major-league quartet” (Dallas Morning News). Their program features works by Wolfgang Amadé Mozart, Felix Mendelssohn, Grażyna Bacewicz, and a newly revised version of Joan Tower’s Wild Summer.

Aeolus Quartet

Fisher Center at Bard

Young artists from Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars mentoring program perform in a pair of afternoon concerts for which the program’s Artistic Director, cellist Marcy Rosen, is joined by distinguished artists Ani Kavafian, violin, and Becca Albers, viola. These concerts are the capstone of a weeklong residency at Caramoor in which these young musicians participate in workshops, reading sessions, and ensemble rehearsals, culminating in live performances with their mentors. Since 1992, this program has identified some of the finest musicians of the next generation and helped them cross the threshold from their student years into the early stages of a professional career. 

Evnin Rising Stars

The Rosen House at Caramoor

This program juxtaposes one of the grandest Viennese waltzes with an atmospheric work by contemporary New Zealand composer Salina Fisher. The program concludes with The Trout Quintet – named for its fourth movement, a variation on Schubert’s earlier work Die Forelle, or “The Trout,” and uniquely known for its melodic nature and an emphasis on the highest register of the piano.

Brandon Patrick George, flute; Yoonah Kim, clarinet; Benjamin Beilman, Isabelle Ai Durrenberger, Lun Li, Melissa White, violins; Jordan Bak, Emma Wernig, violas; Jay Campbell, Bryan Cheng, cellos; Lizzie Burns, bass; Pedja Mužijević, piano

Tippet Rise Art Center

Taking place outdoors at the Domo, the first part of this program celebrates dance – from Joseph Lanner, who took a simple peasant dance and transformed it to what is referred to as the Viennese waltz, to exuberant American rhythms of music by Andy Akiho and Guillaume Connesson. The program concludes with Aaron Copland's epic depiction of American open spaces and folk music, Appalachian Spring, which had its premiere in 1944.

Brandon Patrick George, flute; Yoonah Kim, clarinet; Monica Ellis, bassoon; Benjamin Beilman, Isabelle Ai Durrenberger, Lun Li, Melissa White, violins; Jordan Bak, Emma Wernig, violas; Jay Campbell, Bryan Cheng, cellos; Lizzie Burns, bass; Pedja Mužijević

The Domo

The 2025 concert season kicks off with a program of music for strings intersperses Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, one of the most iconic musical descriptions of nature from 18th century Italy, interspersed with recorded sounds of nature and music by Angélica Negrón and Kenji Bunch, two of the most creative composers working today.

Benjamin Beilman, violin; Isabelle Ai Durrenberger, violin; Melissa White, violin; Emma Wernig, viola; Bryan Cheng, cello; Lizzie Burns, bass; Pedja Mužijević, harpsichord

Violinist

Isabelle Ai Durrenberger

Events

Past events

Aug 15, 2026

Twenty-Five Years of NCMF · Newburyport Chamber Music Festival

Aug 14, 2026

Nachtmusik · Newburyport Chamber Music Festival

Future and recently performed repertoire

Violin in Appalachian Spring Suite by Copland

Tippet Rise Art Center

Violin in String Quartet No. 6 by Mendelssohn

Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College

Violin in String Quartet No. 15 by Mozart

Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College

Violin in Marejada by Negrón

Tippet Rise Art Center

Violin in Violin Concerto in E major by Vivaldi

Tippet Rise Art Center

Violin in Violin Concerto in F minor by Vivaldi

Tippet Rise Art Center

Violin in Mata-Au by Fisher

Tippet Rise Art Center

Violin in String Quartet No. 3 by Bacewicz

Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College

Violin in Kaiser-Walzer (Emperor Waltz) by II

Tippet Rise Art Center

Violin in Allemande pour Tout le Monde by Bunch

Tippet Rise Art Center

Violin in Violin Concerto in G minor by Vivaldi

Tippet Rise Art Center

Violin in Prospects of a Misplaced Year by Akiho

Tippet Rise Art Center

Violin in Marien-Walzer by Lanner

Tippet Rise Art Center

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

Newburyport Chamber Music Festival

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

Newburyport Chamber Music Festival

Violin in The Jury by Deak

Newburyport Chamber Music Festival

About

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