About the Festival

Chamber music concerts and events in Newburyport, Massachusetts

Newburyport Chamber Music Festival is a community-based series of chamber music concerts and events in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The summer Festival format has evolved to a two-week series that takes place each year in August. Additional events are programmed throughout the year.

Backstage access, front-row experience

The Newburyport Chamber Music Festival fosters an interactive partnership between residents and visiting artists by engaging the community in the process of creating and presenting chamber music in Newburyport’s unique architectural spaces.

History

From 3 artists and concerts in 2002 to 11 artists and 20 events in 2020!

Founded in 2002 by Artistic Director David Yang and Newburyport resident Jane Niebling, this August weeklong series of classical chamber music events has grown from three musicians and three concerts to, this summer, twelve artists, thirteen events and six venues. Originally sponsored by St. Paul’s Church in Newburyport. 

The festival now functions as an independent not-for-profit organization.

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Backstage access, front-row seats

Transforming little black marks on a page into a work of art

I have a friend who is a pastry chef. She takes flour, water, sugar, and a whole lot of butter, and from these simple ingredients conjures up magnificent desserts. Come to an open rehearsal and you'll see what goes into transforming little black marks on a page into a work of art. The process may seem unremarkable for its attention to things technical - working out dynamics, ensemble, intonation, articulation - yet somewhere along the way something precious and fleeting is created: real music.

Bringing the music of Beethoven, Brahms, and Bartók to life

People wonder sometimes what musicians do during the day. There is a romantic notion of the solitary artist in some dusty loft full of scurrying rats and bat guano. The fact is that we do laundry, pay bills, and answer emails like everyone else. In addition to all that banality we also spend hours every day bringing the music of Beethoven, Brahms, and Bartok to life.

In-the-moment experiences

Why go to a concert when you can listen to music at home while doing the dishes? There's the obvious stuff: live sound, live performers, no distractions and the joy of a shared experience. But add to that the fact that it is an in-the-moment experience. That's why you can be overwhelmed at a concert one night but listen to a recording of the same concert weeks later and wonder why you can't hear what you heard the first time. Music doesn't even exist until you perform it. A concert is something made fresh in front of you: electric, live, and raw.

David Yang, Artist Director

Violist David Yang was the recent recipient of a coveted Independence Foundation Fellowship awarded to exceptional artists. He has been heard throughout North America and Europe in collaboration with members of the Borromeo, Brentano, Lark, Miro and Tokyo string quartets.

more about David

Members of the Board

Newburyport Chamber Music is a community-based series of chamber music concerts and events in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The summer Festival format has evolved to a two-week series that takes place each year in August. Additional events are programmed throughout the year.

  • Beth Clary, President
  • Susan Swan, Secretary
  • John Moreland, Treasurer
  • Patricia Cannon
  • Gage Cogswell
  • Sherry Rogers
  • Anne Verret-Speck
  • Anna Moreland, Intern
  • Mia Yim, Student Intern

Where you can find us

Our first venue was the 1863 granite Neo-Gothic St. Anna’s Chapel on the campus of St. Paul’s church. With no stage and with seating in the round the 90-seat chapel provides the degree of intimacy for which chamber music was originally intended. Since then we have added the larger St. Paul’s Church as our principal venue, and we continue to take advantage of an eclectic collection of spaces, both public and private, indoors and out, historic and modern, which are available in the greater Newburport community.

Brown Chapel at Oak Hill Cemetery
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Chococoa Café
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Custom House Maritime Museum

Designed by Robert Mills, architect of the Washington Monument, the all-granite Custom House was built in 1835.

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Custom House Maritime Museum Waterfront Tent

Designed by Robert Mills, architect of the Washington Monument, the all-granite Custom House was built in 1835.

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Email/Website/YouTubeChannel

Each "Artist Picks" will be distributed by email at the time and date listed. After that, it will be available through a link in a News post on our website, newburyportchambermusic.org and also on our YouTube channel.

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Emails / YouTube / Live in Newburyport Residential Neighborhoods/Live stream from St. Paul's
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Emma Andrews Library & Community Center
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First Religious Society of Newburyport (Unitarian Universalist)

Rain location for Music, Storytelling & Puppetry, as well as for Family Concert.

We'll be in the Lower Level Meetinghouse, accessed from the municipal parking lot (Prince Street section).

The lower level is accessible through the church sanctuary. Please ask someone to let one of us know to go upstairs and let you in to use the elevator.

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Greater Newburyport Area

The Newburyport Chamber Music Festival is proud to receive the support of six cities and towns through their Local Cultural Councils: Amesbury, Newbury, Newburyport, Rowley, Salisbury, and West Newbury. We make a point each year of holding events in at least a few of those towns surrounding Newburyport, as well as in Newburyport, itself.

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Hausmusik 1

Hausmusik is held at a private residence and the address will be printed on the tickets.

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Hausmusik 2

Hausmusik#2 is held at a private residence and the address will be printed on the tickets.

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Hausmusik 3

Hausmusik#3 is held at a private residence and the address will be printed on the tickets.

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Inn Street Pedestrian Mall (Byron's Court)

"Byron's Court" is within the Inn Street Pedestrian Mall, across from the Splash Fountain and adjacent to the parking lot.

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Jabberwocky Bookshop
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John Greenleaf Whittier Home and Museum

From 1836 until his death in 1892, John Greenleaf Whittier lived and wrote most of his poetry and prose here in this Amesbury, MA home. Built circa 1829, this classic New England farmhouse retains the decor and structure of the home as Whittier and his family knew it during the mid- and late 1800s.

While it serves as a National Historic Landmark and tribute to the Quaker poet and the anti-slavery champion who made outstanding contributions to the life and literature of this country, it also plays an important role in the region’s contemporary literary scene, attracting writers from Greater Boston and beyond. https://whittierhome.org/

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Mass Audubon Joppa Flats Education Center
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NCMF YouTube Channel

An event streamed via our YouTube Channel will have the link emailed out shortly before start time. At the same time, the link will be posted here on the website, also.

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Newburyport Art Association
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Newburyport North End

A venue for "Quartet Caroling": residential neighborhoods roughly from near the center of town north/northwest, following the river

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Newburyport Public Library

Multipurpose Room, First Floor

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Newburyport South End

A venue for "Quartet Caroling": residential neighborhoods roughly from near the center of town, south toward the Newbury border

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Newburyport West End

A venue for "Quartet Caroling": residential neighborhoods roughly from Atkinson Common west toward West Newbury

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Patrick Tracy Square

Located on Pleasant Street, Patrick Tracy Square is one of the locations of our free outdoor concerts.

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Patrick Tracy Square

Patrick Tracy Square is public open space at 27-29 Pleasant Street, in downtown Newburyport. It is on the south side of Pleasant, between Hales Court and State Street, and opposite Oregano's Restaurant.

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Paula Estey Gallery

The mission of PAULA ESTEY GALLERY is to provide clients and visitors with the transcendent beauty of contemporary art. In doing so, our homes, commercial spaces and communities are elevated and the quality of our lives improves. We embrace a global range of participation for our art and artists.

Contact Info:
978-376-4746
www.paulaesteygallery.com
www.facebook.com/paulaesteygallery
Twitter: follow@paulaegallery
Pinterest: pinterest.com/paulaestey

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Private Home (Spring Piano Recital)

The Spring Piano Recital is held at a private residence and the address will be printed on the tickets.

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Private Home in Newbury

A lovely private home overlooking the marshes will be the site for this fundraising concert to benefit future NCMF events.

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Private Home in Newburyport: Address printed on tickets
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St. Anna's Chapel

Commissioned and donated in 1863 by the Rev. William Horton, the chapel was designed by architect Rufus Sargent in the High Gothic Style, and built of Rockport granite. In 2014 the chapel was awarded recognition by the Newburyport Preservation Trust for both exterior and interior historic restoration.

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St. Paul’s Church

Founded in 1711 as a mission parish of the Anglican Church in British American during the reign of Queen Anne of Great Britain, St. Paul’s is the oldest continuous Episcopal Parish in Massachusetts and one of the oldest in America. The current building is the fourth, the third on this site at 166 High Street.

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Theater in the Open
THEATER IN THE OPEN: CURATORS OF THE HISTORIC GATEKEEPER'S HOUSE AT MAUDSLAY STATE PARK

From our origins as a children’s theater to the dynamic, multi-faceted organization you see today, Theater in the Open continually evolves to meet the community’s needs. Under its current leadership, Theater in the Open is delivering on all aspects of its mission — as a professional theater company, as a center for youth arts education and as a community partner with the vision to create art that is accessible to all.

In 2017, Theater in the Open was named the curator for the Gatekeeper's House by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, which officially grants Theater in the Open the ability to restore this historic building that has been our headquarters since 1987. As Historic Curators of the property, Theater in the Open is committed to making lasting, historically conscious improvements to the Gatekeeper's House, to preserve it for generations to come.

The Gatekeeper's House, originally known as the Forester's House, was constructed in 1903 at the southwest corner of the Maudsleigh Estate and served as a welcoming location and landmark to its visitors. The house was designed by William Gibbons Rantoul of the Boston firm, Jacques & Rantoul and is a classic example of American Shingle style. Rantoul’s distinctive use of Shingle style can be seen throughout the remaining estate buildings.

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Our major corporate sponsors

We are grateful to our corporate sponsors for their support.

Help ensure our continued success

NCMF relies on the assistance of corporations, foundations, and most importantly, you.

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Season
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