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Notes from David Yang

The sound of dawn

This winter, I’ve been heading out on pre-dawn rides to train for what was supposed to be a slightly insane three-day, 400-mile bicycle trip

Announcements

NCMF Annual Report for 2022

For 21 years, the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival has worked to fulfill its vision of community-based chamber music concerts and events with world-class artists

Notes from David Yang

A new board member

I’m delighted to announce we have a new board member, Maryellen Moreland.

Notes from David Yang

Winter Baroque ‘22: a portfolio

The feedback from NCMF Winter Baroque has been rolling in and is overwhelmingly positive.

Notes from Alessandra

How to "Bach" (+performance)

In January of 2021, I shared the process of how my quartet learned a Beethoven string quartet

Notes from David Yang

A special bonus on the Winter Baroque concert

Thomas Baltzar’s jewel of a piece, his Prelude, packs more in two minutes than some composers stuff into an entire symphony.

Notes from David Yang

Why is Eliana using two different cellos for the NCMF Winter Baroque concert?

What is the difference between a modern and "historic" cello and why use one over another?

Notes from David Yang

Bach and the cello suites, Part II

I’ve returned to the tried and true holiday formula of not programming anything composed after 1750.

Notes from David Yang

Aldo Abreu, recorder

There is a new look for Winter Baroque this year (tickets go on sale today!).

Notes from David Yang

Bach and the cello suites, Part I

There are certain very specific and individualized sounds we associate with childhood.

Notes from David Yang

Thank you

After the call informing me that one of the artists had tested positive...

Notes from David Yang

Covid 19 scuttles festival 2022

It seems that Covid 19 had one last surprise in store for us for the summer.

Notes from David Yang

First spotting of the “The Jury”

There were a few weeks when Jon Deak emailed me a page of the manuscript every day.

Notes from David Yang

Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 2

Arnold Schoenberg’s Second String Quartet is widely considered to be a visionary work.

Notes from David Yang

A Conversation with Clancy Newman

I love playing with Clancy and also just hanging with this terrific musician and human being.

Notes from David Yang

Shostakovich, Quartet No. 2, and the Shadow of Stalin

"Even if they cut off both my hands and I have to hold my pen in my teeth I shall go on writing music."

Notes from David Yang

Mozart's "Dissonance"

There is a transcendent moment near the beginning of this quartet that makes my heart leap in my chest.

Notes from David Yang

Bronson de Stadler

Running a music festival is very much a group effort. Please welcome our newest board member.

Notes from David Yang

2022 with Mozart, Shostakovich, Webern, Deak, and Schoenberg

Summer 2022 features arguably the most perfect of Mozart’s perfect quartets, the C Major.

Notes from David Yang

Poet-in-Residence Rhina P. Espaillat

Does anyone in Newburyport really need an introduction to the National Treasure that is Rhina?

Notes from David Yang

Composer-in-Residence Jon Deak

I met Jon about twenty years ago over breakfast on the Upper West Side.

Notes from David Yang

A Musical Menu, Valentine Edition

‍‍I started cooking in grad school when I procured a copy of Marcella Hazan’s “Classic Italian Cookbook.”

Notes from David Yang

Music and Memory

"...suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray..."

Note from Eliana

New Year's Post 2022

Kneisel Hall is a chamber music festival in Blue Hill, Maine, founded in 1902.

Notes from David Yang

Winter Baroque-ish

Tickets for the 2021 NCMF Winter Baroque concert have gone live and, as promised, the concert will be a doozy.

Notes from David Yang

Summer 2021 – a gallery

After marinating indoors for the better part of a year and a half, we’ve all been desperate for live music.

Notes from David Yang

Lieder and cycling

When I was a teenager, I got a job one summer working as a bike messenger in New York.

Notes from David Yang

Shostakovich String Quartet No. 9

This summer we’ll be performing Shostakovich’s String Quartet in Eb Major, No. 9.

Notes from Festival Artists

Note from Rebecca Anderson: Ysaÿe's Ballade

This summer, Becky Anderson will be playing the third  violin sonata by Eugène Ysaÿe.

Notes from Festival Artists

Penderecki’s Capriccio

This summer, Scott Devereaux will be playing Capriccio for solo tuba by Krzysztof Penderecki.

Notes from David Yang

Plans for the Summer Festival 2021: Garden Variety

Set aside August 4 to August 15 because NCMF is on for summer 2021 with six concerts in six days.

Notes from David Yang

The Perfect Piece?

Is there such a thing as a perfect piece of music, something that never gets old?

Notes from David Yang

“The Creation of the World” by Darius Milhaud

Sunday, June 6 the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival is back in action.

Notes from David Yang

A conversation with tuba player Sergeant First Class Scott Devereaux

The first LP I ever owned was a collection of marches by John Philip Sousa.

Notes from David Yang

Ennio Morricone, music & film

Last year the great Italian composer Ennio Morricone passed away at the age of 91.

Notes from David Yang

Frozen Music

Goethe said "music is liquid architecture; architecture is frozen music." That sounds good but what does it really mean?

Notes from David Yang

Note from Alessandra: New Year's Post 2021

You may have seen me around Newburyport or playing viola in the summer concert.

Notes from David Yang

Storytelling, Holiday and Family

For the holidays, I thought I’d take off my Artistic Director hat and put on another.

Notes from David Yang

The Bach Chaconne

The concept of infinity is beyond the capacity of the human brain to conceptualize.

Notes from David Yang

Bach’s sixth suite for unaccompanied cello

I feel a slight chill and sense of awe when I walk into a cathedral. I get the same feeling of immensity when I listen to the sixth suite.

Notes from David Yang

A Conversation with Ania Vu

David talks with composer Ania Vu about her new work written for the NCMF Winter Baroque concert.

Notes from David Yang

Winter Baroque and the Return of Nurit Pacht

I love winter: the low afternoon sun, footsteps crunching on new snow, huddling in bed under a comforter...

Notes from David Yang

The Ubiquitous String Quartet

Bringing music to the streets: Covid 19, the summer of 2020, and "quartet caroling" in Newburyport neighborhoods .

Summer Festival 2020 - Artist's Pick

Artist's Pick: David Yang (Artistic Director)

I asked past artists of NCMF to choose a surprise performance for our audience.

Artists

A Conversation with Scott Devereaux (tuba)

Scott Devereaux (tuba): A conversation with David Yang, Artistic Director NCMF

Summer Festival 2020 - Artist's Pick

Artist's Pick: Makoto Nakura (marimba)

I asked past artists to choose a surprise performance as a treat for our audience.

Artists

A Conversation with Eliana Yang, cello

Eliana Yang: A conversation with Beth Clary, President of NCMF Board

Summer Festival 2020 - Artist's Pick

Artist's Pick: Indrajit Roy-Chowdhury (sitar)

I asked past artists to choose a surprise performance as a treat for our audience.

Summer Festival 2020 - Artist's Pick

Artist's Pick: Nurit Pacht (violin)

I asked past artists to choose a surprise performance as a treat for our audience.

Summer Festival 2020 - Artist's Pick

Artist's Pick: Daniel Lippel (guitar)

I asked past artists to choose a surprise performance as a treat for our audience.

Summer Festival 2020 - Artist's Pick

A Conversation with Eric Ewazen (composer)

Eric Ewazen: A conversation with David Yang, Artistic Director NCMF

Summer Festival 2020 - Artist's Pick

Artist's Pick: Cynthia Roberts (baroque violin)

I asked past artists to choose a surprise performance as a treat for our audience.

Summer Festival 2020 - Artist's Pick

Artist's Pick: Clare Hammond (piano)

I asked past artists to choose a surprise performance as a treat for our audience.

Artists

A Conversation with David Yang

David Yang in conversation with Beth Clary, President of the NCMF Board

Summer Festival 2020 - Artist's Pick

Artist's Pick: Todd Palmer (clarinet)

I asked past artists to choose a surprise performance as a treat for our audience.

Notes from David Yang

Schedule for Summer 2020 reimagined

Despite general weirdness everywhere, we’re determined to make NCMF 2020 joyful.

Notes from David Yang

Recollections of NCMF, Summer 2019, Eighteenth Season

For 19 years, the festival has taken over the town for a week in August.

Notes from David Yang

A conversation with Sébastien van Kuijk

David chats with Sébastien van Kuijk whose visitwas foiled by COVID-19

Notes from David Yang

A conversation with Yonah Zur

I will occasionally post conversations with the artists who were scheduled to come this summer.

Notes from David Yang

Composers confronting mortality

The pain started as a dull ache in my abdomen around New Rochelle; by Stamford I was doubled over in agony.

Notes from David Yang

Copland's "Appalachian Spring"

In 1982 I received the best birthday present of all time: a Sony Walkman WM-R2.

Notes from David Yang

Summer 2020 is ON… but not as you expect

Some of you have been wondering what we are going to do this summer.

Notes from David Yang

Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time”

Recently I’ve noticed the call of a Very Loud Bird I don’t recall hearing outside my window in the morning.

Notes from David Yang

Schubert Fantasia in F Minor for piano four hands

Why can’t I get enough of sad music and why does it feel so good?

Notes from David Yang

Brahms C Major Piano Trio

When the festival started in 2001, I hoped it would become a kind of second home to my family and me.

Notes from David Yang

Beethoven's Opus 130

If Bach is God, Beethoven is Man, and the meaning of "beklemmt."

Notes from David Yang

Pictures at an Exhibition

While we all sit at home in our pajamas struggling to recall what day of the week it is, let’s look back at an extraordinary solo piano recital.

Notes from David Yang

Transfigured Night

As we all hunker down indoors, I thought some kind of distraction might be welcome.

Notes from David Yang

Music to listen to when a concert Is postponed

David offers some suggestions for music to lessen the coronavirus anxiety.

Notes from David Yang

Reflections on composers and composing

David reflects on composers, compositions, and the act of composing.

Notes from David Yang

The return of Michael Brown..... and more

March is coming, spring is not far behind, and that means piano recital.

Notes from David Yang

Ensemble Epomeo 2007-2017

David reflects on 10 years of performing, recording, and living as a member of a touring string trio.

Notes from David Yang

A Tale of Tikka Masala

It seems that around this time of year people are specifically drawn to reassuring music.

Notes from David Yang

Cooking up a Baroque Concert

Playing baroque music is a kind of going back to the basic ingredients of our art form.

Notes from David Yang

Reflections on NCMF Summer 2019

Reflections on the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival of 2019: A Visual Portrait

Notes from David Yang

The Ravel Duo for Violin and Cello

Just think what was going in the Roaring '20s in art, literature, science, politics, society.

Notes from David Yang

"A Day in the Life of Newburyport" by Robert Bradshaw

Artistic Director David Yang's notes on the new piece for 2019.

Notes from David Yang

"Ainsi la Nuit" by Dutilleux

I’ve wanted to program this incredible, weird, and magical piece for ages.

Notes from David Yang

Shostakovich String Quartet No. 6

The complicated personal background to Shostakovich’s 6th String Quartet.

Notes from David Yang

Mozart’s String Quartet in D Minor, K. 421

In 1785, Mozart dedicated a new set of six string quartets to his friend, colleague, and mentor, Josef Haydn.

Concerts

Thoughts on character over a glass of bourbon: reflections on a recital

Can you enjoy an artist's work if the guy was a jerk? Many great artists and musicians are not necessarily people you would want to be around.

Notes from David Yang

Good News and Bad News

Only one ticket left to Michael Brown’s upcoming piano recital in Newbury.

Notes from David Yang

David shares Michael Brown's favorite performances by other artists

I asked Michael to share some of his favorite performances by other pianists.

Notes from David Yang

A profile of Michael Brown

Our 18th Season begins with a recital by Michael Brown, pianist and composer.

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Season
17