Newport Music Festival Presents BEACON OF THE BAY By Stacy Garrop

The Newport Music Festival will present the world premiere of Beacon of the Bay by Stacy Garrop, performed by The Boston Trio on Monday, July 12, 2021 at 7pm, at Newport's quintessential landmark Castle Hill Inn on The Chalet Terrace (590 Ocean Avenue).

Beacon of the Bay is the first piece created through Newport Music Festival's new commissioning initiative - each year, the Festival will commission a new work by a Black, Indigenous, person of color, or woman composer as a commitment to the future of classical music. The concert also includes Fauré's Piano Trio in D minor and Brahms' Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major.

Chicago-based composer Stacy Garrop's music is centered on dramatic and lyrical storytelling. Beacon of the Bay is inspired by Castle Hill's iconic lighthouse and its role in keeping Newport safe for over 130 years. This performance will be the first in an annual tradition of world premiere performances of works commissioned to celebrate a historic venue or location in Newport, eventually resulting in a compilation of recordings that tell the unique story of the Festival and the city.

"When the Newport Music Festival commissioned me for a piano trio in honor of their 2021 season, I looked for a topic that would celebrate an aspect of the Newport community," Garrop says. "I became fascinated with the lighthouse on the property of Castle Hill Inn, located at the opening of the East Passage of the Narragansett Bay, erected in 1890 on a very picturesque spot right at the water's edge. Lighthouses link the past with the present, and will endure long into the future, with their beacons serving the same purpose for every generation."

"The Castle Hill Lighthouse has been a Newport icon for well over a century, and we couldn't be more proud to know it is the inspiration behind the very first commissioned work created for the Newport Music Festival," said Brian Young, Managing Director, Castle Hill Inn. "It's an incredible honor for us to host Stacy Garrop and The Boston Trio as the venue for the world premiere of Beacon of the Bay here at Castle Hill Inn, and we very much look forward to the performance and continued partnership with the Newport Music Festival."

Beacon of the Bay will be premiered by Festival favorite violinist Irina Muresanu along with fellow Boston Trio musicians, cellist Jonah Ellsworth and pianist Heng-Jin Park. "Whenever this trio plays, drop everything and go hear them!" raved The Boston Globe on the occasion of the Trio's Tanglewood debut at Ozawa Hall. Acclaimed for their superb sense of ensemble and wondrous balance, these virtuosic and profound musicians are committed to creating exceptional and daring performances of standard and contemporary repertoire.

Stacy Garrop shares stories by taking audiences on sonic journeys - some simple and beautiful, while others are complicated and dark - depending on the needs and dramatic shape of the story. She is a full-time freelance composer living in the Chicago area, and has received numerous awards and grants including an Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Fromm Music Foundation Grant, Barlow Prize, and three Barlow Endowment commissions, along with prizes from competitions sponsored by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Omaha Symphony, New England Philharmonic, Boston Choral Ensemble, Utah Arts Festival, and Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble.

This concert is generously supported by June and Ryle Robinson, Suzanna Robinson Laramee and John Laramee, Patricia and Torre Peterson and Maureen and Bruce Holland.

The Newport Music Festival, recommended as a summer highlight by both The New York Times and The Boston Globe this year, celebrates its 53rd season with seventeen concerts from July 4-20, 2021. All concerts will be held outdoors at historic mansions and venues in Newport, Rhode Island including The Breakers, Bellevue House, Castle Hill Inn, The Chanler at Cliff Walk, King Park, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center, Norman Bird Sanctuary, and Rough Point. The full schedule is included below and available at www.newportmusic.org.

This is the first festival programmed by new Executive Director Gillian Friedman Fox, who came to Newport in January from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra where she was Director of Contemporary and SOLUNA Programs. Fox has renewed a commitment by the Festival to both preserving tradition and embracing artistic innovation. She says, "Our programming for 2021 celebrates the diversity of expression and artistic interpretation within classical music. This season represents a significant inflection point for the Newport Music Festival as we embrace the genre of classical music as a living artform and invite audiences of all backgrounds to experience the magic of chamber music in unique and intimate settings."

For ticket and waitlist information visit www.newportmusic.org or call the Box Office at 401-849-0700.

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