Listening for Shakespeare
Adam Flatt, conductor
Frank Oden, performance poet
March 21st, 2026 - 7:30pm at the Newport Performing Arts Center. Pre-concert chat with Maestro Adam Flatt at 6:45pm
March 22, 2026 - 2:00pm at the Newport Performing Arts Center.
Otto Nicolai, Overture to "The Merry Wives of Windsor"
Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Suite from "Much Ado About Nothing"
Giuseppe Verdi, Ballet Music from "Macbeth"
Dan Kellogg, "Pyramus and Thisbe"
Leonard Bernstein, Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story"
A concert like none other! Maestro Adam Flatt welcomes performance poet Frank Oden to share the stage with the Newport Symphony Orchestra!
Mr. Oden will connect the works together with the wondrous performances of some incredible music inspired by the immortal William Shakespeare. The concert will weave together the dramas, the comedy, the tragedy, and heartfelt honesty.
Join the shenanigans of Sir John Falstaff as he tries to seduce "The Merry Wives of Windsor" for financial gain. Follow the gossipy intrigue of Claudio and Hero and Beatrice and Benedick. Can you hear the vile Don John almost ruining the whole thing?
Join the orchestra on a trip to Scotland and dance to ballet music that eases the burden of the bloody king. Next, we're off to Greece to hear the sad story that inspired Shakespeare's, Ovid's "Pyramus and Thisbe", two youths madly in love trading whispers through a crack in the wall before their sad fate is met. We close with Bernstein's take on those star crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, in his landmark "West Side Story". The Symphonic Dances will have you dancing in your seats, you won't want the fun to end!
All of this connected and shared with the dramatic expertise of our guest, Frank Oden.
Enjoy!
