01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, July 3, 2005

BY CHANNING GRAY
Journal Arts Writer

You'd think that after three decades at the helm of the Newport Music Festival, Mark Malkovich would have run the well dry when it comes to finding new talent.

But the classical music marathon, which opens Friday, will host the North American debut of a young Romanian violinist, present a little known South African pianist who goes in for rare repertoire, and offer a Mexican pianist who'll play an all-Spanish program at The Breakers.

Most years, the festival opens with a piano recital. This summer there's a twist. Malkovich has booked Argentinean organist Hector Olivera, who will bring his own custom-built instrument to The Breakers.

According to Olivera's bio, he began taking lessons from his church-organist father when he was just 3. When he was 6, his father retired and passed the job along to his son. That same year, Olivera entered the Buenos Aires Conservatory.

Malkovich said he heard a tape of Olivera made during a cruise, and booked him on the spot. The organist will be playing "Rhapsody in Blue," and perhaps as an encore "The Flight of the Bumblebee" on the foot pedals.

Saturday night, the festival brings in French pianist Marc Laforet for an all-Chopin program at The Breakers. Laforet is something of a Chopin specialist, having won the silver medal at the 1985 Chopin Competition in Warsaw. These days, he runs a summer festival in the castles of Bordeaux that sounds a lot like the Newport Festival. Malkovich said Laforet hasn't played in this country in perhaps 15 years.

Newport, now in its 37th season, is one of the more prestigious classical music festivals in the country. It features chamber music played in the city's storied mansions, and often goes in for unknown performers and obscure scores. Three and sometimes as many as five concerts are held each day over a 2 1/2-week stretch. More than 40 musicians take part.

One of those performers is Marian Friedman, who hails from South Africa. She appears next Sunday night at The Breakers, and will play a piece by Schumann that Malkovich said he never knew existed. It's a series of variations on the slow movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. She'll also be playing music of Carl Czerny, the Beethoven student best known for his endless volumes of finger exercises, as well as pieces by Carl Maria von Weber and Louis Gottschalk.

The other pianist Malkovich is touting is Michael Endres, a German who specializes in Schubert and Schumann. He performs July 17 at The Breakers.

Haydn and Debussy

Each year, the festival takes an in-depth look at a composer or two. This summer it will hold afternoon programs of Haydn and Debussy. Helping out in the Haydn series is the all-female Colorado Quartet, which makes its Newport debut this season. The foursome will play Haydn's Seven Last Words from the Cross on a midnight program July 23.

Among the debuts this year is that of Romanian violinist Eugen Tichindeleanu, winner of the 2003 Enescu Competition. On July 13, he'll be playing, among other things, the D Minor Brahms Sonata and the Waxman/Bizet Carmen Fantasy. Then he appears at a midnight concert July 15 playing a solo Bach sonata and partita. British pianist Hamish Milne will share the bill, playing several Bach transcriptions.

But there are some familiar faces at this year's festival.

Pianist John Bayless will be back for two programs, one a buffet cruise aboard the Vista Jubilee on July 18, and then for the festival's annual $200-a-ticket fundraiser July 20 at Rosecliff. Bayless is best known for his gifts as an arranger and improvisationist. Typically, he takes requests from the audience, playing the piece in the style of any composer the audience member wants.

On July 21, lunch will be served after the 11 a.m. concert under a tent at Rosecliff, in a program called Dances with Wolfs. Featured will be music of Hugo Wolf, Ernst Wilhelm Wolf, Erich Wolff, Auguste Wolff and Joseph Wolfl, a Beethoven rival who has long been forgotten.

Italian Luigi Piovano will play the complete cello works (minus the concertos) of Camille Saint-Saens on July 10 at Marble House. A complimentary CD of the program will be handed out.

World premiere

Among the more unusual offerings is the world premiere of the Shostakovich piano preludes arranged for piano and violin. That takes place July 17 at Marble House. First, Frederic Chiu will play the original solo versions; then pianist Tatiana Goncharova and violinist Grigory Kalinovsky will team up for the transcriptions.

Sir Edward Elgar's great Enigma Variations will be heard July 23 in an arrangement for solo piano.

Four pianists will join forces for a midnight concert of opera transcriptions July 16 at Marble House. The William Tell Overture will be heard scored for two pianos, eight hands.

A rare appearance by pianist Ivan Davis takes place July 16 at Marble House. Davis, once a private student of Vladimir Horowitz, will be joined by a doctoral student of his, Grigorios Zamparas. They'll play, among other things, Liszt's own two-piano version of his Sixth Hungarian Rhapsody.

The festival ends July 24 with an all-Schubert program featuring the F Minor Fantasy for duo pianists, the Violin Sonata in A Major and the Piano Trio in B-Flat.

Ticket prices are $35 for most daytime concerts and $40 at night. Call (401) 849-0700 for tickets, or order online at www.newportmusic.org.

Here's the full schedule, from July 8 to 24:

8. Ardors of a Lost Rake, Don Giovanni and Faust, The Elms, Bellevue Avenue, 11 am, $35. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, Wakehurst Tent, 4 pm, $35. Opening Night Concert, featuring organist Hector Olivera, The Breakers, Ochre Point Avenue, 9 pm, $40.

9. Some Like it Hot, Latin salsa, the Elms, 11 am, $35. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, Wakehurst Tent, 4 pm, $35. Pianist Marc LaForet, all Chopin recital, The Breakers, Ochre Point Avenue, 9 pm. $40.

10. Schindler's Liszt, little known piano transcriptions, The Elms, 11 am, $35. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, Ochre Court, Ochre Point Avenue, 2 pm, $35. A Record Performance, with cellist Luigi Piovano, Marble House, Bellevue Avenue, 7 pm, $25. Marian Friedman, The Breakers, Ochre Point Avenue, 9 pm, $40.

11. Bay Cruise Concert, featuring the Colorado String Quartet, and a lunch buffet, aboard the Vista Jubilee leaving from Fort Adams Marina, 11 am, $55. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, Ochre Court, Ochre Point Avenue, 4 pm, $35. Viva Variation -- Vive la Difference, The Breakers, Ochre Point Avenue, 9 pm, $40.

12. The French Connection -- Addictive Romantics, The Elms, Bellevue Avenue, 11 am, $35. Tsar Wars -- Bombardic Russians, The Elms, Bellevue Avenue, 2 pm, $35. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, Marble House, Bellevue Avenue, 6 pm, $35. Romantischer Abend -- Evening Romance with Schumann and Brahms, The Breakers, Ochre Pont Avenue, 9 pm, $40.

13. Gentlemen Prefer Brahms, with a box lunch, Regatta Club, 11 am, $45. A Trio Grows in Brooklyn, works of Ries, Bennett, Mozart and Lalo, Regatta Club, 2 pm, $35, $45 with box lunch. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, Marble House, Bellevue Avenue, 6 pm, $35. Violinist Eugen Tichindeleanu, The Breakers, Ochre Point Avenue, 9 pm, $40.

14. Ravel Without a Cause -- The Dean of French Composers, Gazebo at Regatta Club, 11 am, $35. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, Gazebo at Regatta Club, 4 pm, $35. Anglo/Americo -- Music from Great Britain and America, The Breakers, Ochre Point Ave., 9 pm, $40.

15. Dial "M" for Mozart, The Elms, 11 am, $35. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, The Elms, 2 pm, $35. Tripling the Light Fantastic -- Beethoven's Iconic Archduke Trio, The Breakers, 9 pm, $40. Bach to the Future, featuring Eugen Tichindeleanu and Hamish Milne performing works by J.S. Bach, The Breakers, 11:45 pm, $25, includes champagne reception.

16. One Flew Over the Kuhlau's Nest -- Psychotic Music of the Kuhlau, The Elms, 11 am, $45 includes box lunch. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, The Elms, 2 pm, $35, $45 with optional box lunch. Dynamic Duo, featuring Ivan Davis and Grigorios Zamparas, Marble House, 7 pm, $25. Caviar Emptor -- Choice Russian Repertoire, The Breakers, 9 pm, $40. Phantoms of the Opera -- Masked Operatic Piano Transcriptions, featuring Frederic Chiu, Alain Jacquon, Hamish Milne and Daniel Del Pino, Marble House, 11:45 pm, $25.

17. It's a Wonderful Wife -- Famous Women Composers, The Elms, 11 am, $35. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, Ochre Court, 4 pm, $35. Sensationally Shostakovich -- 24 Piano Preludes, Marble House, 7 pm, $25. Michael Endres, The Breakers, 9 pm, $40.

18. Bay Cruise Concert, Off the Waterfront featuring pianist John Bayless and a wine lunch buffet, aboard the Vista Jubilee leaving from Fort Adams Marina, 11 am, $55. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, Ochre Court, 4 pm, $35. Piano Espanol, with pianist Jorge Federico Osorio, The Breakers, 7 pm, $25. Deutsch Delectables -- An Austrian and German Feast, The Breakers, 9 pm, $40.

19. North by Northwest -- Little-Known Scandinavian Masterpieces, The Elms, 11 am, $35. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, Ochre Court, 4 pm, $35. Connoisseur Concert, The Breakers, 9 pm, $40.

20. Gone With the Wind -- The House Ablaze, Regatta Club, 11 am, $35. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, Regatta Club, 2 pm, $35. Gala Dinner and Concert featuring pianist John Bayless; cocktail hour/dinner, Rosecliff Tent, 6:30 pm; concert, Rosecliff, 9 pm; $200, includes dinner and concert.

21. Dances With Wolfs -- Canis Musicalis, Rosecliff Tent, 11 am, $45. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, Rosecliff Tent, 2 pm, with optional box lunch alfresco preceding the concert; $35, $45 with lunch. Knodel and Streudel -- Choice Austrian Fare, Rosecliff, 9 pm, $40.

22. Roman Holiday -- La Dolce Vita Italiana, The Elms, 11 am, $35. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, The Elms, 2 pm, $35. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, Marble House, 6 pm, $35. Midas Touch, featuring pianist John Lenehan and the winner of the 2005 Kazakhstan Violin Competition, The Breakers, 9 pm, $40.

23. 2005: A Slavic Odyssey, The Elms, 11 am, $35. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, The Elms, 2 pm, $35, and Marble House, 6 pm, $35. Rule Britannia -- Choice Anglophilia, The Breakers 9 pm, $40. Seven Last Words, featuring the Colorado String Quartet, performing the Sublime Magnum Opus by Haydn, 11:45 pm, Ochre Court Chapel, $25, includes champagne reception.

24. Schubert's Choice, The Elms, 11 am, $35. Composer Series, works by Debussy and Haydn, Marble House, 6 pm, $35. Closing Gala Schubertiad -- Recreating an Evening of Gemutlichkeit, The Breakers, 9 pm, $40.