Cellist Seth Parker Woods’ delightful visit at Thompson Middle School
We are heavily into the Newport Classical Chamber series and this month has brought two fantastic artists to the City by the Sea: opera singer Markel Reed and cellist Seth Parker Woods. Both artists also visited Newport County classrooms where they led special performance workshops.
I caught up with cellist and GRAMMY-nominated Woods, who worked with the Frank E. Thompson Middle School orchestra students on Friday, just hours before he gave a concert that included a mix of contemporary pieces as well as ones by Johann Sebastian Bach, the cellist's favorite composer.
"I really love doing outreach," said Woods, who has been serving on the faculty at the Thornton School of Music at The University of Southern California since 2022, as well as the Robert Mann Chair in Strings and Chamber Music. "I've been doing it for years, and I try to, at least in most cities I go, to do them. Sometimes the schedule doesn't really allow for that, but it's always exciting when I get a chance to connect with [students]."
Newport classical music lovers may be familiar with the organization's concerts, which take place at Emmanuel Church in downtown Newport, but perhaps less familiar with the year-long Music Engagement Initiative. In that program, each guest artist is asked to visit a public school in the area and conduct a workshop with students designed to be interactive and playful. In the one I witnessed, Woods demonstrated to the orchestra students one of the haunting pieces from his concert program, "Between Worlds," and asked their thoughts on what they heard.
"How did you make it sound like traffic? It sounds like traffic in New York City," said one of the students. Woods laughed and explained, "that's what we call a tremolo." Others commented that the same musical movement sounded like a tense moment in a scary film. The intense piece brought out different interpretations, which amused Woods, and made for a stimulating workshop. In his interview with me, he admitted that was his favorite question.
Other students had more practical inquiries, with one asking about him wearing glasses during his performance.
Woods, now 40, talked about his experience of performing and how he became enamored with his instrument since age 5. He also talked about his two cellos, including the one he played on, which dated back to the 1700's, and his second one from 1810.
He recalled meeting the Eroica Trio when he was in high school as a "pivotal moment" when he realized that there was a possibility to make a career out of classical music. "You can have a career in chamber music," he realized after interacting with them. "They were from New York, and I hadn't gone to New York yet, but the next year, I would go. Then I went to do a program at Juilliard."
The orchestra students clearly enjoyed the unique opportunity to ask the professional musician questions, and presented a "thank you" book to Newport Classical, which was proudly accepted by Elsa Carreras, Development and Education Manager, and Elise Felker, Customer Experience and Marketing Manager for Newport Classical. The book was also displayed during intermission of the cellist's concert that evening.
"In Houston, Texas, where I'm from, we had a huge Arts and Sciences Program," said Woods about being exposed to a similar outreach program at a young age. "The idea of representation matters," including championing new works of music.
"It's important as a civic nature that what you do in the hall also represents the people that are in that hall. That's not to say to throw away the entire history of Western classical music, but there is room to have [both]."
Each guest artist who performs during the Chamber Series participates in the Engagement Initiative, where artists such as Woods get to pay it forward to the next generation of classical music lovers and performers.
Photo GallerySeth Parker Woods performs at Thompson Middle School. Credit: Veronica Bruno.
