New York Times classical music critic Anthony Tommasini could have picked any angle to lead Friday’s story about the renovation of the Frick Collection, the beloved 1914 Gilded Age mansion.
He chose Westport’s Frederic Chiu.
In 1999, Tommasini wrote, the internationally renowned pianist told a Frick audience how pleased he was to play in a “wonderfully intimate” music room. The ambience was similar to “the Parisian salons where the early Romantic repertory he was about to perform would have been played.”
The pianist knows all about intimate salons.
Here in Westport, he and his wife — the cutting-edge artist Jeanine Esposito — have created their own circular, immersive room.
A piano performance is just part of one salon.
It’s part of Beechwood, the name for both their their 1806 renovated farmhouse and their series that brings artists, musicians and other creative types together in unique and compelling ways.
The next Beechwood event is July 22: the 7th annual Open. The community pop-up salon is one of their most popular.
For $25, anyone can reserve a spot on the wall for art, a 5-foot slot on stage for music or performance, a place on the table for a dish, a table for an open market, or a moment on the screen for film.
For $40, you can be an arts supporter, and enjoy the afternoon.
Beechwood House, with its magnificent copper beech tree.
Sure, you can go to the Frick to be entertained.
But to be truly immersed in the arts, you can stay right here in Westport.
And see Frederic Chiu, too.
(For more information — and to sign up to participate or attend — click here.)
