Vivian Fung's GODDESS//INSECT Will Make Regional Premiere
Violinist Kristin Lee and Sandbox Percussion perform the New England premiere at The Breakers in Newport, RI.
From July 2-19, 2026, the Newport Classical Music Festival will again turn this “City by the Sea” into a summer destination for music lovers, featuring 30 concerts across 11 unforgettable venues, from cliffside lawns to gilded mansions, including the stunning interiors of The Breakers, The Elms, Castle Hill Inn, Blithewold Mansion, Rosecliff Mansion, Redwood Library and Athenæum, and more. One of the many highlights of this year's Music Festival is the New England premiere of a new work co-commissioned by Newport Classical from JUNO Award-winning composer Vivian Fung, on Thursday, July 9 at 8pm at The Breakers (44 Ochre Point Avenue).
The new piece, titled Goddess//Insect is written for violinist Kristin Lee, praised in The Strad for her “elegance” and “vivacity and electric energy,” and the “utterly amazing” (Guardian) GRAMMY-nominated ensemble Sandbox Percussion. It is co-commissioned by a national consortium of concert presenters including Newport Classical, Emerald City Music (Lee's own series in Seattle), Music@Menlo in California, Constellations Chamber Concerts in the Washington, DC area; and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York, NY. Exploring the vibrant dialogue between violin and percussion, Lee and Sandbox Percussion bring this dynamic new work to The Breakers, along with music by two other women composers, Gabriella Smith and Joan Tower.
Kristin Lee says, “This project has been in the works for several years, and I couldn't be more excited that it has finally come to life. My admiration for Sandbox Percussion's vast sound world and Vivian Fung's boundless creativity grew out of two very different musical chapters in my life, and bringing them together feels like a dream come true. Beyond my own personal excitement, this piece is a celebration of an instrumentation with enormous potential – the combination of percussion quartet and violin, a pairing that remains underrepresented in the repertoire. By sharing works by Vivian and Joan, I hope this project will inspire others to expand the possibilities for this instrumentation and help bring its powerful impact to a wider audience.”
Victor Caccese of Sandbox Percussion says, “We're thrilled to collaborate with Kristin Lee on a new work by Vivian Fung and to explore the dialogue between an instrument with a rich history like the violin and the expansive, ever-evolving sound world of a percussion quartet. Sandbox Percussion has long admired Kristin's artistry and the singular path she has forged as a violinist, and this collaboration feels like a perfect fit. This project offers a meaningful opportunity to expand the chamber music repertoire for violin and percussion quartet. Vivian's music is endlessly creative, drawing on long-standing musical traditions while blending them with fresh, contemporary ideas. Her work opens up a rich and expressive space for these instruments together, and we're excited to bring a new voice into this still largely underexplored corner of the chamber music landscape.”
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