October 30, 2026 I Fitz Gary, violist - Garth Newel Piano Quartet
The Garth Newel Piano Quartet, The Omni Homestead for Garth Newel’s 50th Anniversary Gala, 2023
Thanksgiving is partly about returning to the familiar. We cook the same dishes (most are gray). We tell the same stories. We gather with the same people—plus, occasionally, someone brings a new boyfriend whose name nobody can quite remember. Tradition gives us a place to start, but every year the gathering is slightly different.
For us at Garth Newel, this Thanksgiving weekend will be quite different…except for the music. While our campus is under construction, we lean on our communities to find spaces to perform. We invite you to figuratively take a seat at our table this Thanksgiving, hear beautiful chamber music, and help those in need in our communities. The Garth Newel Piano Quartet continues our Music Feeds Us tradition with two performances: Thanksgiving Day at 2:00 PM at The Omni Homestead Resort, followed by a Saturday performance at 4:00 PM at Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church. Concerts are free, though a donation to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank is encouraged.
At the heart of both concerts are two American stories—or, more accurately, two stories of where American music finds its beginnings.
Arthur Foote was among the first generation of American composers to establish a serious chamber music tradition in this country. Born in Massachusetts in 1853, Foote belonged to the group of composers now known as the “Boston Six.” These musicians helped give American music its own footing (ha ha) at a time when Europe still dominated the classical landscape. His music is warm, beautifully crafted, and unmistakably Romantic, with echoes of Brahms while clearly carving out distinctly American sounds.
Photo Credit: The New England Conservatory
Then there is Antonín Dvořák, who came to America from Bohemia in 1892 and famously incorporated the sounds and traditions he experienced here. Trains, Native American and Black spirituals...he was enchanted with old America, and it found its way into his music, laying the foundation for the beginnings of a distinctly American musical voice. Though much of his career was rooted deeply in the folk traditions and landscapes of his homeland, his music, ironically for an outsider, is often regarded as decidedly American sounding. Can music sound like it’s from a place? Or do we think it sounds American because we’ve said it for generations and we associate it as such? A bigger question for a longer blog.
Photo Credit: The Dvořák American Heritage Association (DAHA)
Antonín Dvořák, 1868
That makes Foote and Dvořák particularly fitting companions for Thanksgiving weekend. Their music reminds us that culture is something we inherit, something we carry with us, and something we create.
That same spirit is behind Music Feeds Us. The series began with the idea that music can not only bring people together, but it can inspire to help address a very real need in our community. A concert can feed the imagination and spirit, but it can also become an opportunity to help put food on someone’s table.
And perhaps that is why this tradition feels especially meaningful at Thanksgiving. So before the turkey, or after the turkey, or somewhere in the long Thanksgiving weekend when you desperately need to leave the house, we hope you’ll come spend an hour with us!
You can hear these works on November 26th and / or November 28th. Click on the links below for more information:
November 26th, Thanksgiving Day | 2:00 PM
The Omni Homestead Resort
November 28th, Saturday | 4:00 PM
Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church, Fishersville
Donations benefit the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank which helps serve 25 counties and 8 cities across Virginia.