Newport's Next Big Thing - Puddingstone

Newport's Next Big Thing - Puddingstone

Newport has a history of creating big events. From America's Cup to the Jazz and Folk Festivals, there is a legacy of bringing the world to Newport.

The newest creative juggernaut is Puddingstone, the creative brainchild of Clemens Teufel. Puddingstone's summer concert programming begins on Sunday, June 21, and continues throughout the week.

We sat down with Teufel to discuss the vision for the event and what to expect this summer.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

 

GoLocal: What was the inspiration for creating Puddingstone?

 

Teufel: The impetus for Puddingstone was born from the idea of creating an artistic space where people could experience music and other art forms together in an intimate, immersive setting where you are genuinely close to the performers. We wanted audiences to encounter both emerging artists and world-class names up close, in the same room, in the same evening. What drives us is the experience people carry home. We want every audience member to leave feeling newly inspired — creatively recharged — and also socially alive. That combination of artistic depth and human connection is really what Puddingstone is built around.

Newport, is a global city, and one rich in music, what was the inspiration for creating this festival?

Being born and raised in Europe, I grew up surrounded by cities where music was woven into the fabric of daily life — Berlin, Prague, Paris, Weimar — places with multiple concerts happening on any given day. Newport has that same cosmopolitan energy and the same hunger for culture, and I saw great potential to complement what already exists here with fresh programs and entirely new ideas.

Our decision to open the season earlier than the other festivals was born from a clear observation: Newport's cultural season has elongated, and there is a palpable thirst for music and culture in this community. We didn't set out to duplicate what the Jazz Festival or the Folk Festival do so wonderfully. We wanted to offer something more intimate, more eclectic, and more personal — the kind of experience that feels like it belongs to Newport year-round, not just in the height of summer.

 

GoLocal: It is eclectic — different from Newport Jazz and Folk — does it continue to add genres, or is this as wide as it gets?

 

Teufel: Our programs span classical music, jazz, world music, and beyond — and we deliberately keep the boundaries open. Last year, we wove dance into the festival program. This year, a weeklong visual art exhibition runs throughout the festival at the Casino Theatre, featuring works by Newport artist Roseanne Williams. Cuban jazz sits alongside Schubert. A family circus show shares a stage with Eastman School of Music faculty. An audience member told me recently that we are, in the most wonderful way, very unpredictable. I take this as a great compliment, and I hope our ideas keep surprising us all in meaningful ways going forward.

 

GoLocal: What are your limitations for size, dates, and scope?

 

Teufel: We have been presenting programs to audiences of up to 140 people in some of Newport's most beautiful historic venues, and we sell out regularly — which is a wonderful problem to have. For this year's festival, we made the leap to the Casino Theatre on Freebody Street, which doubles our capacity while still preserving the close, personal atmosphere where artists can speak directly to the audience and everyone can mingle comfortably afterward.

We will never sacrifice that connection for scale. Our programs take real creative effort to bring to life, and quality will always come before quantity.

 

GoLocal: When someone asks you what Puddingstone is, what is your answer?

Teufel:  For me, it is an artistic universe — a place where world-class music, visual art, dance, sometimes poetry, and always authentic human connection and artistic synergies all happen at once. At times, I struggle to explain it in words, and I always end up encouraging people to simply come and experience it for themselves.

What I can describe is this: our artists don't just perform and disappear. They speak to the audience directly from the stage. They stay for a glass of wine after the concert. They mingle, they share stories, they are genuinely present in the room with you. That kind of access to world-class musicians in an intimate setting is rare, and it is what makes the atmosphere so joyful, so exciting, and so hard to replicate anywhere else. 
 

GoLocal: The venue at the Hall of Fame is wonderful. Do you ever see it going outside? Friday night Jazz was loved and for whatever reason (financial, I believe) it stopped a few years ago during COVID. Could you ever see Puddingstone launching an experience like that? 

Teufel: The grounds at the Hall of Fame are indeed wonderful: the open-air setting with its historic courts and architecture would make for a fantastic concert experience, and it is absolutely something we would love to explore. Outdoor programming is very much on our radar.
 

GoLocal: What should people look for this summer?

 

Teufel: Our centerpiece this summer is the Puddingstone Music Festival, running June 21 through 27 at the Casino Theatre in Newport — five concerts spanning three centuries of music, each one a completely different experience.

We open with a reimagined Viennese salon celebrating Schubert, featuring Grammy Award-winning cellist Arlen Hlusko and festival chair Angela Kim. Tuesday brings Grammy-winning jazz pianist Zaccai Curtis performing live from his celebrated album Cubop Lives! — a colorful evening of bebop and Afro-Cuban sounds. Thursday's Night of Suites (and sweets) pairs Kronos Quartet violinist Gabriela Diaz with a stunning string ensemble and also some very special culinary surprises. Friday is a family afternoon with the Rubin Brothers: music, circus, and storytelling for all ages, free for children. And we close on Saturday with a Piano Extravaganza — Ukrainian-American pianist Marina Lomazov and Joseph Rackers of the Eastman School of Music, two grand pianos on one stage, performing music by Liszt, Stravinsky, and Brahms.

Running throughout the week is a visual art exhibition by Newport artist Roseanne Williams at the Casino Theatre. 

So, look out for that and come join us! Tickets start at $35. CLICK HERE 
 

GoLocal: Where is Puddingstone in 5 years — what does it look like?
 

Teufel: Puddingstone is a young organization, and my five-year goal is to widen our reach without losing what makes us who we are. Ideally, we would be presenting a similar caliber of programming to what we offer now, but with multiple showings of each program — so more families, more visitors, more Newport neighbors can experience the intimacy we have built, without it ever feeling overcrowded or impersonal.
 

I also want to deepen our educational impact — through lectures, classes, and interactive content that connect younger audiences to these art forms in a genuine way. And I want to grow the partnerships we have already started building with some of Newport’s remarkable institutions — the Newport Restoration Foundation and the Redwood Library and Athenaeum have both been wonderful collaborators, for example.

 

GoLocal: What do you enjoy most about Puddingstone?

Teufel:  For me, it is genuinely two things, and I could not have one without the other. The first is the creative act itself — the joy of dreaming up an artistic idea and then watching it come to life in a room full of people who are excited to be there. That creative outlet is something I deeply treasure.
 

The second is the human dimension: the social relationships, the friendships, the partnerships, the remarkable artists and organizations I get to know and learn from. I am truly blessed with the most wonderful board of directors and team of staff and volunteers — I could not do any of this without all the incredible people who surround me.
 

And I love watching what happens in the room afterward — strangers becoming friends under what I can only describe as the magical arch of music and the arts. People laughing, connecting, feeling something they did not expect to feel that evening, learning something 
 

Learn more HERE.