Rhode Island - Music and Performing Arts

Newport, the beach town in Narragansett Bay, is home to three of the nation's premiere music summer festivals, with something for every taste.

One of the nation's top jazz events, the Newport Jazz Festival has been held in Newport every summer since 1954, except for a stretch in the 1970s when it was moved to New York City. Over the years, the festival has welcomed such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and Billie Holiday for open-air performances.

The Newport Music Festival is an annual chamber music series held since 1969 in the luxurious rooms of Newport's Gilded Age mansions, and featuring top performers from around the world.

The Newport Folk Festival has brought such stars as Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Arlo Guthrie to Newport since 1959.