Historic Music of Newport was founded in 2022 to preserve the rich musical heritage of Newport, RI. In our first year as a recognized nonprofit we have: catalogued over 900 pieces of music with Newport ties from the early 19th century to the early 20th century; researched over 700 musicians connected to Newport and began to tell their stories; purchased physical copies of music as well as postcards and personal letters with Newport musical significance; visited Pennfield School in Portsmouth, RI to give talks about our musical history; provided tours of Island Cemetery, highlighting the diversity of the musicians buried here; co-sponsored the Gilded Age Orchestra of Newport’s performance at the Preservation Society of Newport County’s The Breakers.

In our second year we are focusing on telling the story of Newport through the eyes of the musicians and their music. The city was home to a diverse group of musicians from all over the world, including the island’s native inhabitants, enslaved and freed African Americans, immigrants, and those born locally. They served in the Army at Fort Adams and the Navy at the Naval Training Station in Newport. They were orchestra members at the local theaters and organists at the many churches of Newport. Both professional and amateur musicians were important to the early life of the city.

John Almeida, a native of Newport, R.I., holds a Bachelor of Music in Performance from the University of Alabama and a Master of Musical Arts from Appalachian State University. Mr. Almeida was a member of the Applied brass faculty at the University of Central Florida from 1993 – 2017. His duties included teaching applied trumpet and high brass methods. He also coached the UCF Trumpet Ensemble, and the Colbourn Brass Quintet. In 2011, the UCF Trumpet Ensemble under Mr. Almeida’s direction appeared at the 2011 Schagerl International Brass Festival in Melk, Austria. They were the only American brass ensemble invited to perform at this prestigious festival.

He remains active as an adjudicator for the Florida Bandmasters Association. Mr. Almeida has been a guest artist/clinician in Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Rhode Island, Maine, Massachusetts, Virginia, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, New York City, and Florida. John Almeida is a Yamaha Performing Artist, and he performs frequently as a soloist and is in demand as a trumpet clinician. Mr. Almeida’s principal teachers include William Adam, Indiana University, Thomas Wholwender, 2nd. Trumpet, The Cleveland Orchestra, and Joe F. Phelps, Appalachian State University.

Judy Berger has over twenty years of experience serving on non-for-profit boards, primarily focusing on fundraising and development. Those boards include Rose Island (Newport, RI) and the New School of Music (Cambridge, MA.) Now retired, she spends most of the year living in Porto, Portugal with her husband Bob Peckham and their two dogs. Newport beckons in summer with family time and all of the beauty and music to be found in the city-by-the-sea. Judy is thrilled to be a member of the Historic Music of Newport Board of Directors.

Jim Blumel is a senior level executive with over 20 years of diverse general management, business development, and sales/marketing experience. He has been successful at executing business growth strategies, forging strategic partnerships, expanding national and international markets, leading high performance management teams, and building value across multiple industries including technology, service, and banking. Jim is currently the General Partner of Broadway Partners LLC, and owner of Bar 12 and Tavern on Broadway, in Newport, RI.

Dr. Christopher Brellochs is an internationally recognized lecturer, performer, music historian, and educator. He currently serves as the Dean of the School of Music at the State University of New York at Schenectady and Adjunct Artist in Music at Vassar College. His scholarship is dedicated to unearthing forgotten gems of the late 19th and early 20th-century American repertoire, and, whenever possible, recreating them in the salons and concert halls for which they were originally conceived. He appeared in season one of HBO’s “The Gilded Age” as composer/conductor John Knowles Paine and worked with the production company to ensure the historic accuracy of the scene.

Anthony De Luca was the Newport location orchestra Manager and one of the musicians for Season One of HBO’s Emmy-Award winning series The Gilded Age. He was responsible for hiring the on-screen musicians, ensuring the historical accuracy of the instruments, and performing the music in a historically informed manner.

Between 1993 and 2002 Anthony worked professionally as an engineer with two multinational corporations, the first based in France, the second in Japan. From 2002 until 2019, he was an Academics & Research Specialist with Care New England, and since 2019 has led the multi-disciplinary Research Computing team at Lifespan, Rhode Island, largest employer.

Anthony was a member of the Warwick Symphony Orchestra from 2000 until 2008, serving four terms on the Board of Directors. In 2002 He was a founding member of the Ocean State Pops Orchestra in 1993, playing clarinet until its dissolution in 1998. In 2002, Anthony, along with several members of the that orchestra, established the New England Festival Orchestra, which was later re-named the Ocean State Pops Orchestra. He served eight years as the President of the orchestra’s Board of Directors. Anthony is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island. As an undergraduate he studied Mechanical and Ocean Engineering, and as a graduate student he studied Manufacturing Engineering. He also pursued graduate studies in Ocean Engineering at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Anthony is a native of Rhode Island, where he currently resides with his wife Anita, a professional musician.

Dr. Robert Franzblau has lived and worked at the intersection of musical performance and music education for over forty years. Recently retired from teaching and conducting music at the college level, this fall he begins his thirteenth year as conductor and artistic director of the Rhode Island Wind Ensemble. Franzblau earned a Bachelor of Music in music education from the University of Iowa, Master of Music in conducting and music education from Northwestern University, and a Ph.D. in music education from the University of Nebraska‐Lincoln. In 2021, he earned RYT® 200-hour instructor certification in Integrative Yoga Therapy at One Yoga Center in Foster, RI.

His 2013 book, So You Want to Be a Music Major: A Guide for High School Students, Their Parents, Guidance Counselors, and Music Teachers, published by Meredith Music Publications, received very positive reviews in The Instrumentalist and the Journal of the National Band Association. He has presented clinics at numerous conferences including the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic and state music education associations in Texas, New York, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Massachusetts, among others. Other publications include “Why Music Isn’t Basic” in the WASBE Journal, “A Conducting Analysis of Eric Whitacre’s October” in The Instrumentalist, “Serve it Fresh!” in The Music Director’s Cookbook, and an analysis of Steven Bryant’s Anthem in Volume 9 of Teaching Music Through Performance in Band.

He serves as reviewer for the Music Educators Journal, as editor of the Rhode Island Music Educators’ Review, and as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator for bands throughout the country.

Dr. Mark A. Stickney (founder) was appointed the Artistic Director of the Seacoast Wind Ensemble in 2016. During his 20-year college teaching career, he held conducting, brass teaching, and music education positions at the Community College of Rhode Island, Oklahoma Panhandle State University, Plymouth State University, Salve Regina University, and Southern Utah University. An active clinic and guest conductor, Dr. Stickney has traveled throughout the country working with bands and orchestras of all levels.

Dr. Stickney is the founder of Historic Music of Newport, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the rich musical heritage of Newport. He also works part-time for the Preservation Society of Newport County and serves on the board of Newport Live. He received his BA in Music and Religion from Gettysburg College, his MA in Tuba Performance from Montclair State University (NJ), and his DMA in Wind Conducting from Rutgers University (NJ).