Princeton Festival Events Not Confined to Weekends
Fans of chamber and baroque music can attend multiple weekday concerts during the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO)’s all-new Princeton Festival June 10-25, at a performance tent at Morven Museum and Garden and across the street at Trinity Episcopal Church.
Radio personality Rob Kapilow makes an appearance, and performing ensembles including Germany’s Signum Quartet, the Sebastians, the Festival Chorus, and the trio Time For Three will perform. All concerts are at 7 p.m.
Leading off the chamber music events is a cycle of Franz Schubert’s late string quartets. “What Makes it Great?” host Kapilow explores Death and the Maiden, a pillar of the chamber repertoire, on Monday, June 13 with a performance of the work by the Signum Quartet. The event is presented in partnership with WWFM, the Classical Network, which will livestream the event. Signum continues the quartet cycle with performances of the Rosamunde and String Quartet in G Major on Tuesday, June 14. These events are at Morven.
Thursdays at the Princeton Festival are devoted to Baroque music played on period instruments at Trinity Episcopal Church. On June 16, the 14-piece ensemble making up the Sebastians performs early music by Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello and Johann Georg Pisendel in addition to that of Handel, J.S. Bach, and Vivaldi. Selections performed with the Festival Chorus on June 23 include Bach’s cantata Wer sich selbst erhöhet, der soll erniedriget werden, BWV 47 and Handel’s Chandos Anthem “O Praise the Lord with One Consent,” HWV 254. Festival Director Gregory Jon Geehern conducts.
Time For Three performs on Tuesday, June 21, at Morven. Members Ranaan Meyer, double bass; Nick Kendall; and Charles Yang, violin; defy conventional boundaries. Their set list includes works ranging from “Chaconne in Winter,” after Bach, to Amazing Grace and “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber, and Mike Stoller.
Free companion talks augment each concert experience. Charles Fisk, a retired musicology professor from Wellesley College and a Schubert scholar, discusses the music of Franz Schubert’s later years on Tuesday, June 14 at 5 p.m. at Morven’s Stockton Education Center. John Burkhalter surveys the distinctive variety of styles and genres in Baroque music and Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, a master of vocal pedagogy, discusses the challenges, and rewards, of singing Bach and Handel’s music at talks held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 16 and 23, respectively, at Trinity Church’s Pierce-Bishop Hall. For more information, visit princetonsymphony.org/festival/community-programs.
Tickets for all Princeton Festival performances range from $10 – $130; ticket packages are $18 and up. Call (609) 497-0020 or visit princetonsymphony.org/festival.