AWARD-WINNING SOLOIST: Violinist Jennifer Koh will play a work written specifically for her at upcoming performances by the Princeton Symphony Orchestra at Richardson Auditorium. (Photo by Juergen Frank)

Grammy Award-winning violinist Jennifer Koh appears with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) at performances the weekend of October 14-15, at Richardson Auditorium.

Koh will play Missy Mazzoli’s Violin Concerto (Procession), which was written specifically for her in 2022. Also on the program are Felix Mendelssohn’s Scottish-inspired The Hebrides Overture (Fingal’s Cave), Op. 26 and Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43, one of his most popular works. PSO Assistant Conductor Kenneth Bean leads the concerts, taking place on Saturday, October 14 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, October 15 at 4 p.m. The Sunday performance will be preceded by a 3 p.m. pre-concert talk.

“I look forward to taking patrons on this amazing musical journey from the tumultuous waves of Mendelssohn’s Hebrides, to the contemporary vibrance of Mazzoli’s concerto brought to life by the incomparable Jennifer Koh, and culminating with the grandeur of Nordic landscapes depicted by Sibelius’ 2nd Symphony,” said Bean. “The program serves as a wonderful reminder that music is both an echo of the past as well as a beacon for the future.”

This season, Koh continues her New American Concerto series, an ongoing, multi-season commissioning project that explores the form of the violin concerto and its potential for artistic engagement with contemporary societal concerns. Koh continues to perform works from critically acclaimed solo and duo commissioning projects, including Alone Together, Bach and Beyond Bridge to Beethoven, Limitless, and Shared Madness. She also begins a new role as artistic director of the Fortas Chamber Music Concerts at the Kennedy Center.

Bean has served as the Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s Georg and Joyce Albers-Schonberg Assistant Conductor as well as the Symphonic Orchestra Conductor for the affiliated Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey since 2021. He is also an instructor and conductor in the Philadelphia area, as well as an active freelance trumpeter. He has appeared as a guest conductor for the Marywood String Festival, Berks County Orchestra Festival, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He currently serves as assistant conductor of Symphony in C, conductor of the Symphony in C Youth Orchestra in Collingswood, and director/conductor of the Young Musicians Debut Orchestra, the newest full orchestra within the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Music Institute.

For tickets, visit princetonsymphony.org or call (609) 497-0020.