TRIBUTE TO DVORAK: The Brentano String Quartet’s program for Princeton University Concerts celebrates the composer Ántonín Dvorak’s impact on American classical music on November 3 at Richardson Auditorium.

The Brentano String Quartet, Princeton University’s ensemble-in-residence from 1999-2014, returns to Princeton University Concerts (PUC) on Thursday, November 3, at 7:30 p.m. with a program that celebrates the music of our homeland, paying tribute to composer Ántonín Dvorak and his impact on American classical music.

The concert at Richardson Auditorium will trace musical lineage from a blues arrangement by Princeton University’s own faculty composer Steven Mackey and Charles Ives’ reinterpretation of popular American songs, all the way back to the spirituals that inspired Dvorak’s compositions as he directed the National Conservatory of Music of America and paved the way, by providing education to black composers, for the music of William Grant Still and George Walker.

“The program the Brentano String Quartet has curated tells a lesser-known story of musical composition in America,” said PUC Director Marna Seltzer. “It presents a rich diversity of compositions influenced by African American music, reflecting folk, jazz, and blues influences. It is an extraordinary reorientation of Dvorak’s role in American culture and his profound impact on Black American composers. Of course, this concert is all the more special as it represents a homecoming for the Brentano String Quartet, so beloved by the Princeton community. Their inclusion of Department of Music Professor Steven Mackey adds all the more to the intimately familiar flavor of the evening.”

Tickets ($30-$50 general/$10 student) are available for purchase online at puc.princeton.edu, or by calling (609) 258-2800.