By Nancy Plum

The Princeton University Orchestra launched its 2024-25 season this past weekend with a unique combination of works from Ukraine, the U.S., and Russia, demonstrating that music knows no political boundaries. Led by conductor Michael Pratt, the more than 100-member Orchestra showed in the annual concerts honoring former faculty member Peter Westergaard what could be accomplished in the few short weeks since the University semester started.

Sunday afternoon’s performance in Richardson Auditorium (the concert was also presented Saturday night) began with the American premiere of a piece with a University connection. Princeton graduate Hobart Earle has achieved great success conducting Ukraine’s Odesa Philharmonic Orchestra, leading the ensemble through the sounds of artillery in the background and against incredible odds. In 2023, Earle and the Philharmonic commissioned noted Ukrainian composer Evgeni Orkin, and the resulting Elegy in the Memory of the Victims in Odessa captures the horrors of war both in mournful darkness and hopeful light.

Orkin’s Elegy began with a backdrop of brass, with horns depicting conflict and a pair of harps conveying light. Conductor Pratt took his time with cadences, emphasizing dark passages from the strings and an ominous character from the brass. One of the work’s most poignant moments came with prayerful music from the cello section punctuated by a memorial bell. Under Pratt’s direction, Elegy closed in peaceful calm, yet with an element of uncertainty.

From Ukraine’s rich symphonic tradition, the Orchestra moved on to one of this country’s most popular compositions with a performance of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, featuring a campus star. Gershwin’s 1924 jazz concerto for orchestra and solo piano was composed in part to showcase American jazz at the same high level as classical music was seen at the time. Over the past century, its opening clarinet glissando has become as familiar to listeners as Beethoven’s “Fate knocking at the door” first few measures of Symphony No. 5.

The University Orchestra’s presentation of this work featured undergraduate Kasey Shao as piano soloist. Shao’s status as a university senior contradicted her stellar keyboard skills — her playing was confident, self-assured, and well beyond her years, reflecting more her impressive history of soloing with major orchestras since the age of 12. The Orchestra’s presentation of Gershwin’s Rhapsody was saucy from the outset, with a great deal of flexibility in the phrasing. Shao was extremely fluid in her technique and a bit saucy herself. She teased the audience form the keyboard, especially in extended solo passages, with clean ornamented notes and powerful octaves. Her left hand proved to be particularly strong, and she exhibited an ability to shift moods on a dime, finding variety of contrasts within the Rhapsody.

Conductor Pratt maintained a lively spirit, reminiscent of 1920s Broadway. Elegant instrumental solos were heard throughout, with perfect rhythmic timing between piano and brass. A crowd of Princeton University students had turned out to hear their colleague Shao perform this popular but difficult work, and they left both captivated and enthusiastically supportive of this young immensely talented pianist.

In contrast to the opening Ukrainian Elegy paying tribute to victims of aggression, the Orchestra closed Sunday’s concert with one of Russia’s most beloved chestnuts. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E minor was infused with a familiar Tchaikovsky theme of man’s futility against destiny nestled in a 19th-century Russian contrast between lyricism and nationalism.

Pratt and the University Orchestra took a reverent approach to the initial “Andante,” with the music immersed in lower winds and strings. Building volume slowly, the violins showed consistent direction in line, with graceful solos from clarinet and bassoon. The ensuing “Allegro” moved along in traditional Classical fashion, and was never overwhelming, despite the work’s lush 19th-century roots. Harmonic shifts clearly borrowed from Beethoven and Brahms were well executed by the players, with the principal theme maintaining an effective rise and fall in phrasing.

The second movement featured a lyrical extended solo from hornist Clara Conatser, with strings providing an effortless backdrop to oboe and horn solos. Pratt conducted the subsequent “Valse” gently, with the texture kept light by refined winds and a crisp pair of horns. The beginning of the “Finale” was regal, moving quickly to a closing section in which the players demonstrated flowing sweeps to the string lines amid symphonic intensity. The Orchestra presented the recurring main melodic theme, once dark and brooding and now bright and joyous, almost as a march to victory, closing the afternoon in both reflection and celebration.

The Princeton University Orchestra will present its next set of concerts on Friday, November 22 and Saturday, November 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium. Featured in these performances will be music of Duke Ellington and Gustav Mahler. Ticket information can be obtained by visiting at tickets.princeton.edu.