And suddenly, for me, the 2026-27 concert season gets underway. I know performing arts organizations have been busy for the past few weeks, but this weekend is the first that my dance card is on fire. How could I resist this program by the Princeton University Orchestra? Ginastera, Korngold, and my favorite Dvořák symphony!

Conductor Michael Pratt, the orchestra’s music director since 1977, is a genius at getting his students – few of whom are actual music majors (most of them are pursuing degrees in astrophysics, bioengineering, computer science, linguistics, sociology, philosophy, and other pointy-headed Princeton fields) – to play the most demanding repertoire. I’ve heard them perform “Ein Heldenleben,” the complete “Daphnis and Chloé,” several Mahler symphonies, and “The Dream of Gerontius,” among others. They’re always very good, and sometimes they even excel themselves. Furthermore, they play in Princeton’s intimate and historic Richardson Auditorium. Yowzers!

The cello soloist in the Korngold concerto is Max Salzinger (’29), winner of this year’s orchestra concerto competition. Korngold wrote the concerto for the 1946 Bette Davis-Claude Rains music-noir “Deception.” In the film, Paul Henreid (Casablanca’s Victor Laszlo) appears to play the solo part, but really he’s just making facial expressions, as in the closer shots, his hands are actually tied behind his back. Two professional cellists crouch behind him, one of their arms in either sleeve of a specially designed coat to give the actor’s pantomimed performance greater verisimilitude.

The cellist on the film’s soundtrack, the one that’s actually heard, is Eleanor Aller, the wife of Felix Slatkin (concertmaster of the 20th Century Fox studio orchestra and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet) and mother of conductor Leonard Slatkin. She was pregnant with her other son, Frederick Zlotkin, at the time. Zlotkin also grew up to be a professional cellist.

I’ve only ever heard the concerto performed live in concert once before. Naturally, I am very much looking forward to hearing it again, as Korngold is also one of my favorite composers.

Right here in my own backyard, too!

The Princeton University Orchestra program will be presented at Richardson Auditorium on both Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

For more information, visit:

https://music.princeton.edu/events/2026/princeton-university-orchestra-ginastera-korngold-dvořák

The other night? Why, Dalia Stasevska conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra in Sibelius’ “Pohjola’s Daughter” and Respighi’s “Pines of Rome,” with Gil Shaham the soloist in Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3, at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. I’m a lucky boy!