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Tag: Princeton Symphony Orchestra

Local Music Events to Brighten a Rainy Day

Looking for a little musical cheer on a rainy Sunday? Here are four musical events with local connections to enjoy.

The Bucks County-based ensemble La Fiocco – directed by Dr. Lewis Baratz, host of WWFM’s “Well-Tempered Baroque” – will host Early Music keyboard virtuoso Corina Marti. Marti will perform on a reconstruction of a hand-pumped portative organ, the clavisimbalum, and an early 16th century-type harpsichord. The program will include works by Francesco Landini, istampittas from anonymous English, Italian, and French sources, intabulations from the 15th century Faenza Codex, and pieces from the 16th century Amerbach Codex. The concert will be streamed from the neo-Romanesque St. Marienkirche in Basel, Switzerland. LINKS TO THE CONCERT AND ZOOM RECEPTION WILL BE SENT PRIOR TO THE PERFORMANCE, so if you’re interested, register ASAP! The concert will debut this afternoon at 3:00 EDT, and will be available on-demand through 4/17. For more information, visit lafiocco.org.

During an ordinary, Covid-free season, La Fiocco would be performing at 1867 Sanctuary Arts and Culture Center, in Ewing, NJ, or at Trinity Episcopal Church, Solebury, PA (near New Hope). Another ensemble that makes Solebury its home is Concordia Chamber Players. The ensemble’s artistic director, cellist Michelle Djokic, will be joined by violinist Siwoo Kim and violist Milena Pajaro-vande Stadt, in a concert filmed at ArtYard in Frenchtown, NJ. On the program will be works by Carlos Simon, Milad Yousufi, Igor Stravinsky, Johann Sebastian Bach, Zoltan Kodaly, Erno Dohnanyi, and Georges Enescu. The video will premiere at 5:00 EDT, and remain posted for your viewing and listening pleasure, at concordiaplayers.org.

On Friday, Princeton composer Julian Grant’s latest, a vocal chamber music work/pocket opera on the subject of a Russian folk tale, received its world premiere, courtesy of Harvard Musical Association. Grant’s “Salt” forms the centerpiece of a concert by Emmanuel Music that also includes plenty of Beethoven: selections from his Scottish and Irish folksongs, the song cycle “An die ferne Geliebte” (“To the Distant Beloved”), and the Presto movement from the Piano Trio, Op. 1, No. 1. The video is now posted. Grant’s piece begins about 48 minutes in, but, by all means, start at the beginning of the concert and enjoy the entire program! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCTXlzq_6Zk

Finally, if you’re in need of a lift, Princeton Symphony Orchestra brass provide a surge of hope and nobility via Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.” The performance was recorded in Princeton’s Palmer Square. Watch it now, and turn that frown upside down, at princetonsymphony.org.

April 11, 2021
Celebrate Bach’s Birthday with Music & More

March 21st is the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach. I’ve already got my order in for a cake, and it had to be a big one, in order to accommodate 336 candles.

The Princeton Symphony Orchestra has just posted the last of its four-part series on Bach’s “The Musical Offering.” PSO musicians perform Bach’s contrapuntal, often chromatic – and for at least one canon, crabby – masterwork, with Assistant Conductor Nell Flanders offering absorbing insights into its history and structure. The series is free. Watch all four installments at princetonsymphony.org.

On Sunday, The Dryden Ensemble will stream a lecture by Bach scholar Michael Marissen on the musical aims of the “St. John Passion.” Then the following Sunday, March 21st – Bach’s birthday – experience a performance of the oratorio from last year, an especially notable concert, in that it was documented just as the world was shutting down for the pandemic. Both of the Bach events will be made available, on their respective Sundays, at 3 p.m. The lecture is free. More information and tickets for the performance are available at drydenensemble.org.

Finally, WWFM The Classical Network is in the midst of its annual “Bach 500” challenge. 500 listener donations in any amount will be matched by funds from the station’s “Bach Pot” (fortified by some very generous leprechauns). If the goal is reached, fundraising will be cancelled for Bach’s birthday. The reward will be a euphoric playlist of uninterrupted Bach, free from pecuniary concerns – lutes in place of lucre, concertos supplanting chatter, pipe organs in preference to pitching.

Won’t you be one of the Bach 500? Make a contribution now, and watch the mercury rise on the Bach thermometer at wwfm.org. Thank you for your support of classical music on WWFM – The Classical Network. It’s because of listeners just like you that we are able to continue to Bach-around-the-clock!

https://wwwfm.secureallegiance.com/wwfm/WebModule/Donate.aspx?P=DEFAULT&PAGETYPE=PLG&CHECK=vOU2bz5JCWmgCDbf53nm9ezWDeZ%2BeA1M&fbclid=IwAR0gC4oY7VhnwYX0TMEi72BAeDrj68XjjtdSx7OFSJZggVsskJqa4ZI-Vd4

IMAGE: Bach makes a musical offering in the form of a riddle canon, in the famous Elias Gottlob Haussmann portrait. The painting, which was housed in Princeton for over 60 years, in the private collection of William H. Scheide, was bequeathed by Scheide to the Bach Archive in Leipzig – the city in which Bach spent most of his creative life – where it now resides.

March 10, 2021
Weekend Online Classical Music Events

Another weekend, and even as we continue to anticipate the reopening of our concert halls and a return to normalcy, there are plenty of online musical events to sustain us. Here are just a few of them.

Tonight at 7:30 pm EST, celebrate Early Music Month with the Philadelphia-based ensemble Piffaro, The Renaissance Band. The program, “The Musical World of Don Quixote,” will include works from 16th and 17th century Spain. The concert will be available for on-demand access for the period of a week. For more information, visit https://www.piffaro.org/

Continuing on a Latin theme, The Philadelphia Orchestra is offering Rodion Shchedrin’s “Carmen Fantasy,” a reimagining of Georges Bizet’s classic melodies for strings and percussion, in a performance featuring special guests, Brian Sanders’ JUNK. The semi-staged presentation will be enhanced by JUNK’s unique blend of choreography and physical theater. The concert is being offered on-demand through Thursday. To learn more, look online at philorch.org.

On Sunday at 3 pm EST, Clipper Erickson will present the next of his “Music for the Soul” concerts. Titled “Chopin in Context: The Women Before and After,” the program will position music by the Romantic keyboard master as part of a continuum that will also include works by Cécile Chaminde and Maria Szymanowska. For tickets and information, click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chopin-in-context-the-women-before-and-after-music-for-the-soul-tickets-141160046499

Also on Sunday, at 4 pm EST, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra will offer a late afternoon of music for strings by Puccini and Respighi. In addition, guest harpist Alexander Boldachev will play works by Smetana and Piazzolla, along with some of his own improvisations. The concert will be made available on-demand for PSO ticket-holders for a period of a week. To learn more, visit princetonsymphony.org.

On Wednesday, the PSO will post the last of a four-part series of videos devoted to Bach’s “The Musical Offering.” The work is performed by PSO musicians, with Assistant Conductor Nell Flanders providing the fascinating introductory material for each segment. The series is being offered free, with Segments 1 through 3 already posted at the PSO website, again princetonsymphony.org. Enjoy them at your leisure.

Have a great, musically-nourishing weekend. We’ll be out of this soon. Keep dreaming the impossible dream!

March 5, 2021
Stream Classical Music During Inclement Weather

Inclement weather got you down? As long as the power holds, there’s no reason to be glum.

In recent days, my inbox has been a logjam of press releases for streamed concerts. It’s still a big, wide, wonderful world of music out there, and there’s something for just about every taste.

My pick for the weekend – and I realize it may not be everyone’s cup of cocoa – is a FREE stream of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s most opulent opera, “Das Wunder der Heliane” (“The Miracle of Heliane”). Korngold was a celebrated child prodigy and an opera composer well before he came to Hollywood to write music for Errol Flynn and Bette Davis. “Heliane” is a heady blend of eroticism, pathos, and redemption. I can’t speak for the production, but the music is guaranteed to be transporting. The opera is being offered on-demand, from Deutsche Oper Berlin, now through Sunday at 9 am EST (assuming the times on the website are German). Visit https://www.deutscheoperberlin.de/de_DE/das-wunder-der-heliane-als-video-on-demand?fbclid=IwAR0gsLk8oT5GFsq5q_73iwq6K9IVVBhOc9e7W5jYxn8ZwOvuKXvcKqbmx14

Closer to home, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra has posted the first of a four-part series devoted to Johann Sebastian Bach’s “The Musical Offering.” The installments, which include illuminating commentary by PSO assistant conductor Nell Flanders, will be released weekly over the coming month and can be viewed FREE. Part One is posted now at https://princetonsymphony.org/

Whether because of the political zeitgeist, for Black History Month, or the natural result of cumulative exposure to the repertoire, there has been a really nice representation of music by Black composers recently. And the development is a welcome one. This weekend, The Philadelphia Orchestra will present Florence Price’s Piano Concerto, alongside works by Rossini and Schubert. The on-demand concert will be available starting tonight at 8 pm and will stream through next Thursday at 11 pm EST. Tickets available at https://philorch.org/

Pianists Danny Driver and Piers Lane will offer an elegant recital of French classics by Franck, Fauré, Saint-Saëns, and Lili Boulanger, courtesy of the Fisher Center at Bard. On-demand access will be available from Friday at 10 am through next Thursday at 5 pm EST. For tickets, visit https://fishercenter.bard.edu/events/driver-lane?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2021-02-17-Driver-Lane-TON-AFAIG-Dev&utm_content=version_A

If new music is more your thing, Bang on a Can will present a marathon of 16 world premieres by living composers, including avant-garde icon Alvin Lucier and Princeton’s own Bora Yoon. Streaming of the four-hour event will begin this Sunday at 1 pm EST. The marathon is FREE and can be viewed at https://live.bangonacan.org/

As always, free may be free, but donations are welcome – indeed encouraged – and help support the performers and organizations.

Snowbound? ‘S no problem! There’s still plenty to munch on. Classical music is like grilled cheese for the soul, and it’s a lot easier on the arteries.

February 18, 2021
Princeton Symphony & Buskaid Premiere On-Demand

Starting today, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra unveils a new series of on-demand concerts featuring the remarkable Buskaid Soweto String Ensemble.

Buskaid is an organization that offers high-quality string teaching to young people in the township of Soweto, South Africa. In 23 years, the organization has produced a world class ensemble that has received acclaim on 26 international tours.

This weekend’s opener, available now, features guest pianist Melvyn Tan, Buskaid-trained violist Tiisetso Mashishi, popular vocals, and examples of kwela, a South African style of music with jazzy undertones, derived from the marabi sound. The concert was filmed at Johannesburg’s Linder Auditorium.

PSO Executive Director Marc Uys, who hails from South Africa, visited the Buskaid School with a group of PSO trustees in 2019. Among them was composer Julian Grant, whose work “Sancho’s Dance-Mix,” a Buskaid commission, is featured on this weekend’s program.

To learn more about the series and to gain three-day access to this weekend’s debut concert, visit princetonsymphony.org.

Uys and Grant talk about their personal connections to Buskaid on a podcast with Discover Jersey Arts:

https://jerseyartsfeatures.com/content/2021/1/28/from-soweto-to-princetonthe-buskaid-string-ensemble

Uys and Buskaid Founder and Music Director Rosemary Nalden visit “A Tempo” on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org:

https://www.wwfm.org/post/virtual-performances-transcend-geographic-boundaries-princeton-symphony-south-african-ensemble

January 29, 2021

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