Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Princeton

Princeton’s Carnivalesque Organ Rally

The atmosphere in Princeton this weekend might best be described as “carnivalesque,” as COAA – Carousel Organ Association of America and AMICA – Automatic Musical Instruments Collector’s Association bring their historic and wondrous collections to the community.

The organizations will combine for a “band organ rally” that will grace Princeton’s public spaces with ornate, century-old mechanical organs that may conjure memories for some of a bygone America from halcyon days.

The elaborate mechanical instruments will be on display in the streets, squares and parks of Princeton on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Information desks and exhibits will help provide context.

On Saturday at 10 a.m., at Nassau Presbyterian Church, across from Palmer Square, a one-hour multi-media presentation and orientation will be held to help acclimate the public to the music, the organizations, and their history.

The rally will include everything from crank, grind or monkey organs, to large, trailer-mounted models that approximate the sounds of marching bands or concert orchestras.

Music will range from vintage, classical and dancehall tunes to today’s greatest popular hits, which will be reinterpreted in very distinctive ways.

Find out more about the organizations and the mechanical instruments in my article in today’s Trenton Times.

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/08/classical_music_carnivalesque.html

August 5, 2016
Yellowstone Inspires Violin Concerto

A violin concerto of Brahmsian proportions, inspired by Yellowstone National Park? You’ll have a chance to hear it this morning. I’ll be playing Jett Hitt’s cinematic “Yellowstone” in the 10:00 hour. Hitt, who holds a doctorate in composition, conducts guided horseback tours at the park!

We’ll also hear the “Chicago Fantasie Overture” by Helmuth Fuchs, who makes his home in New Jersey. The work was given its area premiere by the Westminster Community Orchestra, right here in Princeton, this past season.

Also ahead: Princeton University professor emeritus Paul Lansky’s “Travel Music” (featuring a segment about getting lost in Philadelphia) and Michael Daugherty’s exuberant “Route 66.”

We’re collecting musical postcards this morning on a road trip across country until 11 EDT on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.

PHOTO: Composer-cowboy Jett Hitt

July 28, 2016
Princeton Choral Concerts This Weekend

Three concerts by local choral groups will make this coming weekend something to sing about.

Tonight at 7:30, the Westminster Community Chorus will present “Joy Around the World” at Westminster Choir College’s Bristol Chapel. The program will include Franz Josef Haydn’s “Missa Sancti Nicolai” (“Saint Nicholas Mass”), alongside arrangements of Spanish, Latin and Hebrew songs.

Also contributing to the atmosphere of diversity will be the New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus – NJGMC, now celebrating a quarter century of existence. The group will present its 25th anniversary concert tomorrow at 8 p.m. at Princeton United Methodist Church. The special event will include guest appearances by former artistic directors. In addition, Carolyn Montgomery-Forant and Jeff Cubeta will present their original choral piece, “Rise,” as part of “The Rise Tour,” one of 24 stops on a national circuit to raise money for the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Rounding out the weekend, Princeton Pro Musica will introduce a piece inspired by Native American poetry as part of its season finale, “American Voices,” on Sunday at 4 p.m., at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium. The concert will include a Princeton Pro Musica co-commission through Chorus America from composer René Clausen, “Now Talking God,” on a Navajo text, alongside works by Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, John Corigliano and Alice Parker. The choral works will be counterbalanced by an orchestral performance of “Appalachian Spring.”

Spring into choral music with my article in today’s Trenton Times:

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/05/classical_music_westminster_co.html

PHOTO: “Night Chant Gods with Four Yei and Talking God” by Harrison Begay, also known as Haskay Yahne Yah (1914-2012)

More about the artist here:

http://www.adobegallery.com/artist/Harrison_Begay1637300

May 20, 2016
Prince Dead A Purple Shock Felt in Princeton

Prince is dead. A shock, for certain, but especially surreal in the Princeton area, with all those “[Prince’s face]-ton” bumper stickers. I guess he finally is “The Artist Formerly Known as…”

R.I.P.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBIT_PRINCE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-21-13-32-53

April 21, 2016
Westminster Arts Week: Princeton & Lawrenceville

The influence of Rider University’s Westminster College of the Arts will be felt here, there, and everywhere over the course of the coming week.

Westminster Choir College will present its annual art song festival tonight and tomorrow. This year’s overarching theme will be “Songs of Fin-de-Siècle Paris and Vienna.” Lecture recitals will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Bristol Chapel on the college’s Princeton campus.

Repertoire will include works composed between 1885 and 1915 by Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel, Ernest Chausson, Hugo Wolf, Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Alban Berg and Alexander Zemlinsky.

A free symposium will be held there tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Westminster Choir College students will perform early songs of Webern.

Also on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and also free, Westminster Conservatory of Music faculty members will present a concert of French woodwind repertoire as part of the institution’s “Kaleidoscope Chamber Series.” The program, titled “Le Conservatoire: The Paris Conservatory and Its Impact on Wind Performance,” will take place at Gill Memorial Chapel on the Rider University campus in Lawrenceville.

On Sunday at 3 p.m., Westminster Conservatory will provide a showcase of its community ensembles and students at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium. Participants will include the Westminster Community Orchestra and the Princeton Charter School/Westminster Conservatory Youth Orchestra, both conducted by Ruth Ochs; the Westminster Conservatory Children’s Chorus, conducted by Patricia Thel and Yvonne Macdonald; and winners of the Westminster Conservatory Concerto Competition: Marie Louise James, oboe; Alexis Peart, soprano; and Matthew Yuan, clarinet.

Finally, Westminster Choir will join the Westminster Festival Orchestra for a concert of Beethoven choral masterworks on March 4 at 8p.m. Joe Miller, Westminster Choir College’s director of choral activities, will conduct the Mass in C Major, and Drew Petersen will be the soloist in the popular “Choral Fantasy” for piano, chorus and orchestra. The program, titled “Romantic Genius,” will be performed at Princeton Meadow Church and Event Center.

Find out details in my article in today’s Trenton Times. Go, Westminster!

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/02/classical_music_westminster_ch_1.html

PHOTOS: Westminster Conservatory competition winners (clockwise from left) Marie Louise James, Alexis Peart, and Matthew Yuan

February 26, 2016

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