May 2010 Arts Calendar
Gallery 14
Coast to Coast: NE to NW, Martin Schwartz
These photographs are the result of two separate trips a year apart, the first to the Washington and Oregon coasts during the summer of 2008. Martin especially wanted to capture the mystery of the Hoh Rain Forest which is know to be especially beautiful with moss covering huge Sitka spruces and hemlocks and ferns covering the ground.
This exhibit was conceived as showing both coasts simultaneously; one set of photographs having sunrise scenes from Maine then a progression of photographs as the visitor moves around the gallery to sunset scenes from Washington and Oregon.
In the Small Gallery: The Next Step, Jorj Bauer, Daniel Goldberg, Mark Sirota, and Robin Odland
In March of 2009, four Delaware Valley photographers-three from Pennsylvania and one from New Jersey-met at an intensive weeklong workshop designed to elicit the best creative tendencies in photographers, to take risks by confronting fears, and stretching beyond their usual approach to photography.
In this exhibit, the Delaware Valley photographers-Daniel Goldberg, Jorj Bauer, Mark Sirota, and Robin Odland-offer a series images inspired by the workshop and signifying their growth. Their work, a series of portraits, demonstrates the individual creative spirit and interpretation unleashed through a common experience.
14 Mercer Street, Hopewell, NJ 08525. 609-333-511,www.photogallery14.com; galleryfourteen@yahoo.com
Gallery hours: Sats. & Suns., 12-5 and by Appointment
RVCC
Afro-Peruvian Jazz Group
The Theatre at Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) will present a performance by The Gabriel Alegria Afro Peruvian Sextet, Saturday, May 1, at 8 p.m. The evening is the final performance in the Theatre's Major Artists Series. Tickets cost $23 and $28.
To purchase tickets or for more information, call the Box Office, 908-725-3420, or order online at www.rvccArts.org. Senior citizen, student and group discounts are also available for a variety of performances.
Princeton Brain and Spine
Garden Variety"; Silvère Boureau, Deborah Land, Meg Michael, Tasha O'Neill
ArtTimesTwo presents Garden Variety at the gallery at Princeton Brain and Spine. The show will run from April 12 through August, 2010. The opening reception is on Friday, May 7, from 5pm to 8pm in the Princeton Brain and Spine Institute offices, suite 200, 731 Alexander Road, Princeton. The public is welcome at the reception, and afterwards by appointment by contacting ArtTimesTwo curator Madelaine Shellaby at 609 203-4622 or mshellaby@comcast.net.
The Princeton Symphony Orchestra
"Bach to Piazzolla: Music for Violin and Guitar"
featuring Anna ElashviLI, violin, Dan Lippel, classical guitar
The Board of Trustees of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra will present a Spring Musicale, titled "Bach to Piazzolla: Music for Violin and Guitar," on Sunday, May 2 in the Princeton home of Toni Besselaar. This elegant, late afternoon concert and reception begins at 5 p.m. with music by violinist Anna Elashvili and classical guitarist Dan Lippel, followed by cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at 6 p.m.
The duo will perform a lively mix of classical and contemporary music, including works by such composers as J.S. Bach, Astor Piazzolla, John Dowland and Niccolò Paganini, and American jazz masters Duke Ellington and George Gershwin.
There is a minimum contribution of $125 per person and seating is limited. Reservations may be made by calling the PSO at (609) 497-0020.
Reinventing the Wheel: an Exhibition about Wheels and Round Things and Chakaia Booker
May 8 – July 2, 2010
The Arts Council of Princeton presents Reinventing the Wheel: an Exhibition About Wheels and Round Things – a Spin on Marcel Duchamp and Charlie Chaplin and Terrace Project: Chakaia Booker at the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, 102 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ across from the Princeton Public Library in downtown Princeton. The Reinventing the Wheel exhibition was organized by John Goodyear and MOVIS. An outdoor installation of sculpture by Chakaia Booker is exhibited concurrently. Reception for the artists: Saturday May 8, 2010, 4- 6 pm. FREE. Exhibition dates: May 8 – July 2, 2010. Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday: 9:00am– 5:00pm, Saturday: 10 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. More information at www.artscouncilofprinceton.org or call 609-924-8777. Parking is available in the Spring and Hulfish Street Garages as well as metered parking along Witherspoon Street and Paul Robeson Place.
RVCC THEATRE TO PRESENT RIVER CITY BRASS BAND
The Theatre at Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) in Branchburg will present The River City Brass Band in concert, Saturday, May 22, at 8 p.m. The performance is the final selection in the Theatre’s 18th annual Merck Series, made possible by a generous grant from The Merck Company Foundation. Tickets cost $33 and $38.
River City Brass Band offers unforgettable music, amazing solos, dazzling duets, triumphant trios and a surprise or two. It’s not a reach to say that this may be the most fun with music you’re going to have all year.
This project is partially supported by a grant from Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, a program developed and funded by The Heinz Endowments; the William Penn Foundation; the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency; and The Pew Charitable Trusts; and administered by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.
For the sixth year in a row, Courier News readers voted The Theatre at RVCC as the “Best of the Best” in 2009 in the “Playhouse/Theater” category.
Aside from The Merck Series, the Theatre is presenting this season the Major Artists Series; Tuesdays with Stories, which features great American literature performed by solo actors from The American Place Theatre; School-Time Performances, a series for teachers and students grades pre-K to 12; the Family Series, a series of events designed for families with older children; and the Sampler Series, a series of transformational events for children and their families.
To purchase tickets or for additional information, call the Box Office, 908-725-3420, or order online at www.rvccArts.org. Senior citizen, student and group discounts are also available.
RVCC, located at 118 Lamington Road in Branchburg, NJ, and serving Somerset and Hunterdon County residents for over 40 years, offers more than 90 associate degrees and certificates. In addition, customized training programs and non-credit courses are available for those seeking personal and professional development.
The College is committed to offering a quality and affordable education through effective teaching, liaisons with the community’s businesses and state-of-the-art technology. For further information, visit www.raritanval.edu.
McCARTER THEATRE CENTER 2009-2010 THEATER SEASON SCHEDULE
Having Our Say
First Preview: Friday, September 11, 2009 – 8 pm
Press Opening: Thursday, September 17, 2009 – 8 pm
Closing Performance: Sunday, October 18, 2009 – 2 pm
She Stoops to Conquer
First Preview: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 – 7:30 pm
Press Opening: Friday, October 16, 2009 – 8 pm
Closing Performance: Sunday, November 1, 2010 – 2 pm
Fetch Clay, Make Man
First Preview: Friday, January 8, 2010 – 8 pm
Press Opening: Friday, January 15, 2010 – 8 pm
Closing Performance: Sunday, February 14, 2010 – 2 pm
American Buffalo
First Preview: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 – 7:30 pm
Press Opening: Friday, March 12, 2010 – 8 pm
Closing Performance: Sunday, March 28, 2010 – 2 pm
Take Flight
First Preview: Friday, April 30, 2010 – 8 pm
Press Opening: Friday, May 7, 2010 – 8 pm
Closing Performance: Sunday, June 6, 2010 – 2 pm
A Christmas Carol
(not part of Theater subscription series)
First Preview: Sunday, December 6, 2009 – 5:30 pm
Press Opening: Friday, December 11, 2009 – 7:30 pm
Closing Performance: Sunday, December 27, 2009 – 5:30 pm
Princeton University Art Museum Begins Summer Feature Exhibitions
Including a Groundbreaking Look at 70's Photography and a View into Princeton's "Inner Sanctum" in Historic Nassau Hall LATEST INNOVATION CAPS DIRECTOR JAMES STEWARD'S FIRST YEAR
PRINCETON, N.J.—The Princeton University Art Museum will launch its inaugural summer season of temporary exhibitions, which will include
Starburst: Color Photography in America 1970–1980, the first ever survey of
18 of the top practitioners of what was dubbed "The New Color Photography"
by critics, as well as Inner Sanctum: Memory and Meaning in Princeton's Faculty Room at Nassau Hall, a site-specific exhibition exploring the role of portraiture and place in the formation of Princeton's institutional identity. The year-round exhibition schedule is just one item in the long list of innovative happenings started by Museum Director James Steward, who is soon to celebrate his first anniversary at Princeton. "I want our temporary exhibition galleries to be vibrant no matter what time of year a visitor comes to us,"
said Steward, adding that the Museum's location, a short one-hour drive or train ride from both Philadelphia and New York City, makes it an ideal destination for summer excursions for a broad segment of the region's population as well as visitors to the area.
During his first year as Princeton's ninth director, Steward introduced "Late Thursdays," extending Museum hours to 10 p.m. each week and drawing an enthusiastic audience of 2,400 on the premier evening. Among his other innovations, Steward is actively working to bring prominent art world figures to the Museum as artists-in-residence or guest curators, including new curatorial partnerships already in the works with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Menil Collection in Houston. Advocating a dynamic, interdisciplinary approach, Steward brings a heightened visibility to the Museum's world-class collections, with frequent rotation of objects and more exposure given to photography, with two galleries that will be regularly devoted to that medium.
The summer catalog includes four exhibitions and opens with the Museum- produced feature, Inner Sanctum: Memory and Meaning in Princeton's Faculty Room at Nassau Hall. The exhibition takes the visitor inside Princeton's symbolic center and tells the evocative story of how Princeton went from a small religious school to a world-renowned research university, an evolution reflected in the remarkable collection of portraits the Faculty Room contains, as well as by the various uses to which the room has been put over three centuries.
The summer culminates with the groundbreaking exhibition Starburst: Color Photography in America 1970-1980. Until the 1970s, color photography was held in low esteem among artists, who regarded it as only appropriate for advertising, journalism, fashion and snapshots. Once color films became more affordable and fade-resistant, young photographers began exploring the potential of color photography as an artistic medium.
Starburst showcases the work of a generation of American artists inspired by color to blur the borders between photography, video, performance art and conceptualism. Their diverse efforts in the streets and studio dramatically expanded the possibilities of the still photographic image, propelling the medium toward a new centrality in the art world.
Exhibition highlights include a selection of 20 photographs from William Eggleston's controversial one-man show at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, in 1976; Stephen Shore's American Surfaces, a project unseen in its original format since the work's debut at Light Gallery in 1972; and Helen Levitt's slide show, first projected at MoMA in 1974.
Princeton University Art Museum Summer Exhibition Schedule:
Pictures of Pictures
May 28—October 10, 2010
Pictures of Pictures explores the witty and ingenious ways in which artists of all media and traditions have nested one image inside another. Drawn largely from the Museum's collections, the exhibition includes works of photography, collage, painting, prints and drawings, and even sculpture. This diverse survey runs the gamut from a seventeenth-century Alsatian still-life featuring a miniature portrait to a monumental image of Caravaggio's Narcissus, lovingly recreated in scrap metal. Playful yet thought-provoking, the exhibition casts fresh light on the postmodern era by pairing recent "appropriation art" with its precedents from the past. Featured artists include Vik Muniz, Roy Lichtenstein, Lee Friedlander, and Andy Warhol.
Inner Sanctum: Memory and Meaning in Princeton's Faculty Room at Nassau Hall May 28—October 30, 2010 Inner Sanctum takes viewers inside the Faculty Room of Princeton University's historic Nassau Hall to explore the Faculty Room's role as the symbolic center of Princeton and venerable repository of its institutional memory, and looks at how the room and its portrait collection both reflect and helped shape the University's identity. Located at the heart of the Princeton campus, the Faculty Room served as a prayer hall, library and museum—as well as the seat of the U.S. congress for a few critical months in 1783—until University President Woodrow Wilson had it remodeled in 1906 for executive and ceremonial use, installing a remarkable collection of portraits depicting University founders, American presidents, British monarchs, clergymen, scholars, scientists and others. The exhibition traces the Faculty Room's changing function and symbolic role, while the diverse portraits on its walls tell the story of Princeton's evolution from a small school of dissident theologians to the world-renowned research university it is today.
Presence and Remembrance: The Art of Toshiko Takaezu June 26—September 11, 2010 Centered upon the Remembrance bell erected on Princeton's campus in memory of the 13 alumni who tragically lost their lives on September 11, 2001, this exhibition features new gifts from artist Toshiko Takaezu as well as older favorites from the Museum's and University's collections, highlighting one of the great ceramic artists of the twentieth century.
A contemporary artist, Takaezu's ceramics have many unique attributes. She is perhaps best known for closing the vessel form to render it useless as a functional object, transforming into solely an aesthetic object. In this seemingly simple act, Takaezu's pieces gain presence and resonance that lingers into memory.
Starburst: Color Photography in America 1970-1980 July 10—September 26, 2010 Starburst offers the first historical survey of what critics of the 1970s called "the new color photography," an informal and energetic artistic movement that launched color toward its position of preeminence in contemporary art. The exhibition features generous bodies of work by eighteen artists, from the still-prominent, such as Stephen Shore, William Eggleston, Jan Groover, and Joel Sternfeld, to key figures of the period, including Eve Sonneman, Neal Slavin, John Pfahl, and Barbara Kasten.
Organized by the Cincinnati Art Museum.
About the Museum
Founded in 1882, the Princeton University Art Museum is one of the nation's leading art museums. Its collections feature approximately 72,000 works of art ranging from ancient to contemporary, and concentrating geographically on the Mediterranean regions, Western Europe, Asia and the Americas, with particular strengths in Chinese painting and calligraphy, the art of the ancient Americas and pictorial photography. The Museum is committed to advancing Princeton's teaching and research missions while serving as a gateway to the University for visitors from around the world. Intimate in scale yet expansive in scope, the Museum offers a respite from the rush of daily life, a revitalizing experience of extraordinary works of art and an opportunity to delve deeply into the study of art and culture.
The Princeton University Art Museum is located at the heart of the Princeton campus, a short walk from Princeton's Nassau Street. Admission is free. Hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Thursday 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.; and Sunday 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Free highlights tours of the collections are given every Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. The Museum is closed Mondays and major holidays. For information, please call (609) 258-3788 or visit the Museum's Web site at http://artmuseum.princeton.edu.
Princeton Pro Musica Presents Ein deutsches Requiem
Johannes Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem and Paul Moravec’s Songs of Love and War
Saturday, May 1, 2010, 8:00 pm; Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University. Sarah Pelletier, soprano, Kelly Markgraf, baritone. Tickets $25 - $55; students with ID $10; 609-683-5122
THEATRE AT RVCC TO PRESENT IF YOU GIVE A PIG A PANCAKE & OTHER STORY BOOKS
The Theatre at Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) in Branchburg will present TheatreworksUSA’s production of If You Give a Pig a Pancake & Other Story Books, Sunday, January 31, at 1 and 3:30 p.m.
The performance is part of the Theatre’s Sampler Series. The series, recommended for youngsters age four and older, features events for children and their families.
If you liked TheatreworksUSA’s If You give a Mouse a Cookie & Other Story Books, you'll love this latest production of mini-musicals based on your children’s favorite books. Some of these include Diary of a Worm, Fluffy the Classroom Guinea Pig and Horace & Morris but Mostly Dolores.
Tickets cost $10 and $12 each. Subscription discounts are available.
For the sixth year in a row, Courier News readers voted The Theatre at RVCC as the “Best of the Best” in 2009 in the “Playhouse/Theater” category.
In addition to the Sampler Series, the Theatre is presenting this season the Major Artists Series; the 18th annual Merck Series, made possible by a generous grant from The Merck Company Foundation; Tuesdays with Stories, which features great American literature performed by solo actors from The American Place Theatre; School-Time Performances, a series for teachers and students grades pre-K to 12; and the Family Series, for families with children ages eight and older.
A variety of subscribers’ packages are available for all Theatre series. To purchase tickets or for more information, call the Box Office, 908-725-3420, or order online at www.rvccArts.org. Senior citizen, student and group discounts are also available for a variety of performances.
The Theatre offers birthday parties for both the Family and Sampler Series. For further information, call 908-725-3420.
RVCC, located on Route 28 and Lamington Road in Branchburg, NJ, and serving Somerset and Hunterdon County residents for over 40 years, offers more than 90 associate degrees and certificates. For further information, visit www.raritanval.edu.
The Arts Council of Princeton presents “Truth Beyond Reality,”
A new exhibition of figurative paintings from the Arts Council’s education program by students of Gregory Perkel’s Master Class. Participating artists are Heather Barros, Cynthia Butler, Gemma Farrell, Barbara Heck, Jeaninne Honstein, Ryan Lilienthal, Berit Marshall, NancyLee Matejka, Meg Brinster Michael, Dennis Normile, Gill Stewart, Johanna Wirtz, Anne-Marie Woodrow, and Ewa Zeller. Exhibition dates: July 7 – July 17. Reception for the artists on Thursday, July 15 from 6:00PM – 8:00PM. Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, 102 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ (across from the Princeton Public Library). For more information call 609-924-8777 or visit www.artscouncilofprinceton.org
Princeton University Art Museum Announces 2010 Fall Exhibitions
A Rare Look at Groundbreaking Gauguin Woodblock Prints
and 21st Century Land Art in a Global Context
PRINCETON, N.J.—The Princeton University Art Museum will launch its fall
2010 season with two exhibitions it is originating, Gauguin's Paradise
Remembered: The Noa Noa Prints (September 25, 2010—January 2, 2011),
the first comprehensive look at this pivotal woodcut series, and Nobody's
Property: Land, Space, Territory, 20002010, (October 23, 2010—February
20, 2011), which brings together the work of a new generation of "land
artists" working in a variety of media. Both exhibitions are accompanied by
fully illustrated catalogues, presenting important new scholarship.
Gauguin's Paradise Remembered posits a new way of understanding a key
body of work within the artist's career, and by extension a new way of
understanding this vital post-Impressionist artist. The exhibition presents 32
works that concentrate on the pivotal series of 10 revolutionary woodcuts
produced by Paul Gauguin (1848—1903) in Paris during the winter and spring
of 1894, following his first voyage to Tahiti, where he hoped to live simply
and draw inspiration from what he saw as the island's exotic native culture.
Although the artist was disappointed by the rapidly Westernizing community
he encountered, his works from this period nonetheless celebrate the myth of
an untainted Polynesian idyll. Gauguin had originally intended his woodcuts to
be illustrations for a manuscript he had written in the form of a largely
fictionalized journal entitled Noa Noa (Fragrant Scent). Based on his idealized
experiences in the South Seas, the book traced his self-styled transformation
from a civilized European into one deeply immersed in the ancient spiritual life
of Oceania. Self-consciously primitive in style, printed and colored by hand,
Gauguin's Noa Noa woodcuts crystallize important themes and compositions
from his Tahitian works, enjoying a widespread notoriety in Gauguin's lifetime
and surviving today as both his printmaking masterpiece and as one of the
most innovative print series produced in the 19th century.
In Gauguin's time, the Noa Noa woodcuts were celebrated as a true
combination of printmaking, drawing and sculpture. Gauguin's Paradise
Remembered explores the full range of inventive techniques of these prints
through a selection of works from a number of prestigious American museums,
including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Jointly organized by Calvin Brown, associate curator of prints and drawings at
the Princeton University Art Museum, and Alastair Wright, university lecturer
in the history of art at St. John's College, Oxford, the exhibition was inspired
by the Art Museum's recent purchase of an early proof of L'Univers est créé
(The Universe Is Created), one of the most enigmatic of the Noa Noa
woodcuts. Central to the exhibition are an investigation of Gauguin's artistic
process, a rare presentation of all 10 Noa Noa woodcuts, as printed and hand
colored by Gauguin, and a broader contextualization of Gauguin's work that
reveals how the artist's experimental printmaking became central to his
unique artistic vision. Gauguin's Paradise Remembered addresses both the
artist's representation of Tahiti in the woodcut medium and the impact these
evocative works had on his artistic practice, to illustrate how the woodcut
form offered Gauguin the ideal medium to depict a paradise whose real
attraction lay in its remaining always unattainable, never quite within reach.
Opening in October, Nobody's Property: Art, Land, Space, 2000—2010 is the
first exhibition to explore systematically an important development in
contemporary art: the emergence of a new generation of land artists. Forty
years ago, Robert Smithson, Michael Heizer and others started carving,
displacing and rearranging raw earth, transforming landscape into sculpture.
Today we are witnessing this tradition's fruition, as artists working across the
globe once again embrace land and space as both material and subject
matter.
Nobody's Property features the work of seven artists and two artist teams, all
of them based in Europe, the Middle East or the Americas: Jennifer Allora and
Guillermo Calzadilla (Puerto Rico), Francis Alÿs (Mexico), Yael Bartana (Israel
and the Netherlands), Andrea Geyer (Germany and the United States), Joana
Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (Lebanon and France), Emre Hüner (Turkey and
the Netherlands), Matthew Day Jackson (United States), Lucy Raven (United
States), and Santiago Sierra (Mexico). Some of these artists explore the
representation of space in military, scientific and utopian discourse. Others
parse the legal, political and economic conditions of specific land-sites,
including the Navajo Nation, the island of Vieques, the border town of Juárez,
and the city of Jerusalem. By no means confined to the disposition of matter,
as was the case with many of their predecessors, Alÿs, Bartana and the
others employ a wide range of media and a unique set of working methods.
In 2009, two works in the exhibition—Allora and Calzadilla's Land Mark (Foot
Prints) (2000-2001) and sections from Geyer's Spiral Lands/Chapter 1 (2007)—
were acquired by the Museum; others are on loan from galleries and private
collections in the United States and Europe. The works representing Sierra
and Hüner will make their U.S. debut at Princeton, while a third—a striking
assemblage made of melted lead and scorched wood by Jackson—was
commissioned specifically for Nobody's Property, and was purchased for the
Museum's collection in 2010.
Contemporary art often reflects incisively on the present day, and the works
in Nobody's Property are no exception. In the videos, digital slide shows,
photographs, performances and assemblages featured, viewers will glimpse
the physical and geopolitical landscape of the 20th and 21st centuries, but
not always in familiar or comforting form. Land and space have been
irrevocably altered by conflict, urbanization, industrialization and globalization.
It is these very pressures that have driven artists to adopt "the environment"
as a subject deserving of both aesthetic and critical investigation.
In addition to a range of public programs and artist talks, Nobody's Property
will be accompanied by a 150-page, fully illustrated catalogue. With
contributions by exhibition curator Kelly Baum, as well as nine established and
emerging scholars from Princeton University and beyond, the catalogue will
include important new interdisciplinary research on both contemporary and
historical land art. Baum has served since December 2007 as the Princeton
University Art Museum's first dedicated curator of contemporary art,
significantly expanding its contemporary collection, acquiring work in a variety
of media by artists from the United States, Europe and South and Central
America. In June 2010 she was named the first Preston Haskell, Class of
1960, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Princeton.
New Trustees Elected, Outgoing Trustees Recognized at Arts Council of Princeton Annual Meeting
The Arts Council of Princeton’s (ACP) Annual Membership Meeting took place on Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 7:30 pm at the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts. At that meeting the Arts Council held annual Board of Trustees elections and recognized outgoing Trustees for their service to the organization.
The Arts Council is a non-profit organization with a current membership of over 2,000 active members. According to the Arts Council’s bylaws, the membership votes on the appointment of Trustees in an annual meeting each June. Approximately ninety voting members were present at the June 24th meeting (forty are needed for a quorum) and voted unanimously to elect these new Trustees to a three-year term beginning July 1st: Ted Deutsch, Vice President of Communications & Public Affairs for Sandoz, Inc.; Maria Dominguez Momo, a US court judge; Cheryl Goldman, a real estate associate with N.T. Callaway Real Estate; Polly W. Griffin, registrar for Princeton University; Jacqueline Phares, a finance and development executive; Debbie Schaeffer, President and CEO of Mrs. G TV & Appliances in Lawrenceville; Cindi Venizelos, a volunteer fundraiser and arts advocate; and Marlyn Zucosky, an interior designer with Clarke Caton Hintz. In addition to the election of these new Trustees, the Arts Council voted to renew Board membership for the following Trustees (also elected to a three-year term): Timothy M. Andrews, Eve Coulson, Johan Firmenich, and Debbie Gartenberg.
The Arts Council bylaws limit Board participation to two consecutive three-year terms. Because of term limits the following Trustees were recognized for their service to the Arts Council by Board President Timothy M. Andrews and Executive Director Jeff Nathanson: Sal Arnone, Paul Breitman, Lisa Callaway, Jamie Herring, Anne O’Neill, Andrew Outerbridge, and Janet Stern. These outgoing Trustees were praised for their contributions to the Arts Council and were presented with a certificate of appreciation and a gift from the Arts Council’s ceramics studio.
In addition to the election and recognition of Trustees, the Arts Council also presented awards for a range of contributions to the arts and the community. The ACP’s most significant annual honor, the Arts Vision Award, was presented to Wendy Mager for her outstanding generosity and leadership for the Arts Council and the Princeton community. During the evening the ACP also presented the annual Pride of the Arts Council Awards for outstanding volunteers, business and community partners, and artists. Music during the evening’s celebration was provided by Stephen Hiltner and Philip Orr.
The Arts Council of Princeton (ACP), founded in 1967, is a non-profit organization with a mission of Building Community through the Arts. Housed in the landmark Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, the ACP fulfills its mission by presenting a wide range of programs including exhibitions, performances, free community cultural events, and studio-based classes and workshops in the visual, performing and literary arts. Arts Council of Princeton programs are designed to be high-quality, engaging, affordable and accessible for the diverse population in the greater Princeton region. For more information about the Arts Council of Princeton visit www.artscouncilofprinceton.org.
For more information call Sabrina Osse at (609) 924-8777 or email sosse@artscouncilofprinceton.org.
Gallery 14 Juried Photo Exhibit
Opening Reception July 9, 6 – 8:30 PM
Meet the Photographers, Sunday, July 11, 1–3 PM
Gallery 14 opens its Juried Photographic Exhibit on July 9. This show was selected from a wide range of entries by Ken Kaplowitz, Professor of Art at The College of New Jersey where he was Photography Coordinator for 21 years. He has taught Darkroom Photography, Studio Photography, Documentary Photography, the History of Photography and Art Photography for the past 39 years. He has a B.A. in Art Education from Montclair University, an M.A. in Television and Film from New York University and an M.F.A. in Sculpture and Studio Art from Rutgers University. His photographic work has appeared in two photography text books as well as in 40 one-person exhibitions. During the past 4 years Ken’s prints and photographs have been exhibited in 66 national and international group shows and were added to 40 museum, university and college permanent collections.
Mr. Kaplowitz has chosen 37 images from 250 photographs for this exhibit, a wide range of works that include classic black-and-white and color, portraits, landscapes, abstract and experimental work. The submissions were from amateurs and professionals in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania region and represent a variety of photographic techniques and concepts. There is a roughly equal representation of color and black-and-white photographs in this exhibit.
Characteristic of the interest and creativity of the work is Michael Kehl’s work, “A Slice Off the Big Apple.” He has taken a dramatic view of the Empire State building in black and white, and then creatively altered it in line with his theme. On a more straight and classical vein there is Bill Slack’s studio study, “Dancers Configuration One”, another black-and-white study of two figures on a plain white background. Themes of travel are found in the striking color portrait study by Ann Mark, “Lanzhou, China”, and in the strong pattern of Thomas Francisco’s “Absolution”, which is taken at a Mayan site.
Gallery 14 is a cooperative photography gallery now in its 8th season. It was established in 2001 by a small group of photographers as a center for regional photographers, a place where photographers can come to meet their public and their peers and exhibit their work, many for the first time. This is a gallery where experimentation is encouraged, and where photographers can grow into their own artistic selves by exchanging ideas, by experimentation and by having their peers respond to their experiments.
The Gallery is run by its members who manage, create and exhibit at the gallery along with guest photographers of local and international reputation. Its members encourage guest photographers to exhibit developing projects, based on a portfolio review. Gallery 14 is also the site of a monthly meeting of local photographers who share their work and invite discussion and criticism to increase their understanding of their own and others’ photographic work.
There are two levels of Membership: Full and Associate. For further information about membership please contact the Gallery or visit during exhibit hours to talk to one of the members.
Exhibits usually open with a Friday evening reception for the public at the gallery, with a “Meet the Photographers” event usually during the first weekend of an exhibit. The Gallery is open Saturdays and Sundays from 12 to 5 PM and by appointment.
You can join our mailing list at www.photogallery14.com.
Call for Entries
Deadline June 15
Gallery 14 invites artists working in all photographic media to submit works for a juried photographic exhibition which will be held July 9-August 8 at Gallery 14, 14 Mercer Street, Hopewell, NJ. The exhibit is open to all excluding current members of Gallery 14.
American Repertory Ballet Announces new Company Director
Douglas Martin, former principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet, has been named Company Director of American Repertory Ballet’s professional dance company. Martin succeeds former Artistic Director Graham Lustig, who chose not to renegotiate his contract with the organization after its recent restructuring. Martin has a rich history with ARB as a former Company Dancer, Ballet Master and beloved faculty member at the organization’s esteemed Princeton Ballet School. Martin will program the Company’s 2010-2011 Season, which will include the organization’s 47th annual presentation of The Nutcracker this holiday season at venues around the area including McCarter Theater in Princeton, Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton, and The State Theatre in New Brunswick.
“I’m very excited to have the opportunity to shape the artistic vision for ARB,” says Mr. Martin. “My desire is to present a large array of dance, ranging from 19th and 20th century classics to contemporary works.” Martin believes that, by presenting this variety of dance and theater works, he will be able to reach out to a broader audience and bring them into the theater.
Martin also intends to enhance the ties between the professional company and the school. Because of his history with both the Company and the School, Martin is in the unique position to achieve this goal. “It is also my dream to further the training of Princeton Ballet School students by creating a true training ground for budding professionals. This training program will allow our graduates to continue to strengthen their technique, develop artistry and gain the professional experience they need to have a successful career in the field.”
Mr. Martin began his ballet training with Dimitri Romanoff at the San Jose Ballet School and was one of six dancers selected to study in the newly formed American Ballet Theatre School formed by Mikhail Baryshnikov. He was invited to join the Joffrey Ballet in 1984 where, as a principal dancer, he performed roles in ballets by Ashton, Arpino, Cranko, Balanchine, Joffrey, Taylor, Pendleton, Kudelka and many other great 20th century choreographers. Mr. Martin was featured in performances of Dance in America on PBS and was an original cast member of the historic recreation of Nijinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps. He was among the last dancers of the Joffrey Ballet to spend the majority of his career in the company working under founder Robert Joffrey. Martin joined the Cleveland Ballet in 1991, and danced an array of principle roles including the Minister in Agnes deMille's Fall River Legend.
In 1993, Mr. Martin was invited to join the American Repertory Ballet. As leading dancer and Ballet Master for ARB, Mr. Martin collaborated with directors in creating ballets, including productions as the original cast lead in Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, The Dream and The Nutcracker. Mr. Martin continued to be a principal dancer in the company as well as Ballet Master for ARB, the School’s pre-professional division, and Principal Faculty for the PBS Summer Intensive until his retirement from performing in 2002.
After retiring from ARB as a performer, Mr. Martin expanded his teaching, production and choreographic work. Martin has been an integral part of the teaching staff at the Princeton Ballet School, Rutgers University and Westminster Choir College, and has also served as the School's Music Director and Ballet Master for the pre-professional division. He has staged full length and repertory ballets for several companies, including Romeo and Juliet and Philip Jerry's Our Town. Additionally, Mr. Martin has choreographed for several Princeton Ballet School productions, including the School's Summer Intensive program.
Arts Council of Princeton Summer Arts & Drama Camps
Registration for the Arts Council of Princeton’s Summer Arts & Drama Camps at the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts and the Princeton Junior School is now open. Camps for ages 4-16 begin the week of June 21, 2010 and run through August 27, 2010.The Arts Council of Princeton’s ten-week summer camp program allows campers to create their own works of art and participate in special workshops based on each week’s unique theme. A large variety of visual art materials will be used. Each week campers will learn about various artists and art history, enriching their total art experience. Registration is open to the general public, with special discounts available for Arts Council of Princeton members. The Paul Robeson Center for the Arts is located 102 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ across from the Princeton Public Library in downtown Princeton. The Princeton Junior School is located at 90 Fackler Road, Lawrence, NJ. For a full description of camps and to register, please view our complete catalogue online at www.artscouncilofprinceton.org or call 609-924-8777.
Summer Arts Camp for ages 5-9 and Drama Camp for ages 4-12 will take place at the Princeton Junior School. Tween and Teen Art Studios for ages 10-15 and Teen Drama for ages 13-16 will take place at the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts.
Students may register for classes online, in person, or by calling 609-924-8777. Summer camp begins the week of June 21st and is open to the general public. Students do not have to be Princeton residents to take camp and membership is not required to enroll, but ACP members do receive benefits such as discounts on registration fees. Full information about membership is available on the ACP website. Here are some highlights from the Arts Council of Princeton’s summer camp:
Art Camps (ages 5-9)
Folklore, Fables and Fun (June 21- 25) - Enter into the world of imaginary people and beasts that make up fables, folktales and mythological stories. Cyclops, Medusa, Sphinx and pixies are a few creatures that will inspire various mixed media art projects.
African Safari (August 2-6) - Grab your binoculars and journey to the African Sahara. Explore the many countries and cultures of this vibrant and diverse continent. Mixed media projects include, sculpture, painting, drawing and more. Lions, tigers and zebras, oh my!
Drama Camps (ages 4-12)
Giants and Trolls: Curious and Droll (July 19-23) - This week we will explore stories such as The Cat on the Dovrefell, Seven in One Blow/The Brave Tailor, and Jack and the Beanstalk. The joy of these stories (aside from the pure fun of enacting trolls and giants!) is the triumph of the small over the large and the clever over the dim-witted! Through improvisation, imagination, and pure creative genius, we will devise our own rendition of a giant encounter and share this with families on Friday!
Greetings From the Jersey Shore! (June 28-July 2) - Using the book Greetings From Sandy Beach as a jumping-off point, we will devise our own series of beach adventures. Students will recollect their own beach memories, make up new ones, create characters and present a performance piece as a collection of postcards sent to family members for a Friday sharing!
Tween and Teen Art Studios (ages 10-16)
Weekly topics include: Anime, B&W Photography, Cartoon Illustration, Ceramics, Drawing, Digital Photography, Flash Animation, Kinetic Sculpture, Collage, Printmaking, Sculpture
Fashion Week - Students will learn to create cutting edge fashion using untraditional materials. In addition to creating high fashion, this class will focus on drawing the dressed human form and learn the beginning concepts of using color to create a statement. Students will ‘hit the runway’ on the final afternoon to strut their stuff in the fashion show- don’t miss the fun!
Portfolio Prep: Drawing (ages 13-16) or Portfolio Prep: Painting (ages 13-16) - This class will help students create a strong portfolio for entrance into an undergraduate program in the visual arts. Students will explore both formal and expressive techniques of drawing during week 1 and painting or drawing during week 2. They will have the option of working on 2-D assignments geared toward their individual needs and talents.
Teen Drama (ages 13-16)
Glee TV (July 12-16) - Join us for one week filled with scenes, monologues, commercials, and of course, lots of singing and dancing. We will play improv games, and learn proper playwriting and vocal techniques. In one week you will learn to play with emotions, explore movement, create a character, and most importantly... act as a group! By day five, invite all your family and friends...you will perform your own TV show for a live audience!
GLEE Unleashed! (August 9-13) - In one week you will put together a cabaret-type show to perform for your family and friends on the last day. You will rehearse musical numbers and choreography and learn acting techniques through the music and the fun-filled improv games such as "What's up there?" and "The Angry Spatula." Throughout the week you will learn to play with emotions, explore movement, create a character, and most importantly... act as a group!
For more information contact Sabrina Osse at sosse@artscouncilofprinceton.org or call (609) 924-8777.
Arts Calendar - April 2010
Communiversity Day Festival of the Arts
April 24, 2010 (Rain or Shine) 12pm-5pm
Presented by The Arts Council of Princeton and the students of Princeton University, Communiversity has become a cherished area tradition, attracting more than 35,000 people to the heart of Princeton, N.J., each spring. The event features more than 200 artists, crafters, and merchants; continuous live entertainment on five stages; children's activities and games; a wide array of delicious food from around the globe; and a broad representation of the many businesses and organizations that play a prominent role in the vibrant life of the Princeton community.
Communiversity takes place in downtown Princeton on Nassau and Witherspoon Streets, in Palmer Square (on the Green), and throughout the University campus. Public parking is available in lots and garages located on Chambers Street, Hulfish Street (next to Halo Pub), and Spring Street. Additional parking can be found on side streets and in Princeton University lots 10 and 10A, located off Washington Road on William Street.
Princeton Symphony Orchestra
April 17, 6:30 pm, "A Classic Cabaret" A Benefit In Support Of Bravo! Starring Ann Hampton Callaway
Versatile singer, songwriter and pianist Ann Hampton Callaway, acclaimed for her performances in Manhattan nightclubs and on the Broadway stage, will entertain at the Princeton Symphony Orchestra's "A Classic Cabaret" on Saturday, April 17. The gala benefit, held annually as a fund-raiser for the BRAVO! education program and PSO's general operations, will take place at Bedens Brook Country Club, 240 Rolling Hill Road in Skillman, N.J.
The festivities will begin with cocktails at 6:30 p.m., followed by the dinner and show. Ms. Callaway, accompanied by a pianist, will sing numbers to enhance the highbrow nightclub ambiance, including beloved favorites by great American songwriters and sultry, romantic selections.
For information about the benefit, call the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, 609-497-0020, or e-mail info@princetonsymphony.org. Ticket prices begin at $150 per guest, with various levels of premium sponsorships also available.
Arts Council of Princeton
Reception April 3, 4 – 6 pm; East & West Clay Works Exhibition; show runs until April 30, 2010
An exhibition East & West Clay Works in the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts' Taplin Gallery
The East & West Clay Works was founded in 1998 by Korean artist and teacher, Professor Gil Hong Han. The intention was simply to bring together Ceramic Artists from different backgrounds and cultures to promote exchange, friendship and provide exhibition opportunities. Monday, April 5 - Morning: Artists "hands on" demonstrations (registration required); Monday, April 5 - Afternoon: Artists to give visual presentations of work.
Spring Classes. Registration for the Arts Council of Princeton’s Spring Classes at the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, is now open. Classes for children, teens, and adults in the visual, literary and performing arts begin the week of April 12. Registration is open to the general public, with special discounts available for Arts Council of Princeton members. The Paul Robeson Center for the Arts is located 102 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ across from the Princeton Public Library in downtown Princeton. For a full listing of classes, please view our complete catalogue online at: www.artscouncilofprinceton.org or call 609-924-8777 for more information. Parking is available in the Spring and Hulfish Street Garages as well as metered parking along Witherspoon Street and Paul Robeson Place.
MCCC Theatre
"Rent" at Kelsey Theatre Apr. 9-18
Presented by Mercer County Community College Theatre students and community actors at the college’s Kelsey Theatre in April. Dates and show times for this unforgettable musical based on Giacomo Puccini’s La Boheme are: Fridays, April 9 and 16 at 8 pm.; Saturdays, April 10 and 17 at 8 pm; and Sundays, April 11 and 18 at 2 p.m. Kelsey Theatre is located on Mercer’s West Windsor campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road. For tickets, call 609-570-3333 or order online at www.kelseytheatre.net.
Theatre At RVCC
Farfalle (Butterflies) April 7, 9,10
The Theatre at Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) in Branchburg will stage Compagne Teatrale TPO’s production of Farfalle (Butterflies), produced in partnership with CRYING OUT LOUD UK. Three performances are scheduled: Wednesday, April 7, 6:30 p.m.; Friday, April 9, 6 p.m.; and Saturday, April 10, 1 and 3:30 p.m.
The Auxiliary of University Medical Center at Princeton
Annual ArtFirst!, April 17 – June 12, 2010; Patron’s Preview Party: April 17, 6 – 9 p.m.
The Auxiliary of University Medical Center at Princeton presents the 8th annual ArtFirst!, an international, juried exhibition and sale of original art work by professional artists with disabilities. The exhibit is free and open to the public, and runs from April 17 – June 12, 2010 with a Patron’s Preview Party on April 17, from 6-9 p.m. Tickets for the Patron’s Preview cost $75.00 and can be purchased online at: www.princetonhcs.org/ArtFirst. For more information or to purchase tickets, please contact Amy Brummer at artfirst2010@gmail.com or 609.497.4069 ext. 6. The University Medical Center at Princeton is located at 253 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ. Parking is available in the adjacent garage as well as metered parking along Franklin Ave.
Watercolorists Unlimited 19th Annual Exhibit
Blackwells Mills Canal House, Sat./Sun. April 17 and 18 . Watercolorists Unlimited will present their 19th Annual Watercolor Show and Sale Saturday and Sunday, April 17 and 18, at the historic Blackwells Mills Canal House, 598 Canal Road, Somerset. Exhibit and sale hours are Saturday from 10 – 5 and Sunday, 11 – 4.
RVCC TO PRESENT SECOND PART OF STUDENT ART EXHIBITION
Raritan Valley Community College’s (RVCC) Visual and Performing Arts Department will present the second part of the annual RVCC Student Art Exhibition, April 16-May 7, in the Art Gallery at the College’s Branchburg Campus.
An opening reception will be held Friday, April 16, from 6-8 p.m. Refreshments will be served.
The wide variety of work included in the exhibition was created by RVCC students and selected by faculty members from the Visual & Performing Arts Department. Part II will feature an array of media from the following disciplines: painting, photography, printmaking, graphic design, sculpture, 3D design, video and multimedia. The show is being coordinated by RVCC Art Gallery Coordinator and Adjunct Instructor Darren McManus.
Gallery hours for the exhibition are Mondays, 3-8 p.m.; Tuesdays, noon-3 p.m.; Wednesdays, 3-8 p.m.; Thursdays, noon-6 p.m.; and Fridays, noon-3 p.m. The gallery will open at 6 p.m. on April 16. For further information, call the Visual and Performing Arts Department, 908-218-8876.
Juried Photographic Exhibition
July 9- August 8
Call for Entries, Deadline June 15
Gallery 14 invites artists working in all photographic media to submit works for a juried photographic exhibition which will be held July 9-August 8 at Gallery 14, 14 Mercer Street, Hopewell, NJ. The exhibit is open to all excluding current members of Gallery 14, www.photogallery14.com; galleryfourteen@yahoo.com.
Gallery hours: Sats. & Suns. 12-5 and by Appointment
VOICES Concert Schedule 2009-2010 - A Season of National Styles!
An American Holiday: Conrad Susa’s Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest for Chorus, Harp, Guitar and Marimba; carols by American composers from Colonial times to our time, Magnificat by Theodore Pachelbel of Colonial New England, “It’s Happy Holiday Time;” by Ken Guilmartin, and Christmas music from classic American films. Rochelle Ellis, soprano soloist.
Friday, December 18, 2009, at 8 pm; Pennington Presbyterian Church, 13 S. Main St., Pennington,
Saturday, December 19, 2009, at 8 pm; St. Paul R.C. Church, 214 Nassau St., Princeton
“When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”: A salute to the Irish spirit, with harp and fiddle, including well-known lullabies, ballads, jigs and laments including “Danny Boy,” “Bonny Wood Green,” “Old Irish Blessing,” “Toora Loora Looral,” and “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.”
Friday, March 5, 2010, at 8 pm; Pennington Presbyterian Church, 13 S. Main St., Pennington
Sunday, March 7, 2010, at 3 pm; Anchor Presbyterian Church, 980 Durham Rd. (Rt. 413), Wrightstown, PA
Young Composers Concert: Celebrate the musical creativity of song-writers ages 5 to 12 who participate in the VOICES Children’s Music Composition Workshops & Contest. We invite parents and music teachers to encourage children to write songs for birthdays, holidays, bedtimes, and family events. The deadline for this annual contest is March 1, 2010. To enter the contest, mail entries by February 22 to VOICES, P.O. Box 404, Pennington, NJ 08534! For more information: Debbie Gwynne, Program Chair, at 609-397-0756 / dgmusica@comcast.net.
Monday, April 12, 2010, at 7 pm; Music Together, 225 Hopewell-Pennington Rd., Hopewell, NJ
From St. Petersburg to Paris: A musical migration from Russia to France in the early 20th century. Excerpts from Rachmaninoff’s Vespers and Stravinsky’s Les Noces (The Wedding), Russian folk songs, and the Faure Requiem.
Friday, May 21, 2010, at 8 pm; Pennington Presbyterian Church, 13 S. Main St., Pennington
Sunday, May 23, 2010, at 3 pm; Anchor Presbyterian Church, 980 Durham Rd. (Rt. 413), Wrightstown, PA
Princeton Symphony Orchestra Announces 2009-2010 Season
Richardson Auditorium will be alive with anticipation on October 4, 2009, when the Princeton Symphony Orchestra begins what promises to be one of the most exciting seasons in its 30-year history. Along with the official debut of new Music Director Rossen Milanov, the PSO will present a roster of outstanding guest conductors and acclaimed soloists.
The PSO will kick off its 30th anniversary season with an entire weekend of events featuring the remarkable conductor, teacher, author and inspirational speaker Benjamin Zander.
On Sunday, October 4 at 4:00 p.m., Zander, who is renowned for his interpretations of Mahler, will conduct the PSO in the serene and magnificent Mahler Symphony No. 4 in G Major. Princeton soprano Sarah Pelletier will sing the finale’s beautiful Das Himmlishce Leben (The Heavenly Life), which takes its lyrics from the collection of German folk poetry called Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Thirteen-year old piano prodigy George Li will thrill concertgoers when he joins the PSO for Saint-Saёns’ brilliant and melodic Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor. Saint-Saёns’ most popular concerto, this piece is a favorite of soloists and audiences alike for its flair and musical showmanship. There will be a special free preconcert lecture at 2:45 p.m. at Richardson when Maestro Zander will share his insights about Mahler’s 4th. The weekend’s events are underwritten by a generous gift from Glenmede.
The PSO will present its annual Edward T. Cone Series concert on November 1, 2009 under the direction of guest conductor David Alan Miller. Music Director of the Albany Symphony Orchestra and a champion of American music, Miller will lead the PSO in a performance of works by John Harbison, a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who grew up in Princeton. Harbison’s lively Canonical American Songbook, stirs images of medieval, Renaissance and Latin American dances, while his Concerto for Flute, featuring PSO’s founding principal flutist Jayn Rosenfeld, is filled with sounds of birdsongs and images of shimmering colors and changing textures. Balancing Harbison’s genius will be the beauty of Brahms’ Symphony No.1. Considered by some to be a tribute to Beethoven, this intensely heroic progression from tragic struggle to triumph and victory took Brahms 15 years to complete. Harbison, Rosenfeld and Miller will also participate in a panel discussion, part of a new PSO series Behind the Music, to give the public the opportunity to learn more about Harbison as a composer and the challenges and pleasures the conductor and flutist experience when performing the new music. Look for future announcements about this panel discussion.
On January 24, 2010, Rossen Milanov will make his official debut as Music Director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, with a stylistically diverse program of orchestra gems by Ravel, Haydn, Prokofiev and Ginastera. The concert will open with the long flowing melodies of Ravel’s charming Ma Mère l’Oye. Based on favorite fairy tales, this piece illuminates Ravel’s thoughtful nature and invokes the bygone innocence of childhood. The PSO will follow with Haydn’s Symphony No. 88 in G Major, perhaps the brightest jewel in Haydn’s unparalleled collection and one of the masterworks of 18th century music. Also performed will be Prokofiev’s popular and accessible Symphony No.1, “Classical.” Although written in 1917 at the onset of the Russian revolution, this elegant and modern composition is free of any reference to the tumultuous times. The program will close with Ginastera’s Variaciones concertantes. Also written during politically difficult times, this powerful, lyrically expressive work draws on the composer’s Argentinean roots for its theme and 11 variations, each of which spotlights a different soloist in the orchestra.
The PSO Classical Season will continue on March 21, 2010 with returning guest conductor Andrew Grams. One of America’s most promising and talented young conductors, Grams has chosen three distinctly different 20th century compositions as a prelude to a private viewing of Princeton University Art Museum’s Exhibition “Architecture as Icon: Perception and Representations of Architecture in Byzantine Art.” Conceived in collaboration with the Princeton University Art Museum, this concert will feature works by Schoenberg, Barber and Tavener chosen for their direct connections to Byzantine traditions to enhance the audience’s appreciation for both the music and the art they will experience in this joint presentation. Shoenberg’s passionately romantic Verklärte Nacht, a tender and dramatic love story is followed by Barber’s well-known Adagio for Strings, a meditation of simplicity, poignancy and dignity. The spiritual majesty of the Adagio sets the stage for central work of this concert, Sir John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil, which takes its inspiration from the art of the Byzantine era. Considered a masterpiece, Byzantine influences are prevalent in this composition, which features a solo for cello that will be performed by PSO’s talented former principal cellist, Qiang Tu. The mystical intensity, spell-binding color and sonic opulence of Tavener’s music bring to mind the luminous presence of Byzantine icons. The audience is invited to a reception at the Princeton University Art Museum for a private showing of Byzantine treasures and icons. This concert is made possible by a generous gift from Wilmington Trust.
On May 16, 2010, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra will perform its final concert of the season under the baton of Music Director Rossen Milanov. This concert will feature three exceptional works by Mendelssohn, Currier and Elgar, each a uniquely personal expression of its composer. Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, an overture inspired by two short poems by Gõethe, depicts the haunting stillness of a becalmed ship to its triumphant homecoming. Broken Minuet for harp and string orchestra by award-winning American composer Sebastian Currier bridges contemporary musical practices with music of the past. With Bridget Kibby, a brilliant young harpist performing as the soloist, this piece offers the intimacy of a string quartet, but with a heightened sense of color. Elgar’s wistful, optimistic and mysterious Enigma Variations, propelled the composer to fame when it premiered in 1899. Its fourteen beguiling variations are a series of musical portraits of his friends and family. The “enigma,” however, is that Elgar’s principal theme – a subtle, personal creation assumed to be the composer’s self-portrait – is never directly stated.
PSO Pops! The Holiday Concert
“PSO Pops” will present its annual family Holiday Concert on December 19, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium, weaving together an entire community in holiday warmth and friendship. Holiday favorites, great symphonic classics, the Princeton High School Choir and the annual sing-along make this the perfect afternoon for the entire family.
PSO Pops! The Broadway Concert
On Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 8:00 p.m., PSO Pops! The Broadway Concert
will present The Great American Songbook, an extraordinary collection of irresistible hits from some of the greatest composers for American theater, including Arlen, Mancini, Rogers, Gershwin, Porter and Ellington. Returning after her successful engagement with PSO Pops! in 2008, the show-stopping soprano Teri Dale Hansen will perform with the sensational baritone William Michals, who thrilled guests at PSO’s spring’09 benefit.
Free Pre-concert Lecture
Every classical concert is preceded by a free lecture given by one of the key collaborators for each concert including guest conductors, composers, and Rossen Milanov, Music Director. Free to all ticket holders, the lectures take place in the concert hall beginning at 3:00 p.m. the day of the concert. No reservations are required.
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