The Princeton Symphony Orchestra continues keeping its beat with two upcoming events.
First, the PSO Chamber Series’ presents a rescheduled concert featuring music, voice, and poetry. The free event is on Sunday, February 28, at 4:30 p.m., at the Institute for Advanced Study’s Wolfensohn Hall.
Appearing are Alexander Chaleff, PSO’s principal second violinist and past concert master for New World Symphony; Winnie Nieh, a Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center performing soprano; and award-winning Brooklyn-based poet and playwright Alexandra Zelman-Doring.
The Institute for Advanced Study is located on Einstein Drive in Princeton. Reservations are required. www.princetonsymphony.org or 609-497-0020.
Then, on Wednesday, March 2, at 7 p.m., PSO and Princeton Public Library present “Soundtracks: An Alphorn Demonstration,” with Dr. Ted Schlosberg, director of the International Alphorn Ensemble (IAE).
Alphorns are the long traditionally wooden instruments Swiss mountain dwellers used to call cows or communicate with others.
Schlosberg is also the founder and director of the New Jersey Workshop for the Arts and an adjunct instructor of music at the College of New Jersey. He studied the instrument at the Alphorn Academy in Montreux, Switzerland, and has performed for the Swiss Mission at the United Nations and festivals throughout the East Coast.
For the free event in the library’s Community Room, Schlosberg will dress in traditional alpine costume and be accompanied by several types of horns, including a rare 14-foot circular horn. Attendees will have an opportunity to participate in a horn-blowing contest and ask questions following the presentation.
The presentation also serves as a preview for the PSO’s Sunday, March, 13 performance of Brahams’ Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, which opens with a horn call transcribed from the Alphorns. www.princetonsymphony.org.
Songs and voices for life will be heard on Thursday, February 25, when VOICES Chorale founder and music director Dr. Lyn Ransom will perform songs she composed to help her cope with cancer. The presentation is part of the D&R Greenway Land Trust’s presentation “Natural Healing: The Power of Being Outdoors,” at the Johnson Education Center in Princeton.
The program also includes three other women who will attest to nature’s restorative powers: former Princeton Township mayor and D&R Greenway trustee Phyllis Marchand, currently undergoing cancer treatment; Montgomery land preservationist Edie Howard, who also has experience with cancer; and Lumberville, Pennsylvania, horticultural therapist and landscape architect Nancy Minich.
The free event starts at 6:30 p.m. with the program running from 7 to 8 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. The Johnson Education Center is located at 1 Preservation Place, Princeton. 609-924-4646 or www.drgreenway.org.
