Princeton University Concerts
Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University. 609-258-2800. concerts.princeton.edu.
Princeton University Concerts’ 2022-’23 season includes a full slate of classical concerts in addition to other music-related events.
It starts with a conversation at the nexus of medicine and music with “Healing with Music: Clemency Burton-Hill.” The musician, broadcaster, and writer is the host of a new series featuring people for whom music has impacted their encounters with illness. Burton-Hill, who survived a massive brain aneurysm in early 2020, is the special guest in the first installment of the series. She tells her story with writer Maria Popova and Christopher Kellner, the neurosurgeon who saved her life. The event includes live music of the type that has helped her in her continued recovery. $20. Thursday, September 29, 7:30 p.m.
The concerts begin with a performance featuring superstar Dutch violinist Janine Jansen and Queen Elisabeth Competition laureate pianist Denis Kozhukhin. They perform violin sonatas from Schubert, Brahms, and Beethoven. $30 to $50. Thursday, October 13, 7:30 p.m.
Prior to the concert, Princeton Garden Theater offers a screening of “Falling for Stradivari,” a new documentary following Jansen’s journey with Sir Antonio Pappano as they record an album on twelve of the world’s greatest Stradivari violins in just 10 days. $14. Tuesday, October 11, 7:30 p.m.
Next up is the first concert in the “Performances Up Close” series, in which the audience sits on stage. The concert features groundbreaking 24-year-old classical saxophonist Jess Gillam, who made her Princeton University Concerts debut virtually in 2021, along with Thomas Weaver on piano. The hour-long concert includes works by Poulenc, Telemann, Piazzolla, and others. $40. Wednesday, October 26, 6 and 9 p.m.
Old favorites return to Richardson next, with the former ensemble-in-residence Brentano String Quartet offering a program of Dvorak, Charles Ives, Princeton’s own Steven Mackey, and more. $30 to $50. Thursday, November 3, 7:30 p.m.
A cello performance by Joshua Roman, making his Princeton University Concerts debut, is the second installment of Clemency Burton-Hill’s series on healing with music. Her conversation with the cellist focuses on music’s role in recovery from long COVID. $40. Wednesday, November 9, 7:30 p.m.
The current ensemble-in-residence, the Richardson Chamber Players, performs mixed chamber works in a program titled “Bohemian Cafe” including pieces by Gabriel Fauré, Louise Farrenc, and others. $20. Sunday, November 13, 3 p.m.
Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson makes his Princeton debut with a program that juxtaposes works by Mozart with ones by the composer’s contemporaries, including Haydn and Carl Philip Emanuel Bach. $30 to $50. Sunday, November 20, 3 p.m.
Princeton Symphony Orchestra
Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University. 609-497-0020. www.princetonsymphony.org.
The orchestra has two concerts on its pre-holiday schedule.
The season-opening program is headlined by “Fandango,” the 2021 work by Mexican composer Arturo Márquez. Also on the program is the U.S. premiere of Marcos Fernández’ homage to Leonard Bernstein, “America,” as well as works by Joaquín Turina, Ruperto Chapí, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers is the featured soloist, and artistic director Rossen Milanov conducts. $30 to $112. Saturday, September 10, 8 p.m., and Sunday, September 11, 4 p.m.
For the second concert of the season, exploding gestures and fleeting melodies are found in contemporary composer Jessie Montgomery’s “Starburst,” and Elina Vähälä makes her PSO debut performing Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto. Elgar’s “Enigma Variations” completes the program. Milanov conducts. $30 to $112. Saturday, October 15, 8 p.m., and Sunday, October 16, 4 p.m.
Princeton Pro Musica
Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University. www.princetonpromusica.org.
In its announcement of its 43rd season, Princeton Pro Musica notes that Artistic Director Ryan James Brandau has programmed a season of deeply-cherished pieces that long ago fueled his passion for choral-orchestral music, along with newer additions to his repertoire that have kept that fire burning. That season starts this fall with Johannes Brahms’ “Ein Deutsches Requiem.” Ticket price TBA. Sunday, October 23, 4 p.m.
New Jersey Symphony
800-255-3476. www.njsymphony.org.
The 100-year-old orchestra, known until December, 2021, as the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, splits its performances across multiple Garden State venues, with several concerts slated for Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium and the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center.
The orchestra’s first regional stop is in Princeton, where Xian Xhang conducts a program headlined by Brahms’ Symphony No. 4. Also included are Strauss’ “Burleske for Piano and Orchestra” featuring pianist Michelle Cann and Dorothy Chang’s “Northern Star.” $25 to $92. Friday, October 21, 8 p.m.
The next stop is New Brunswick, where the symphony gives a live performance of John Williams’ Academy Award-winning score to accompany a screening of the classic film “Jaws.” $39 to $89. Sunday, October 30, 3 p.m.
New Jersey Symphony’s final fall appearance in the area is also in New Brunswick, for a concert titled “Jessie Montgomery & Mozart.” The program includes Mozart’s Symphony No. 38, “Prague”; contemporary composer Montgomery’s “Rounds for Piano and String Orchestra” with acclaimed pianist Awadagin Pratt at the keys; and Strauss’ Suite from “Le bourgeois gentilhomme.” $25 to $92. Sunday, November 20, 3 p.m.
McCarter Theater
91 University Place, Princeton. 609-258-2787. www.mccarter.org.
The classical offering among McCarter’s fall music programming is the Internationale Bachakademie of Stuttgart performing Bach’s Johannes Passion. $40 to $60. Wednesday, November 16, 7:30 p.m.
Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey
Patriots Theater at the Trenton War Memorial, 1 Memorial Drive, Trenton. www.capitalphilharmonic.org.
The season opens with the ever-relevant, transformative power of Beethoven’s final symphony — affectionately known as the “Ode to Joy.” The sustained appeal of this musical journey of struggle and brotherhood is the timeless call to fraternal bonds that transcend culture, conflict, and societal barriers. The performance features special vocal guests the Somerset Hills Chorus, led by Stephen Sands, and the LOTUS Project, led by Alicia Brozovich. Saturday, October 22, 7:30 p.m.
Princeton Singers
The Princeton Singers, under the artistic direction of Steven Sametz, present a fall concert titled “Time Travel.”
The venue is Princeton University’s Art on Hulfish gallery at 11 Hulfish Street, and the concert complements the exhibit there, “Time’s Relentless Melt.” The program features “timeless” works of Perotin, Paul Hindemith, David Lang, Caroline Shaw, and Steven Sametz. Sunday, October, 16, at 7 p.m.
