Orchestras Use Song and Voice to Summon Music of the Spheres

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The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra is ending its two-year “Sounds of Shakespeare” Winter Festival with a music and voice presentation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on Saturday, January 30, at Richardson Auditorium in Princeton.

As conductor Jacques Lacombe leads the state orchestra in a performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s incidental music for Shakespeare’s magic-laden comedy, Bonnie Monte, director of Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, guides a cast of professional actors through an specially prepared adaption. The presentation also features Montclair State University’s Prima Voce women’s choir, under the direction of Heather J. Buchanan.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University. Saturday, January 30, 8 p.m. $20 to $88. 1-800-255-3476 or www.njsymphony.org.

On Sunday, January 31, soprano Dawn Upshaw brings her five-time Grammy Award-winning artistry to the Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s concert. The event features Argentine-born composer Ovaldo Golijov’s “Three Songs,” a set created especially for the acclaimed vocalist.

Also on the program conducted by PSO music director Rossen Milanov are 20th century Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly’s “Dances of Galanta,” Mozart’s “Prague Symphony,” and contemporary Chinese-born composer Jing Jing Luo’s “Tsao Shu,” a work inspired by the Chinese art of calligraphy. The composer, who also practices calligraphy, is one of several women composers featured by PSO this season. She and Milanov will discuss her work during a pre-concert discussion.

Three Songs, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University. With Dawn Upshaw. Sunday, January 31, 4 p.m. Pre-concert talk at 3 p.m. $30 to $75. 609-497-0020 or princetonsymphony.org.

CE – US1

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