When the Princeton Festival opens this weekend, it will be as a positive force, promoting inclusivity and connection through the arts, with an eye toward strengthening its bonds to the community.
“We are creating a festival that is for Princeton and there for everyone in Princeton to take advantage of,” says executive director Marc Uys, “to be proud of, and for it to be part of what our town is and what it has, especially in the month of June.”
At the same time, he understands the festival’s enduring appeal as a destination for lovers of the performing arts who happen to live outside the area, especially for its acclaimed opera productions.
“We are extremely proud of the content that we have and what the programming is because we have a line-up of artists and performances that would be impressive in any town or any venue in the world,” he adds.
As was the case last year, the bulk of the festival, which will take place from June 9 through 25, will be presented on the grounds of Morven Museum & Garden at 55 Stockton Street (Route 206), where a specially constructed state-of-the-art performance pavilion will be transformed into a magic theater for the presentation of opera, musical theater, chamber and instrumental music, klezmer, contemporary dance, R&B and soul, a category-defying trio, and a special family concert.
Vibrant baroque music and an intimate program for guitar and cello will supplement across the way at Trinity Episcopal Church, at 33 Mercer Street.
The festival’s “big top” will be 11,000 square feet, clear-span (no poles or obstructed views), and open-sided, allowing for easy access to refreshments, ample picnicking opportunities, a garden stroll, or the simple enjoyment of a late-spring/early-summer evening.
The Princeton Festival is the premier summer arts program of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (which Uys also executive directs). The orchestra will appear in a variety of contexts throughout, as the festival’s “house band.” Its music director, Rossen Milanov, echoes Uys’ outlook, taking pride in the “extraordinary scope and diversity” of this year’s offerings, with “world-class artists, and a newly staged production,” presented “in a beautiful and historic outdoor setting.”
Fully staged opera has always been the festival’s nucleus. This year, the featured offering will be an all-new production of Gioachino Rossini’s comic romp, “The Barber of Seville.” American baritone Andrew Garland will portray the resourceful barber and jack-of-all-trades, tenor Nicholas Nestorak the lovestruck and resolute Almaviva, and Peruvian-American mezzo-soprano Kelly Guerra the beautiful and game Rosina, with baritone Steven Condy providing the requisite impediment to young love as the slow-witted and avaricious Dr. Bartolo. Elaborate disguises, conspiracy, and close shaves inform the action, set to Rossini’s spritely and dynamic score.
Filling out the cast will be Festival veterans Eric Delagrange and Cody Müller, along with Kaitlyn Costello-Fain and the Festival Opera Chorus. The production will be stage directed by James Marvel, an internationally active American-born stage director. Cubist set design by Blair Mielnik will suggest the timeless, madcap nature of the story. Milanov will conduct the Princeton Symphony Orchestra in some of the most recognizable and oft-referenced music in all of opera. “Fi-ga-ro! Fi-ga-ro!”
There will be three chances to enjoy Rossini’s archetypal opera buffa: (Saturday and Tuesday, June 17 and 20, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, June 18, at 4 p.m.).
Of course, the festival makes it easy to sample all kinds of music. Here’s a quick rundown of this year’s other events:
Opening weekend will begin with the return of one of last year’s standout acts, the charismatic, genre-hopping Time for Three. Consisting of double-bassist Ranaan Meyer and violinists Nick Kendall and Charles Yang, Time for Three will once again blur the boundaries between classical, Americana, and modern pop.
The group’s appearance here last summer had plenty of juice. Since then, the trio was recognized with a Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for its contribution to the album “Letters from the Future.” The Deutsche Grammophon release features triple concertos by Pulitzer Prize winners Kevin Puts and Jennifer Higdon, recorded with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Time for Three will perform Puts’ concerto, “Contact,” winner of the 2023 Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, with the PSO next season. The festival setting will allow the ensemble to do its affable, easygoing thing (Friday, June 9, at 7 p.m.).
Then Drama Desk Award nominee Capathia Jenkins will pay tribute to the “Queen of Soul,” Aretha Franklin, in “Aretha, A Tribute,” with three-time Grammy-nominated artist Ryan Shaw. The PSO will be led by its former assistant conductor, John Devlin (now music director of the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra of Wheeling, West Virginia). The program will include such Franklin favorites as “Respect,” “Think,” “A Natural Woman,” and “Chain of Fools” (Saturday, June 10, at 7 p.m.).
The weekend will conclude with internationally acclaimed pianist Christopher Taylor in an engaging recital of contrasting works by Russian or Soviet composers Sergei Rachmaninoff, Nikolai Kapustin, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Sergei Prokofiev (Sunday, June 11 at 4 p.m.).
The Claremont Trio will perform works by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel and Antonin Dvorak on a program with Canadian-born composer Kati Agocs’ “Queen of Hearts,” a piece written specifically for them (Tuesday, June 13, at 7 p.m.).
The performers of “Broadway’s Next Hit Musical” will demonstrate their quicksilver improvisatory skills as they formulate songs — and a full-blown musical — on the spot, based on audience suggestions (Wednesday, June 14, at 7 p.m.).
Boyd Meets Girl, consisting of Australian classical guitarist Rupert Boyd and American cellist Laura Metcalf, will share an eclectic program, with music ranging from Debussy and Bach to Radiohead and Beyonce (at Trinity Church on Thursday, June 15, at 7 p.m.).
Back in the pavilion, the Attacca Quartet will perform works by Pulitzer Prize winners John Adams and Caroline Shaw (who pursued a PhD at Princeton University), along with arrangements of Nordic folk tunes, all expressively illustrated by dancers from American Repertory Ballet. Attacca is the recipient of two Grammy Awards, in 2020 and 2023, both for recordings of Shaw’s music (Saturday, June 17, at 7 p.m.).
In addition to “The Barber of Seville,” opera lovers will also be interested to catch baritone Will Liverman, who will present a recital of Black art song with pianist Kevin J. Miller. The program will include a selection from Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” with which Liverman opened the Metropolitan Opera’s 2021-’22 season. His complete recording of the work was recognized with the 2023 Grammy for Best Opera Recording. The recital will coincide with the emancipation holiday Juneteenth (Monday, June 19, at 7 p.m.).
For something completely different, a “Mazel Tov Cocktail Party,” featuring renowned klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer and friends, will liven things up with a multicultural celebration, being promoted as “a good vibes explosion” (Wednesday, June 21, at 7 p.m.).
Across the street, The Sebastians will infuse new energy into an old favorite, interweaving Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” with works by Georg Philipp Telemann, Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello, and Johann Sebastian Bach (at Trinity Church on Thursday, June 22, at 7 p.m.).
Again, back in the pavilion, Andrew Lippa’s “I Am Harvey Milk,” described as a “musical theatre oratorio,” will honor the character and achievements of the first openly gay man to hold public office in California, tracing his life from his boyhood, through his media celebrity and political success, to his untimely death by assassination. The composer will conduct the PSO, with vocal soloists and the Princeton Festival Men’s Chorus (Friday and Saturday, June 23 and 24, at 7 p.m.)
The series will conclude with a unique family concert, including Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf,” in a vaudeville-inflected presentation, with Michael Boudewyns of Really Inventive Stuff. Milanov will return to conduct the PSO (Sunday, June 25, at 4 p.m.).
Beyond the purely musical events, the festival will offer a number of community enrichment programs, all of them available for free.
Outdoor sessions of Yoga in the Garden will take place on the grounds of Morven (Sundays, June 11 and 18, at 9 a.m.; ticketed reservations required).
A screening of the film “Milk,” with Sean Penn in an Oscar-winning performance, will be held at Princeton Public Library (Saturday, June 17, at 7 p.m.).
A “Barber of Seville”-related talk, “A Funny Thing Happened to Figaro,” will be delivered by Timothy Urban at Morven’s Stockton Education Center (Sunday, June 18, at 3 p.m.).
Also at Stockton Education Center, Art Against Racism founder Rhinold Lamar Ponder will open an exhibit, “Beyond Freedom,” with a talk titled “Reclaiming Humanity Through Art” (Monday, June 19, at 2 p.m.).
Andrew Lippa will speak with young musicians about his process in writing “I Am Harvey Milk” and the tools artists have at their disposal to create social change, again at Stockton Education Center (Friday, June 23, at 4 p.m.).
Prior to the “Peter and the Wolf” family concert, kids are invited to an “Instrumental Petting Zoo,” for a chance to try out some of the instruments, on the Morven grounds (Sunday, June 25, beginning at 1:30 p.m.).
Founded in 2004, the Princeton Festival has established a strong profile as a multi-faceted, summer performing arts series, and a destination for audiences from throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond. It has built a reputation for artistic excellence, and for cultivating the number and variety of its offerings. It is particularly renowned for the exceptional range and quality of its operatic offerings, which have embraced works by Mozart and Puccini, Handel and Stravinsky, Gershwin and Sondheim, and John Adams and Benjamin Britten.
For many years, the festival took place largely behind closed doors, in separate venues scattered across Princeton. Last year, to address lingering health concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, an open-air performance pavilion was erected on the grounds of Morven Museum & Garden. The model served well in centralizing the festival offerings and in creating an agreeable summer vibe.
The festival did a remarkable job of pivoting in 2020, within weeks, assembling a season of online content as much of the country sheltered-in-place. Richard Tang Yuk, who had been with the organization since its inception, stepped down as executive and artistic director to return to his native Trinidad in 2021. His final festival appearances as conductor were during the 2019 run of John Adams’ “Nixon in China,” a high-water mark in the festival’s history.
As the pandemic entered its second year, the festival supplemented online content with a few outdoor performances on the grounds of Morven Museum & Garden, with distanced seating. In the meantime, the PSO had also developed a relationship with Morven, with its own series of outdoor concerts. A merger between the two musical organizations seemed like a natural fit.
Uys, for one, is thankful things worked out so well. The venue partnerships have also been a godsend, with the proximity of Trinity Church to Morven Museum allowing for expanded rehearsal space and performance opportunities. Moreover, he couldn’t be happier with everyone’s generosity, flexibility, and understanding.
Further alliances with area businesses and non-profit organizations such as HiTops and YMCA Princeton deepen the festival’s roots in the community. Princeton Corkscrew Wine Shop, River Horse Brewing Company, and Triumph Brewing Company will provide refreshments for the festival cash bar and receptions. A complete list of participating restaurants, with discount information, is posted in a Festival Foodie Guide at the Princeton Festival website.
“We’re fortunate to have colleagues and other organizations that recognize the value and importance of what we are trying to do,” Uys says. “We are bringing a real range of different things and putting them on here in an atmosphere that’s conducive to trying something new.
“I would love to see people there at the concerts every night of the festival; but I would be equally happy to see somebody dipping a toe in and trying something they’ve never tried before because of the setting it’s taking place in. I think that that’s an amazing way for everyone to discover what a quality line-up we have and to start to feel proud that this exists in our community.”
For more information visit princetonsymphony.org/festival.
