The Princeton Festival Announces It’s 2017 Season Performances

For its 13th season The Princeton Festival (www.princetonfestival.org) is offering 22 performances of 11 different programs between June 3 and June 25, 2017 in venues throughout the Princeton area. The Festival has scheduled its first-ever Baroque chamber music recital in Princeton Abbey, a new venue, and created its first Pops concert for Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University, another new venue.

“We’re excited to be adding a Pops concert and two beautiful new performance spaces this year,” said Richard Tang Yuk, the Festival’s General and Artistic Director. “It’s part of our commitment to stage the broadest range of performing arts for audiences in Central Jersey and beyond, enhanced by the most varied series of lectures we have ever presented.”

This year’s mainstage event is Beethoven’s opera Fidelio, a tale of uplift and the triumph of love in the face of tyranny, in two performances. There will also be 11 performances of the musical Man of La Mancha, source of the song “The Impossible Dream,” an anthem of human hope and aspiration.

The Festival’s first Pops event is “Disney in Concert: Around the World,” a concert sure to appeal to all lovers of Disney, featuring a live orchestra playing while clips from favorite Disney films are shown on a big screen.

Other attractions include a jazz concert by the Peter Martin Trio. Martin is not only a piano phenomenon in his own right, but often accompanies some of the biggest names in jazz. The Princeton Festival Baroque Orchestra returns for its third annual concert, and its principal players also perform in the chamber program at Princeton Abbey.

Other headline performances include the inventive contemporary ballet troupe BalletX; the film “Quartet,” with Festival singers giving a live mini-concert after the screening; the exciting finals of the Festival’s annual youth piano competition; and a typically inventive and enjoyable performance by the Concordia Chamber Players.

Sixteen free lectures by well-known experts on topics such as the Don Quixote legend, heroism in Fidelio, Leonore as a new kind of heroine, Baroque music, and ballet begin May 4.  There are also previews and workshops on opera. See http://princetonfestival.org/event_cat/2017-ee-programs/ for details.

Full descriptions of all offerings are available on the Festival website, with instructions for ordering tickets by phone, email, or online.

Performance Overview

Twenty-two performances by outstanding artists and ensembles begin on June 3.

 

• Concordia Chamber Players perform music by Aaron Jay Kernis, Beethoven, and Richard Strauss, Saturday, June 3, Miller Chapel, Princeton Theological Seminary.

• Quartet2: a screening of the popular film, followed by a live performance of popular quartets and more by Festival singers. Sunday, June 4, Princeton Garden Theatre.

• Pops Orchestra: Disney in Concert around the World. Live performance of music from Mary Poppins, The Little Mermaid, Frozen, and more, with scenes from the movies on a big screen. Friday, June 9, Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University.

• Musical Comedy: Man of La Mancha, June 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, Matthews Acting Studio, Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University, 185 Nassau Street.

• Piano Competition for Young Artists, Finals: Sunday, June 11, Clark Music Center, The Lawrenceville School.

• Baroque Music: Princeton Festival Baroque Orchestra. Chamber concert Saturday, June 17, Princeton Abbey; Orchestra concert Wednesday, June 21, Miller Chapel, Princeton Theological Seminary

• Jazz: Peter Martin Trio, Saturday, June 17, Berlind Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton.

• Opera: Beethoven’s Fidelio. Sunday, June 18 and Sunday, June 25, Matthews Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton.

• Dance: BalletX. Contemporary ballet troupe performs Saturday, June 24, Berlind Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton.

• Choral Concert: Music by Handel, Vivaldi, Monteverdi, and Zelenka with conducting masterclass participants leading the Princeton Festival Baroque Orchestra and Chorus, Saturday, June 24, Miller Chapel, Princeton Theological Seminary.

For more information and a link to ticket sales (handled by McCarter Theatre), visit www.princetonfestival.org. To purchase tickets by phone, call McCarter Theatre at 609-258-2787.