New Events Highlight Upcoming Princeton Festival

PRINCETON, NJ (March 21, 2017) – A pair of firsts highlight this year’s Princeton Festival, which will offer 22 performances of 11 different programs from June 3-25 in venues throughout the Princeton area.

In its 13th season, the Festival has scheduled its first-ever Baroque chamber music recital in Princeton Abbey, a new venue.

It has also 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,” Princeton Festival General and Artistic Director Richard Tang Yuk said. “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 main stage 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,” which features 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, but he 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 finals of the Festival’s annual youth piano competition; and a performance by the Concordia Chamber Players.

Well-known experts will give a total of 16 free lectures on topics such as the Don Quixote legend, heroism in Fidelio, Leonore as a new kind of heroine, Baroque music, and ballet. These lectures commence on May 4.

There are also previews and workshops on opera.

For a list of events, visit princetonfestival.org.

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.

The attached flyer was provided by the Princeton Festival