'Peter Grimes' Opens During This Week's Princeton Festival

Princeton, NJ -- A centerpiece of this year’s Princeton Festival opens this week.

The Festival Orchestra under the baton of artistic director Richard Tang Yuk and a strong cast directed by Steven LaCosse will bring Britten’s blazing drama of “Peter Grimes” to life on Saturday, June 18, in the McCarter Theatre at 8 p.m.

The gripppng story takes place in a small fishing village on the English coast. Lives there are dominated by the sea, and the composer’s Sea Interludes, which have become a standard orchestral piece, tie together the opera’s scenes. These are recognizable people, recognizable for their amusements, their gossip, and their foibles. Peter Grimes, a lone fisherman, is the outsider, distrusted and suspected of violent acts by the villagers. Grimes is an anti hero, a fiercely independent man who although offered love and a home by the widowed school teacher, Ellen Orford, is ultimately unwilling and unable to accept her love or help. Britten said that his concern in the opera was for the individual against the masses and it is this conflict expressed through evocative and powerful music which provides the opera’s dramatic impact, and has made Grimes an acknowledged masterpiece.

Two free lectures provide special insights into “Peter Grimes” during the week.

On Tuesday, June 14, in the Princeton Public Library, Timothy Urban, Professor of Music at Rider University, will deliver one of his highly anticipated lectures, “Peter Grimes and the Masses”, exploring the musical and theatrical elements which have made Grimes a classic.

At 6 p.m. preceding the opening curtain on June 18, Scott Burnham, well known Professor of Music at Princeton, will discuss “Meeting Peter Grimes”, the special qualities of the opera that appeal to opera lovers and to today’s audiences, as well as his own introduction to Britten and Grimes.

The Festival’s production of A Little Night Music has been greeted with applause and critical acclaim, and early performances are sold out. Remaining performances continue Thursday through Sunday at 185 Nassau Street, Princeton.

Cécile McLorin Salvant is becoming a jazz legend at age 26 with frequent comparisons to Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. Her recording For One to Love won the recent Grammy award for the best jazz vocal album. She is joined with her trio in the concert on Sunday, June 19, at 7 p.m. in the Berlind Theatre at the McCarter Theater Center as she performs old favorites, the latest in jazz, and her own compositions. Audiences are warned that tickets are scarce.

Illustrating the wide diversity and quality of Princeton Festival programs, June 19 also brings Festival audiences the distinguished Norwegian organist, Kristiaan Seynhave, winner of the International César Franck-Concours, to the Princeton University Chapel to play the Grand Pieçe Symphonique by Franck and Widor’s Symphonie No.5 on the famed Skinner/Mandel organ. The recital will be at 3 p.m.

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