Princeton Orchestra Anniversary Continues With 2 Concerts

PRINCETON, NJ — The Princeton University Orchestra (“PUO”) continues its celebratory 120th season, and the 40th anniversary of director Michael Pratt, in two concerts on Friday and Saturday, March 9 and 10, 7:30 p.m.. each night. At their performance home in Richardson Auditorium at Alexander Hall, the orchestra will present one of the most popular programs of its season--a spotlight on concerto repertoire, featuring the student winners of the 2017-18 concerto competition.

Those winners include cellist Leland Ko, soprano Solène Le Van and violinist Hana Mundiya. Hearing student virtuosos being featured as soloists, performing with the support of their friends in the orchestra is always a very moving event.

Tickets to these concerts, performed by one of the most celebrated university orchestras in the nation, are only $15 General Admission and $5 for students. They are available at music.princeton.edu or by calling 609-258-9220.

This year’s soloists will offer Ernest Bloch’s “Schelomo Rhapsodie Hébraïque” for cello and orchestra, Samuel Barber’s “Knoxville Summer of 1915, Op. 24” for voice and orchestra, and Sergei Prokofiev’s “Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 63.”

The orchestra will also perform Richard Strauss’ tone poem “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Op. 28.” Associate conductor Ruth Ochs will lead the orchestra in the “Schelomo Rhapsodie Hébraïque.”

“Our offering of great student solo talent will end with one of the most delightfully virtuosic works in the repertory, Richard Strauss’s “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks,” said Pratt, who will direct the rest of the concert. “Till was a legendary trickster in German folklore, supposedly born in the 14th century. Strauss gives us both a character sketch and narrative of Till getting into various troubles, until his demise in court, which orders him to hanging. We hear his end, but then Strauss returns to tell us that Till will always live, whenever anyone speaks truth to power, and makes us laugh while doing it.”

Ko, a sophomore with an interest in German philosophy in addition to his vigorous pursuit of cello performance on campus, came to Princeton from the suburbs of Boston, where he studied with cellist Paul Katz. Speaking to the difficulty of Bloch’s Schelomo Rhapsodie Hébraïque.

“This work is not virtuosic in the way that concertos normally are, but it possesses a different kind of emotional power,” Ko said. “Bloch’s original conception behind the piece came from the feelings of loss during the First World War. The orchestra embodies the experiences of King Solomon, and the cello is the voice given to his suffering. Hearing the orchestra realize this emotional weight behind me is probably at the top of the list of what I am most looking forward to in performing this great work.”

Le Van, for whom this is the second win in the Concerto Competition, is already regarded as an exceptionally versatile and sensitive musician. Born in Colmar, France, Le Van was accepted into Princeton University at the age of 15, and is concentrating in French Literature and Culture with certificates in Vocal Performance, Musical Theater, and Italian Language and Culture.

Last year, Le Van won competitive admission to pursue a dual study program at the Royal College of Music in London in voice with Russell Smythe and violin with Daniel Rowland. Her debut recording with the label Sheva Collection, featuring world-premieres by Reynaldo Hahn and Emile Paladilhe, will soon be released internationally.

“I am incredibly honored to make music once more with Maestro Pratt and to sing Samuel Barber's rapturous piece with the support of my Princeton musical colleagues in the orchestra,” Le Van said. “James Agee's gripping prose-poem reflects on childhood summers spent with family in Tennessee and is suffused not only with a feeling of sehnsucht, but also with an inescapable adult knowledge of the frailty of life and a tragic recognition of the inevitability of childhood's end. I have always dreamed of singing Knoxville with orchestra; I find it deeply affecting and it speaks to me on a visceral level.”

Mundiya is majoring in comparative literature and pursuing a certificate in violin performance. From New York City, where she studies with Naoko Tanaka, Mundiya made her concerto debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 13 at David Geffen Hall in Lincoln Center as a part of the orchestra’s Young People’s Concerts.

A prizewinner in the 9th Leopold Mozart Competition in Augsburg, Germany, and second place winner in the 2016 Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competition. She has also performed at Merkin Concert Hall as a winner of the New York International Artists Competition, and chamber music in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. Speaking of Prokofiev’s second violin concerto.

“I listened to this piece for the first time when I was in seventh grade and ever since, it has become one of my favorite pieces because of the variety of characters that it conveys and the overarching sense of grotesqueness and constant movement,” Mundiya said. “I am constantly trying to find new ways to express this, and I am looking forward to performing it with the amazing musicians (and also friends) in the Princeton University Orchestra.”

The Princeton University Orchestra is made up of Princeton undergraduate student musicians. Now in its 120th year, the orchestra plays a wide range of works by composers from the Classical period up through freshly composed works by Princeton composers.

In the spring, the orchestra will put on a rare performance of Britten’s “War Requiem Op. 66” with the Princeton University Glee Club and Princeton Pro Musica, commemorating the centenary of the end of World War I. For more information on the upcoming season and other Princeton University Department of Music events, visit music.princeton.edu.

Patch file photo