By Nancy Plum

Westminster Community Orchestra celebrated the city of Vienna this past weekend with music of Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Johann Strauss Jr. and featured guest piano and vocal soloists. Conducted by Ruth Ochs, the community-based ensemble presented a piano concerto of Beethoven and symphonic and vocal works of Schubert, topped off with popular waltzes by Strauss Jr. The overflowing audience at Hillman Hall on the campus of Westminster Conservatory showed the popularity of this Orchestra and its focus on informality and a family atmosphere.

Schubert’s 1822 Symphony No. 8 in B minor, widely known as the “Unfinished Symphony,” is recognizable by its familiar first movement melody. It was this movement that the Community Orchestra offered as an opening to Saturday night’s concert. The orchestral sound was immediately present in the hall but was never overwhelming in a space in which the audience and performers were close together. The Orchestra began Schubert’s Symphony with light playing from the strings, as an oboe solo from Helen Ackley was cleanly answered by horns. Ochs maintained a graceful flow as the memorable tune emerged from the cello section. Phrases always had direction, and wind solos from Ackley and clarinetist Russell Labe added to the Viennese feel.

Schubert left behind at least 600 songs upon his premature death, and the two-verse “And die Musik” is one of the best known. With lyrics recognizing music’s ability to transport the listener into a “better world,” this song shows Schubert’s melodic writing at its best. Soprano Danielle Sinclair, head of the voice department at Westminster Conservatory, joined the Community Orchestra for this piece, singing cleanly and communicating well with the listeners. Sinclair was elegantly accompanied by a small group of strings and solo winds. more

By Nancy Plum

Princeton Pro Musica took on a challenge this past weekend with its final performance of the season. Connecting back to World War II, the 100-voice vocal ensemble presented British composer James McCarthy’s 2014 Codebreaker: The Alan Turing Story, an oratorio for chorus, soprano, and orchestra depicting scenes from the life of famed mathematician, inventor and codebreaker Alan Turing. Turing’s incalculable role in history was rooted in his responsibilities during World War II for cracking naval Enigma codes and his invention of a machine to significantly speed up the decryption process and anticipate enemy moves. Considered one of the great intellectual feats of the 20th century, Turing’s invention was credited with saving millions of lives during the War. Writing that there are few people who have “achieved so much of profound consequence for humanity in so little time,” McCarthy approached setting Turing’s life and accomplishments in musical form as a “portrait of a living, breathing human being and not the musical equivalent of a marble monument to a Great Hero.”

In Sunday afternoon’s concert at Richardson Auditorium, Pro Musica Artistic Director Ryan J. Brandau opened with a one-movement string piece of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. The 1977 Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten was a tribute to a composer from Turing’s time and a connection to the era and country in which the events of the oratorio took place. The 15 string players assembled for this performance began Cantus quietly, as conductor Brandau allowed the music to unfold on its own. The musicians initially played with almost no vibrato, but as the work progressed, the musical fabric became warmer.  more

By Nancy Plum

Not many performing ensembles have the capability to reinvent themselves. Voices Chorale NJ was founded in the late 1980s as a fully professional vocal ensemble, later adding a “Chorale” to include volunteer singers. The chorus has been through some reconfiguration in the past four decades, both in response to economic challenges and to expand their activities, but one thing that has remained consistent is the dedication of its singers. Voices Chorale NJ currently offers an annual concert series as well as educational programs for the community, all overseen by Artistic Director David A. McConnell. The Chorale presented its closing concert of the season this past weekend, featuring vocal soloists and the Berks Sinfonietta in a performance of a Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart tour de force and a relatively obscure work by a Brazilian contemporary of the Viennese master.

Mozart’s setting of the Requiem stands out as a pinnacle of late 18th-century symphonic choral composition, and even in the pre-technology 1700s, it was clear that the influence of the prodigious composer was felt far and wide. On the other side of the world, sacred music in Brazil at that time was heavily influenced by the mass settings of European composers, especially Mozart. On Saturday afternoon at Princeton’s Trinity Church, Voices Chorale NJ paired Mozart’s poignant Requiem with a setting of the same text by a very under-represented Latin American composer. Born in Rio de Janeiro 11 years after Mozart, José Maurício Nunes García sustained a dual career as musician and priest, composing more than 240 surviving works with another possible 170 which have been lost. Nunes García conducted the Brazilian premiere of Mozart’s Requiem, so the coupling of these two pieces was musicologically appropriate and imaginative. Dating from 1816, Nunes García’s own Requiem is rarely heard on either side of the Atlantic.  more

By Nancy Plum

Spring is always a time of renewal, and for college students the season may mean an opportunity to enjoy a break from the academic race to the end of the semester. For the members of the Princeton University Orchestra and Glee Club, the early months of this spring have meant hard work and preparation as the two ensembles came together for a presentation of 20th-century pieces. This past weekend’s performances of Francis Poulenc’s Gloria and Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé showed precision, musicality, and crisp playing in the annual Stuart B. Mindlin Concerts.

Friday night’s performance (which was repeated Saturday night) in Richardson Auditorium juxtaposed two French composers linked by their use of Impressionistic compositional devices as well as a unique scoring for chorus. Early 20th-century composers in France often added choral forces as wordless voices for effect — distinctly evident in Ravel’s 1912 ballet Daphnis et Chloé. Fifty years later, Poulenc’s 1960 six-movement Gloria drew on voices to the fullest to convey a liturgical test. Led by Orchestra conductor Michael Pratt, the University Orchestra and Glee Club were precise from the outset of the Gloria, with short decisive conducting gestures from Pratt eliciting a crisp sound. Off-beat rhythms were meticulous from the Glee Club, and it was unmistakable that this piece was a good fit for these singers.  more

By Nancy Plum

Some ensembles spend a great deal of time coming up with their name. Last Wednesday night’s presentation by Princeton University Concerts showcased three instrumentalists who collaborate as a trio, but without a formal group moniker. Swedish clarinetist and conductor Martin Fröst, French violist Antoine Tamestit, and pianist and Israeli native Shai Wosner came to Richardson Auditorium to offer a diverse program of music ranging from the 19th to the 21st centuries. Individually, these artists have been acclaimed for pushing musical boundaries, and their appearance last week expanded the repertory a bit further by uniting solo players not often heard together.

Fröst, Tamestit, and Wosner began the evening with three excerpts of a suite by Antonín Dvorák originally composed for piano duet and arranged for clarinet, viola, and piano by Wosner. Throughout the concert, Fröst alternated between clarinets in the keys of B-flat and A, finding a variety of musical styles from both. The opening “Allegretto” of Dvorák’s Legends featured a bit of klezmer effect between clarinet and viola, with long clarinet lines and sharp bowings from violist Tamestit. In all three movements, Fröst and Tamestit phrased the music in tandem, occasionally holding back cadences for effect. Pianist Wosner provided subtle accompaniment for the first two pieces, taking a more prominent role in the closing “Allegro.” In this swirling dance, a dialog between Tamestit’s fierce viola playing and Fröst’s lyrical clarinet lines were well complemented by Wosner’s skillful keyboard accompaniment. more

By Nancy Plum

Over the past decades, Princeton University Concerts has developed enduring relationships with performers worldwide, always expanding the PUC artist family. The Mahler Chamber Orchestra has long been one of these partners, returning to Princeton several times to showcase the excellence of its international roster. Founded in 1997 as an artistic “global collective,” the Orchestra is comprised of musicians from 25 countries who come together for each tour or project, exploring instrumental dialogue and the “sound of listening” though a wide range of repertoire.

The Mahler Chamber Orchestra revisited Richardson Auditorium last Thursday night under the leadership of pianist/conductor Mitsuko Uchida, who is particularly well known for her interpretation of the works of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Uchida’s performances of the piano concertos of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are considered a gold standard, and it was two of these concertos which she and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra brought to the Princeton stage.

Mozart composed more than 25 concertos for piano and orchestra, many of which were vehicles for his own performance as soloist. Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat Major, dating from 1784, was one of six written that year alone, part of a constant demand for new works from the prodigious composer. These works may have originally involved a great deal of improvisation from the soloist, and as pianist, Uchida highlighted the imaginative aspects of the music and its inherent virtuosity. more

By Nancy Plum

Boheme Opera NJ turned to a story of love, hate, and revenge for this year’s presentation of Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore this past weekend at Kendall Main Stage Theater at The College of New Jersey. With a libretto by Italian playwright Salvatore Cammarano, who based his texts on a play by Spanish dramatist Antonio García Gutiérrez (which in turn was allegedly inspired by real events), Verdi’s 1853 opera was popular from the outset, despite its dark narrative but no doubt aided by the inclusion of traditional Italian tunes audiences would have known. Boheme Opera NJ’s productions on Friday night and Sunday afternoon, presented in Italian with English supertitles, featured a cast of seasoned opera performers, including singers heard in previous Boheme Opera presentations. Artistic director and conductor Joseph Pucciatti brought the story into modern times by focusing on the more sinister aspects of the plot while never losing sight of the luxurious music.

Il Trovatore was unique in that the pivotal action takes place before the opera begins or between scenes. The onstage activity and music convey the emotions of the characters and their response to what has happened, which makes the singers’ jobs that much more difficult. The storyline centers on both the love triangle among Leonora, the Count di Luna, and the mystery troubadour Manrico, and the backstory of Azucena, whose mother was burned at the stake as a witch, compounded by the possibility that Azucena had inadvertently killed her own son in retaliation. The opera was also unusual in its two female roles having equal dramatic and vocal force, and in Friday night’s performance, the singers playing Leonora and Azucena each had their change to command the stage and shine.  more

By Nancy Plum

In a concert linking the crispness of winter to a hint of spring, New Jersey Symphony performed works of Claude Debussy, Nico Muhly, and Sergei Rachmaninoff, showing the depth of both player and conducting talent. The Symphony divided the conducting responsibilities in Friday night’s performance at Richardson Auditorium between Music Director Xian Zhang and the Symphony’s Colton Conducting Fellow Gregory D. McDaniel. A Houston native, McDaniel has conducted opera companies and orchestras nationwide, as well as in Canada.

McDaniel directed the first half of the program, leading off with André Caplet’s orchestral arrangement of Claude Debussy’s popular Clair de Lune for piano. Originally a movement in a piano suite, Clair de Lune became one of the composer’s most recognized pieces, leading to numerous arrangements, including at least six for orchestra. McDaniel began Debussy’s familiar music languidly, with a dreamy flow from the strings topped off by delicate flute passages from Bart Feller and Kathleen Nester. McDaniel built the sound well, always knowing exactly where he was going. The overall effect was lush, sustained by a subtle pair of horns.  more

By Nancy Plum

Princeton Symphony Orchestra brought three diverse compositional styles together this past weekend with a program linking music of the early 19th and 21st centuries and featuring one of this country’s most innovative and adventurous instrumental ensembles. Conducted by Music Director Rossen Milanov, the Orchestra presented Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F Major, paired with works of American composers Carlos Simon and Viet Cuong. Joining the Orchestra in Saturday night’s concert (which was repeated Sunday afternoon) was So Percussion, a quartet of percussionists fresh off a Grammy award win and current Performers-in-Residence at Princeton University.

The four movements of Carlos Simon’s 2022 Four Black American Dances weaved dance and cultural identity into symphonic music, delving into significant and differing dance forms. The opening celebratory “Ring Shout” captured a religious ritual dating back centuries. Opening with spirited brass and wailing woodwinds, Princeton Symphony executed clean syncopation from strings and sliding effects from a trio of trumpets. Percussion played a key role in all four movements, with timpanist Jeremy Levine keeping rhythms precise.

Concertmaster Basia Danilow provided several quick-moving solo violin lines, especially contrasting a big band palette in the second movement “Waltz.” A quartet of trombones and tuba set a mysterious mood for the closing “Holy Dance,” as Milanov led the sound to a fervent clamor. Nimble cellos and double basses brought the work to a cinematic close, which the musicians drew out with effective drama.  more

By Nancy Plum

The stage at Richardson Auditorium looked a bit like an instrument warehouse last Friday night, jam-packed with chairs, percussion, two harps, and several keyboard instruments in anticipation of Princeton University Orchestra’s winter concert. With all these possible players, there might have been a potential for sound cacophony, but the University Orchestra performed its annual “Concerto Concert” with clarity and melodic refinement while showing off the immense talents of two students. Conducted by Michael Pratt, Friday night’s performance (which was repeated Saturday night) showed freshman violist Jisang Kymm and sophomore pianist Sarah Yuan to be experienced well beyond their years in the Orchestra’s presentation of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Viola and Orchestra and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor.

Schnittke’s 1985 three-movement Concerto for Viola and Orchestra diverged from the traditional concerto structure of alternating fast-slow-fast sections and reversed this order, with outer “Largo” movements bracketing a central “Allegro.” Like many of his Soviet contemporaries, Schnittke collaborated with the finest performers of his day, and the virtuosity and intensity of the Concerto reflected its tribute to a leading violist of the time. Viola soloist Jisang Kymm opened Schnittke’s work with introspection and attention to detail. Taking his time in the reflective texture, Kymm effortlessly executed the numerous double stops and insisted on the score’s dissonance against an unsettled orchestral accompaniment.  more

By Nancy Plum

Over its history, Princeton University Concerts has developed strong collaborative relationships with a wide range of performing organizations specializing in specific composers, but especially the renowned string ensemble Takács Quartet, with their legendary interpretation of Ludwig van Beethoven. The innovative players returned to Richardson Auditorium last Thursday night with more Beethoven, as well as music of Johannes Brahms and British pianist/composer Stephen Hough. With the Takács seasoned artistic identity and Hough’s virtuosic technique, the full house at Richardson was treated to a performance which easily clarified why the Takács musicians have appeared on the Princeton University Concerts series more than 20 times.

Violinists Edward Dusinberre and Harumi Rhodes, violist Richard O’Neill, and cellist András Fejér opened Thursday night’s program with a string quartet from Beethoven’s early period. String Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1, full of the composer’s trademark melodic and rhythmic variety, began with chipper “question and answer” passages which the Takács Quartet played with decisive repetitions before launching into a lyrical opening theme. Throughout the movement, the Quartet made the most of uniform silences and sforzando dynamic effects, with second violinist Rhodes particularly leaning into the score.

The dramatic second movement “Adagio” featured an intense melody from first violinist Dusinberre, with Rhodes and violist O’Neill trading lyrical phrases. The rollicking “Scherzo” was played with playful ornaments, and Beethoven’s Quartet closed with the Takács musicians building intensity well, led by Dusinberre. Fejér had a chance to emerge from the texture with energetic solo playing.  more

By Nancy Plum

Fresh off its win of a fourth Grammy award, the Philadelphia-based professional chamber vocal ensemble The Crossing performed in Richardson Auditorium last Tuesday night as part of McCarter Theatre Center’s classical music series. Choruses often specialize in the works of specific composers or time periods, and The Crossing, under the direction of Donald Nally, has built a stellar reputation as an ensemble dedicated to new repertoire. Each of the 16 voices in The Crossing is not only capable of solo performance but is also able to combine with the other Crossing singers to create a unified and impeccably-tuned choral palette.

The Crossing came to Richardson to present a single work — the 14-movement poor hymnal of New York composer David Lang. A collector of old hymnals, Lang has written a piece addressing the question of whether the community messages conveyed by hymns of the past are the same as today. Lang’s a capella choral work, commissioned by both The Crossing and a chorus from the Netherlands, fused texts inspired by the Bible and contemporary writings with choral writing well suited to The Crossing’s precise vocal style and technique.

Soprano Anika Kildegaard opened the work with a solo rendition of Lang’s reflective poem on “a poor man.” Members of The Crossing require solid vocal independence and confidence to successfully contribute to this level of choral performance, and Kildegaard commanded the stage well as a lone singer controlling the pace in delivering the text.  more

By Nancy Plum

Musical ensembles often observe the significant birthdays of composers of the past or anniversaries of their leaders. Princeton Symphony Orchestra took this idea one step further by celebrating the 60th birthday of Music Director Rossen Milanov earlier in January with presentations of two monumental orchestral works. The concert on the night of Saturday, January 11 at Richardson Auditorium (the program was repeated the following afternoon) brought together Orchestra musicians, conductor Milanov, one of his long-term collaborators, and two of his favorite pieces in the ensemble’s annual Edward T. Cone commemorative events.

Joining Princeton Symphony in Igor Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major was guest soloist Leila Josefowicz, who has played with the Orchestra numerous times in past seasons. A violinist with a solid international reputation, Josefowicz clearly demonstrated a strong connection to both Milanov and the players while showing her own brand of performance fire.  more

By Nancy Plum

Princeton Pro Musica pulled out all the stops recently for a performance of international music for the season, much of which was arranged by the ensemble’s Artistic Director Ryan J. Brandau. The concert on December 15 attended by a festive full house at Richardson Auditorium brought together chorus, orchestra, and two vocal soloists for an eclectic afternoon of music spanning the globe, multiple centuries, and languages.

Brandau has established a deserved reputation as an arranger and orchestrator, and a significant part of Pro Musica’s program showed off his talents. “Mash-ups” of two or more musical numbers put together are popular in the choral world, and Brandau included several of his own in the performance. The concert opened with a combination piece of “O Come Emmanuel” and “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen,” as set by Brandau. With supertitles and Pro Musica’s trademark precise diction, Brandau’s composition moved seamlessly between the medieval chant and the 17th-century English carol. Introduced by solo cellist Melissa Meell and delicately accompanied by harpist André Tarantiles, the two selections well demonstrated Pro Musica’s blended choral sound. more