Princeton Symphony Orchestra Announces Classical Series

By: Mar. 30, 2020
Enter Your Email to Unlock This Article

Plus, get the best of BroadwayWorld delivered to your inbox, and unlimited access to our editorial content across the globe.




Existing user? Just click login.

Princeton Symphony Orchestra Announces Classical Series

The Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) led by Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov has announced its 2020-2021 Season. Works by living composers Sarah Kirkland Snider and Andreia Pinto Correia, and a piece by George Walker, the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music, are among the array of offerings. Additional highlights include performances of Berlioz' Symphonie fantastique, Stravinsky's The Firebird Suite, symphonies by Mozart, Brahms, and Beethoven, and multiple works by Tchaikovsky, including his programmatic symphony Manfred and Variations on a Rococo Theme.

Concertos by Sibelius, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, and Glière, andRachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini showcase superb guest artists. Appearing for the first time with the orchestra are violinists Elina Vähälä and Simone Porter, pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk, and harpist Alexander Boldachev. There are also highly anticipated returns of audience favorites pianist Inon Barnatan and cellist Pablo Ferrández.

All concerts include the option of Saturday 8pm or Sunday 4pmperformancesat Richardson Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University.

The PSO's season-opener on September 12-13 features pianist Inon Barnatan performing Sergei Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. The virtuoso wowed PSO audiences in 2018 with stunning performances of Beethoven's five piano concertos. The orchestra under Rossen Milanov also performs Something for the Dark by Princeton-based composer Sarah Kirkland Snider, identified as "one of the most exciting genre-blending compositional voices at work today" (The Michigan Daily). Hector Berlioz' enticingly macabre Symphonie fantastique completes the program.

Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández garnered multiple ovations in 2019 with his passionate performances of Elgar's concerto with the PSO. On October 17-18, he plays Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme on a program conducted by Rossen Milanov. The orchestra is spotlighted in performances of Igor Stravinsky's Pulcinella Suite and W.A. Mozart's Symphony No. 40.

The November 14-15 concerts feature US-born, Finnish violinist Elina Vähälä. Described by The Chicago Tribuneas "a musician whose brilliant technique is matched by abundant spirit, sensitivity and imagination," she performs Jean Sibelius' Violin Concerto. Also on the program is Ciprés, a recent work by Portuguese-born composer Andreia Pinto Correia who has received critical acclaim from The New York Classical Review, Boston Globe, and The New York Times. Modest Mussorgsky's Prelude to Khovanshchina,as completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Igor Stravinsky's lush 1919 The Firebird Suite complete the program. PSO Assistant Conductor Nell Flanders leads from the podium.

Ukranian-born, Australian pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk may be new to the PSO stage, but he has appeared with Rossen Milanov at concerts in Columbus, Ohio and the Chautauqua Institution in New York where he is artist-in-residence and leads the piano program as artistic advisor. On January 9-10, he and Mr. Milanov again combine forces for performances of Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the PSO. George Walker's popular Lyric for Strings, written while he was a graduate student at the Curtis Institute of Music, and Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 2 are also on the program.

On March 6-7, lovers of the harp can look forward to hearing Reinhold Glière's Harp Concerto as performed by gifted Russian soloist Alexander Boldachev, whose stated goal is "to change the image of the harp, to make people lose the stereotypes about this instrument." Also on the program is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony in Four Scenes after the dramatic poem by Lord Byron. Rossen Milanov conducts.

The Beethoven's Seventh Edward T. Cone concert on May 8-9 completes the season with emerging star violinist Simone Porter performing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. "[Porter's] assured, lovingly lyrical, occasionally frisky playing only confirmed what is becoming common knowledge in the musical world: that she is on the cusp of a major career" (The Los Angeles Times). Rossen Milanov conducts the program which includes Jean Sibelius' Valse Tristeand Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.

Each Sunday classical series concert is preceded by a pre-concert talk hosted by the conductor. Ancillary events are planned to enrich the live concert experience and encourage a dialogue connecting the community to the orchestral music heard in the concert hall.

While single tickets go on sale this summer, subscriptions to the six-concert 2020-2021 PSO Classical Series with Saturday and Sunday options are available now. All concerts will take place at Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall on the campus of Princeton University. Single-seat subscriptions are available at $504, $462, $360, $270, $180, and $100 for youth subscriptions (children ages 7-17).

Subscribers are eligible for discounts on Holiday POPS!ticketsand receive priority reservations for free tickets to the four-concert PSO Chamber Series at the Institute for Advanced Study.

To subscribe and receive savings of up to 25% off PSO Classical Series single ticket prices, call:
(609) 497-0020 or subscribe online at princetonsymphony.org.

Pick 3+ packages are also available and are our most flexible ticket package. Choose from 3-5 concerts with prices starting as low as $33 per concert. To purchase, call (609) 497-0020 or visit princetonsymphony.org.



Videos