Tickets are now on sale for all 22 performances in the 13th season of The Princeton Festival (www.princetonfestival.org), which runs June 3-25. The offerings cover a broad range of genres and styles, from Baroque concerts played on period instruments to contemporary ballet and an orchestral concert of music from Disney movies.
“This is truly a season for all tastes and preferences, featuring some of the most talented performers in America,” said Richard Tang Yuk, the Festival’s General and Artistic Director. “Lovers of Broadway musicals, opera fans, jazz aficionados, classical and popular music listeners, dance buffs– there’s an event for each of them.
“We’re proud to be called Central Jersey’s premier performing arts festival, and we believe this lineup of events is our best yet.”
- The 2017 season opens June 3 with a performance of music by Beethoven, Strauss, and Kernis by the renowned Concordia Chamber Players.
- Two film-related events follow. A June 4 screening of the hit 2012 film Quartet, starring Maggie Smith and Tom Courtenay, is part of a program that includes a panel discussion of “Opera and the Movies,” and concludes with live performances of opera arias by Festival artists. On June 9 the Princeton Festival Pops Orchestra will play popular songs from Walt Disney movies while the appropriate scenes are projected on a big screen.
- Both of this year’s musical stage performances address humankind’s response to a troubled world. June 10 sees the first of 11 performances of Man of La Mancha, the enduring Broadway musical about one person’s quest to right the wrongs he sees around him. Ludwig van Beethoven’s opera Fidelio, written in praise of personal liberty and the defeat of tyranny, gets two performances on June 18 and June 25.
- Two diverse styles of music-making from widely separated eras are presented on June 17. Principal players from the Princeton Festival Baroque Orchestra will give an afternoon chamber music concert in the Gothic space of the Princeton Abbey. That evening the exuberant, crowd-pleasing Peter Martin Trio lays down the kind of jazz grooves fans have come to expect from its multiple Grammy-winning members.
- Baroque music makes two more appearances. On June 21 the full Princeton Festival Baroque Orchestra plays music by Handel, Corelli, and Boyce on period instruments. On the afternoon of June 24 the orchestra accompanies the Festival Chorus in works by Handel, Monteverdi, Vivaldi, and Zelenka.
- BalletX, the superstar contemporary ballet company, makes its Festival debut on the evening of June 24. It will perform highly praised pieces choreographed by Matthew Neenan, Trey McIntyre, and Jorma Elo.
In line with the Festival’s mission to enrich the communities it serves, it also offers a range of free lectures, workshops, and events to enhance the audience’s experience of the performing arts. This year there are 14 different free events. A complete list is available at http://princetonfestival.org/event_cat/2017-ee-programs/.
Full descriptions of all 2017 Princeton Festival performances and other events are available on the Festival website, with instructions for ordering tickets by phone, email, or online.