Nixon in China imbues a world-changing political event with the emotional charge more commonly found in personal dramas and mythological stories. Its poetic libretto is set to exciting and expressive music. It is truly an opera for our times.
The Concordia Chamber Players have been a mainstay of The Princeton Festival since our inception in 2005. This year’s program features two duos by Beethoven and Kodály and a tuneful, powerful trio by Mendelssohn.
Two Budapest shop employees clash at work, unaware that secretly they are pen pal soul mates in this charming rom-com of a musical. Twelve performances from June 8 – 30, 2019 in an intimate black box theater with limited seating.
Attend the exciting Final Round of The Princeton Festival’s 12th annual Piano Competition for young artists ages 6 to 25, drawn from the tri-state area, nationally, and even internationally.
Jazzmeia Horn broke onto the jazz scene two years ago to overwhelming critical acclaim, with a Grammy Award nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2018. She has since toured the world, earning a reputation for spirited performances filled with story-telling, scat-singing, and brilliant improvisation.
Concertmaster Juan Carlos Zamudio returns with this favorite Festival ensemble for an intimate chamber performance on period instruments. Let the warmth of Baroque music envelop you in beautiful Trinity Church!
2017 Cliburn Competition finalist and Audience Award winner Rachel Cheung has been cheered by audiences in St. Petersburg, Russia; at the Chopin Festival in Duszniki, Poland; and in famed concert halls around the world.
Playing to sold-out crowds since 2015, the Princeton Festival Baroque Orchestra features rising young stars of historically-informed performance playing on period instruments. Come hear them bring the Baroque legacy to life!
The Princeton Festival Baroque Chorus and Orchestra concert provides a third opportunity to hear rising young stars of historically-informed performance playing on period instruments, this time with chorus. Come enjoy rhythms and harmonies that are uniquely Baroque!
Trenton Community A-TEAM artwork inspired by the Festival’s production of John Adams’ Nixon in China opera will be displayed at Thomas Sweet Café in Skillman for the month of May and at The Princeton Festival’s performances of the opera at McCarter Theatre on June 23rd and June 30th.
Teaching Artist Gail Blache-Gill and Lecturer Shari Gill lead this free three-part workshop designed for high school students who love to sing and want to perform in musicals. Participants will gain insight into and practical guidance on how to succeed in musical theater. Pre-registration and attendance at all three parts are required.
Performers and creative staff from John Adams’ Nixon in China, this year’s Fifteenth Anniversary Princeton Festival opera, will share their personal experiences and how they develop their roles, interpretations and insights.
Young Artists from our opera and musical casts will perform audience favorites under the stars.
Teaching Artist Kyle Masson leads this interactive orientation to modern opera, which includes lecture, singing, a behind-the-scenes tour, and attendance at The Princeton Festival’s production of Nixon in China. This free two-part workshop is open to all ages, middle school and up. Pre-registration is required.
Professor Stacy Wolf will lead a journey through musical theatre history from the 1950s until today – including She Loves Me in 1963 – to examine what women do in musical theatre and why it matters.
Join us for a sneak peek at our 2019 productions of Nixon in China and She Loves Me, beginning with a panel discussion with the directors and including performances from both productions.
Preliminary Rounds of The Princeton Festival’s 12th annual Piano Competition are free and open to the public. Stop in any time to hear the impressive talents of over 100 young artists!
Winner of the 1981 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, this film follows Isaac Stern on his historic visit to China after Nixon’s trip triggered the opening of relations with the US. Stern is shown teaching and playing Western music, which had been prohibited during Mao’s Cultural Revolution, to eager students and listeners.
Professor Stephen Allen will investigate how the music of John Adams’ opera Nixon in China, although technically described as ‘minimalist,’ actually allows the audience a rich experience in sound.
Early music expert John Burkhalter will discuss Chinese emperors’ fascination with Western music and musical instruments in the Baroque era. Pre-registration is required – online or by calling 908.458.8430.
Popular long-time Festival lecturer Marianne Grey will provide historical and societal context about China circa 1972, providing opera-goers with critical background for The Princeton Festival’s production of John Adams’s Nixon in China.
Professor Timothy Urban will discuss the many musical styles found in John Adams’ opera Nixon in China and their relationship to the story, greatly enhancing opera-goers’ appreciation of one of the finest examples of American opera.
Professor Timothy Johnson, author of the book John Adams’s Nixon in China, will explore the harmonic structures underlying that opera’s three most memorable arias to illuminate Adams’ compositional style and its role in characterizing the historical figures portrayed in the opera.
Chinese poet Xue Di will read from his works, with English translations read by American poet Jonathan Wells, in a bilingual multimedia presentation. A casual talk is included. Admission is free.
This 1940 American romantic comedy film is about two employees who can barely stand each other, not realizing they are falling in love as anonymous correspondents through their letters. Based on the same play as She Loves Me, come see why film historian David Thomson calls it “Among the greatest of all films”!
Celebrate the 15th season of The Princeton Festival with cocktails, fabulous hors d’oeuvres, silent auction with piano music, delicious dinner, entertainment, live auction, and dancing featuring pianist Harry Fini and the Courtney Colletti Band.