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The Princeton Symphony Orchestra-Season Finale

April 22nd, 2008

The Princeton Symphony Orchestra is set to finish their season on Sunday April 27th at 4:00.  The ensemble will be led by guest conductor Rossen Milanov.  David Grielsammer will be the featured piano soloist.  The program will include Prokoviev’s Puskin Waltz’s Opus 120, in celebration of the composer’s birthday.  Mozart piano concerto #5  in D major is next, followed by the eternal Symphony #5 by Ludwig van Beethoven.  Beethoven’s 5th symphony is the most recognized melodic theme in the entire classical music repertoire.  This will surely be an exciting way to end a very interesting season.

This is the second year that I have been playing with the symphony.  The Princeton Symphony is a professional orchestra, not to be confused with any of the music groups from the University.  It is a very fine ensemble.  The 2007-2008 season has been an important transition year for the group.  The orchestra is in the midst of a conductor search.  What is intriguing for the musicians is that we get a chance to play with several different guest conductors.  The first concert of the year the orchestra was lead by Shi-Yeon Sung.  She is the new assistant conductor for the Boston Symphony, in addition to winning the top prize at the famed Gustav Mahler conducting competition in Europe.  This concert was excellent and was definitely a great way to start the season.  Subsequent concerts were lead by Jens Georg Bachmann of the Metropolitan Opera and Mischa Santora.  The next concert was quite a treat.  Gunther Schuller was the guest conductor and lead us with his own piece Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee.  We concluded this program with Paul Hindemith’s Matis der Maler Symphony.  Just as we began rehearsing the symphony, Schuller pleasantly commented that he succeeded Hindemith at Yale.  This concert was in conjunction with the Princeton University Art Museum.  The PSO plays a lot of contemporary music and the new works are very well received.

Princeton, New Jersey is a beautiful town with many cultural offerings.  This is a great advantage for the ensemble.  One of my first impressions of Princeton was that is an ideal marketplace for the arts.  It is a good combination of affluence and intelligentsia.  The concerts here in Princeton are very well attended.  Next season is also going to be a host of new guest conductors and will be announced publicly in the near future.  Once the symphony finds its new leader, the sky is the limit for sure.  For more information and history on the Princeton Symphony visit their website by clicking on the following link www.PrincetonSymphony.org.

The Princeton Symphony plays on the campus of Princeton University in Richardson Auditorium.  Richardson Auditorium is located in Alexander Hall.  The picture below is the interior of this historic building.  This concert hall has some of the best acoustics I have ever experienced.  It frequently hosts many guest orchestras and it is one of the busiest theaters on the east coast.  For more information on this architectural gem click here.

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