The Princeton Festival celebrates the contributions of Motown to popular culture and the civil rights movement on Juneteenth, Thursday, June 19. The day-long commemoration of the Emancipation Proclamation includes free community events presented in partnership with the Municipality of Princeton, and culminates in a ticketed 7 p.m. performance of Masters of Soul, A Motown Review in the Festival’s main performance pavilion at Morven Museum & Garden.
Masters of Soul, A Motown Review features harmonies and moves made famous by artists such as Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, James Brown, and others. The show reproduces the look, choreography, style, and sound made famous by record labels that were relatively unknown at the time but went on to profoundly influence the history of popular music: Motown Records, Stax, and others. The performance goes beyond the music to preserve the integrity of the entire Motown experience.
The show features The TFC Band. After having toured together for decades, The TFC Band created the Masters of Soul show in 2008 as a way to heighten the experience for their fans and deliver a stage show that captures the sights, sounds, and feel of the Motown era.
Tickets to the performance start at $35, and are available at princetonsymphony.org/festival or by calling (609) 497-0020; groups of 10 or more receive a 20 percent discount. Day-of $20 RUSH tickets are available for anyone 18-30 with government ID at the festival entrance one hour prior to the start of the event.
The Juneteenth celebration begins at 1 p.m. with a Juneteenth flag-raising at Monument Plaza in front of Monument Hall, with remarks by Princeton Council members. It is free and open to the public.
At 4 p.m., Rochelle Ellis, Lecturer of Voice at Princeton University, will deliver a talk on “The Motown Sound.” Ellis takes a look at the music of Motown and how the record label helped further the cause of the Civil Rights Movement in America. She traces the origins of Motown and how this distinctive sound affected American pop music, spotlighting some of the major groups on the Motown label. The free presentation takes place at Stockton Education Center at Morven Museum & Garden.
Next from 5-7 p.m. is a Community Celebration, a sharing of Juneteenth resources, history, crafts, and education commemorating the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation with community partners: Art Against Racism, The Historical Society of Princeton, The Witherspoon-Jackson Historical and Cultural Society, Morven Museum & Garden, The Municipality of Princeton, Princeton Parents for Black Children, Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, and YWCA Princeton. Morven Museum & Garden offers free museum admission all day during their normal hours. The celebration is free to the public, and takes place on Morven’s Colonial Lawn, behind the museum.