November 13, 2024

JOINING FORCES: Voices Chorale NJ and the Trenton Children’s Chorus are presenting a concert together to celebrate the holiday season on December 14 at Trinity Church.

A celebration of the holiday season featuring Voices Chorale NJ and the Trenton Children’s Chorus will take place on Saturday, December 14 at 4 p.m., at Trinity Church, 33 Mercer Street.

“Sing Out, My Soul!” features Vivaldi’s Gloria accompanied by a chamber ensemble, as well as contemporary choral compositions and arrangements that invoke the many moods of the holiday season. Following Gloria, which Vivaldi wrote over 300 years ago, the program fast-forwards through the centuries, presenting old and new texts set to music by contemporary composers as well as a Hanukkah prayer, and a song of rejoicing in Latin (Gaudete!).  more

FESTIVE GATHERING: Members of the Princeton High School Choir are among the performers at the Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s annual Holiday POPS! concerts on December 14, at Richardson Auditorium. (Photo courtesy of PSO Staff)

The Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is set to celebrate the holiday season with Broadway vocalist Andrea Ross at this year’s Holiday POPS! concerts on Saturday, December 14 at 3 and 6 p.m., at Richardson Auditorium.

Mentored by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Ms. Ross, a soprano, will perform “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “The Christmas Song,” and more. The Princeton High School Choir lends its collective voice to choral favorites including “Joy to the World” and “O Holy Night,” and leads the audience in the annual carol sing-along. Returning to Princeton from West Virginia’s Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, John Devlin conducts both performances.  more

“COTTAGE FLOWERS”: Works by Karen Caldwell of Sunflower Glass Studio and others can be viewed November 29 through December 1 on the 30th Annual Covered Bridge Artisans Studio Tour.

This Thanksgiving weekend, the Covered Bridge Artisans will celebrate three decades of artistry, craftsmanship, and community with their 30th Annual Studio Tour. Taking place from November 29 to December 1 from 10 a,m. to 5 p.m. each day, this event invites visitors to explore the studios and workspaces of some of the Delaware River Valley region’s most talented artisans.

This self-guided tour will take place in nine professional artists’ studios in Lambertville, Stockton, Sergeantsville, and New Hope, Pa., areas with 12 additional artists at the Sandy Ridge Church.  more

This acrylic on canvas work by Larry Mitnick is featured in “Making Space,” an exhibition of his paintings at Belle’s Tavern, 183 North Union Street, Lambertville, through the end of December. Mitnick’s work has been exhibited internationally and he is currently a member artist at Artists’ Gallery, 18 Bridge Street, Lambertville.

Mary Waltham of Princeton received an honorable mention for this watercolor work at the “11th Annual New Jersey Highlands Juried Art Exhibition,” presented by New Jersey Highlands Coalition at the Maxfield Engine House in Boonton. The exhibit features a mix of photography, paintings, mixed media, prints and sculpture focused on the landscapes, flora, fauna and historic and cultural resources of the Highlands region. A virtual exhibit featuring all of this year’s artists can be viewed at highlandsart.org.

MASTER POTTER: Caryn Newman, shown here creating a hand-built vase, holds her annual Open Studio Holiday Sale this Saturday and Sunday, November 16 and 17, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Willowood Pottery, 7 Willowood Drive, Ewing.

Once a year local Master Potter Caryn Newman opens her studio to the public – this year on Saturday and Sunday, November 16 and 17, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Busy firing work in her kiln from the past six months for this show, Newman said her latest work has some changes.

Decades of pottery-making added up, and she needed a shoulder replacement this past May. After a short break, she got back into the studio and started with hand-building new pieces as she recovered, instead of using the pottery wheel. more

November 6, 2024

“RUMORS” AT PHS: The casts of Neil Simon’s 1988 “elegant farce” are preparing for their November 14 opening at Princeton High School. The play runs through November 17. (Photo courtesy of Julianna Krawiecki)

By Donald Gilpin

In theater, music, and visual arts, Princeton Public Schools (PPS) is presenting a diverse array of events in November and December.

Rumors, a 1988 Neil Simon “elegant farce,” as the author described it, will take the spotlight on the Princeton High School (PHS) stage November 14-17. At Princeton Middle School (PMS) on November 22 and 23, the theme will be self-image and social and emotional learning in Hoodie, a short “play for the times,” according to PMS Theater Director Chaundra Cameron. more

By Stuart Mitchner

Writing on Sunday, November 3, I’m trying not to worry about the state of the nation on Wednesday, November 6. The backyard is painted yellow gold with leaves; the bird baths, front and back, are thriving; the new birdfeeders are wildly popular, and we’ve had a month of classic autumn weather — if you don’t count the drought. But I might as well be on “Dover Beach” with Matthew Arnold, the night-wind on my face on a sunny afternoon, the closing lines like one long sentence — “the world which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams, so various, so beautiful, so new, hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, not certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; and we are here as on a darkling plain swept with confused alarms of struggle and light, where ignorant armies clash by night.”

How about going with something a little lighter but dark around the edges, like Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” (“let us stop talking falsely now, the hour’s getting late”) — or else “Desolation Row,” even if Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot are “fighting in the captain’s tower.” Funny, as much as Allen Ginsberg admires Dylan, he complains about that line on allenginsberg.org because “Eliot and Pound were friends.” Hey, this is Bob Dylan, this is what he does, he mixes things up, so does Pound, who didn’t ride to the rescue of The Waste Land with gentle suggestions: he struck the lance of his pen deep into the heart of the first page. Otherwise we’d have something called  He Do The Police In Different Voices.

OK, we’ll mix vintage Ezra with some buoyant electric bass from the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh, who died late last month. Lesh’s playing on “Dark Star” and “Alligator” kept me going as I tried to read The Cantos and early troubadour poems like “Na Audiart,” which reads like a verse translation of Lesh’s bassline, with the Dead putting the pulse of life into Pound’s refrain “Audiart, Audiart.” more

By Nancy Plum

It is not easy to find a connection among composers from Mexico, Austria and Russia, but New Jersey Symphony brought these three cultures together this past weekend with its opening concert of the 2024-25 Princeton series. Led by Music Director Xian Zhang, the Symphony successfully wound a musical thread through the works of contemporary Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz, 18th-century Austrian Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and 19th-century Russian Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

The key to the three pieces performed Friday night in Richardson Auditorium seemed to be the composers’ use of winds for innovative orchestral color. In Ortiz’s Kauyumari, wind solos reflected the diverse musical influences which surrounded Ortiz in her native Mexico. The one-movement Kauyumari, commissioned in 2021 by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, depicts the ancient “blue deer” rite of Mexico which allows the Huichol people to communicate with ancestors and reaffirm their role as guardians of the planet. Channeling the sounds of Latin America into a classical work, Ortiz created a piece to capture both the blue deer, with its power to “enter the world of the intangible,” and the reopening of live music following the pandemic.  more

Students perform Anon(ymous) by Naomi Iizuka during the final dress rehearsal in the Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center on Oct. 31, 2024. Photo by Larry Levanti

“ANON(YMOUS)”: Performances are underway for “Anon(ymous).” Presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University; and directed by Bi Jean Ngo (assisted by Matthew Cooperberg), the play runs through November 9 at McCarter’s Berlind Theatre. Above: Anon (Aabid Ismail, left) journeys in search of his family, accompanied by a variety of characters, including the streetwise Pascal (Oriana Nelson, right), a West African refugee. (Photo by Larry Levanti / Lewis Center for the Arts)

By Donald H. Sanborn III

The Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University is presenting Anon(ymous) at McCarter. Playwright Naomi Iizuka’s contemporary, stylized retelling of The Odyssey centers on two refugees in the U.S. — Anon and Nemasani — each of whom has been separated from a family member.

Iizuka’s script embraces and offers ample scope for multiple forms: drama, modern dance, and performance art — in short, much of what live theater offers. Bi Jean Ngo, director of the Lewis Center production (assisted by Matthew Cooperberg), takes full advantage of this; the polished staging makes use of often dazzling production values while ensuring that the performances are the primary focus. more

BE OUR GUEST: Sally Graham Bethman, left, and Pat Rounds star in “Beauty and the Beast” at Kelsey Theatre November 8-24.

Maurer Productions OnStage presents Disney’s musical Beauty and the Beast November 8-24 at Kelsey Theatre on the campus of Mercer County Community College in West Windsor.

The enduring fairy tale tells the story of Belle, a spirited young woman in a provincial town, and the Beast, a prince trapped under the spell of an enchantress. If the Beast can learn to love and be loved, the curse will end, and he will be transformed into his former self. But time is running out, and if those lessons aren’t learned soon, the Beast and his house will be doomed for all eternity. more

Rider University’s arts programs are performing in theaters on the Lawrence Township campus throughout the remainder of the fall season.

On Friday and Saturday, November 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m., the University’s dance majors present their fall dance concert in the Bart Luedeke Center Theater. The following weekend, Westminster Opera Theatre presents Die Fledermaus in the Yvonne Theater. Shows are Friday and Saturday, November 15 and 16 at 7:30 p.m. more

HITMAKER: Paul Anka is at the State Theatre New Jersey on November 12.

State Theatre New Jersey presents singer-songwriter Paul Anka: All the Hits — His Way on Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $49-$229.

Born July 30, 1941, in Ottawa, Canada, into a close-knit family, Anka sang in a choir, studied piano, and honed his writing skills with journalism courses, even working as a cub reporter at the Ottawa Citizen. In 1956, he convinced his parents to let him travel to Los Angeles to visit his uncle, where he hitchhiked to a meeting with Modern Records that led to the release of his first single. more

CHAMBER MUSIC: Members of the Ebene and Belcea String Quartets will join forces for a concert at Richardson Auditorium on November 13. (Photo by Maurice Haas and Julien Mignot)

On Wednesday, November 13 at 7:30 p.m. at Richardson Auditorium, the Ebene and Belcea String Quartets will return to the Princeton University Concerts (PUC) series for the first time since 2022 and 2016, respectively.

Their program, part of the Concert Classics series, includes music of Mendelssohn and Enescu; they will bring it to Carnegie Hall the following evening. more

PIANIST RETURNS: Benjamin Grosvenor is back on the Richardson Auditorium stage on November 7 with a program of music by Brahms, Schumann, and Mussorgsky.

Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor will make a long-anticipated return to the Princeton University Concerts (PUC) series on Thursday, November 7, at 7:30 p.m. at Richardson Auditorium on Princeton University’s campus.

Grosvenor last came to PUC in 2017, when he was in his early twenties; now he returns with a program of Johannes Brahms Intermezzi, Op. 117, Robert Schumann Fantasie in C Major, Op. 17, and Modest Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition. more

On Friday, November 15 at 8 p.m., the Princeton Folk Music Society presents an evening of uplifting songs and stories with Mustard’s Retreat. The performance takes place at Christ Congregation Church, 50 Walnut Lane.

Since they first got together in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1975, Mustard’s Retreat (David Tamulovich and Libby Glover) have been performing songs and stories they enjoyed and cared about, regardless of the trends of the music industry and pop culture.

“Folk music is, at its heart, defiantly hopeful,” said Tamulevich. “We came of age in the 60s, at the confluence of Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul & Mary, Bob Dylan, and the singer/songwriter revolution. We care much more about what we do and stand for and finding that common ground with our audiences, than fame or money. This is our community of choice, and we consider ourselves so fortunate to be here.”

Tickets are $25 ($20 for members, $10 for students). Visit Princetonfolk.org.

“AT FIRST LIGHT”: This oil on panel work by Rye Tippet is featured in his third solo show at Morpeth Contemporary in Hopewell. An opening reception is on Friday, November 8 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Morpeth Contemporary, 43 West Broad Street, Hopewell, has announced the opening of its latest exhibition, “At First Light,” the third solo show for painter Rye Tippet. Alongside Tippet’s paintings will be a selection of metal sculptures by fellow Bucks County, Pa., artist Justin Long, in his debut with the gallery. The opening reception is on Friday, November 8, from 6 to 8 p.m. The exhibition will be on view through Sunday, November 24.

Tippet’s latest paintings are mysterious and allusive, yet involving, urging closer examination. Their surreal nature ignites viewers’ curiosity, inviting thoughts about where dreams join reality, how the past informs the present, and whether the departed commune with the living.  more

SAUCE FOR THE GOOSE: The Arts Council of Princeton’s Sauce for the Goose Outdoor Art Market, featuring unique gifts from more than 100 local and regional artisans, celebrates its 30th year on November 9 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in downtown Princeton.

Now celebrating its 30th year, the Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) will hold the Sauce for the Goose Outdoor Art Market on Saturday, November 9 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Downtown Princeton.

Sauce for the Goose is an annual destination for unique, high-quality, and handmade gifts. This year’s market will feature more than 100 local and regional artisans selling their wares in ceramics, textile, apparel, jewelry, printmaking, wood, glass, painting, and more. more

“CRANBURY HOLIDAY STREET”: Works by local artist Donna Senopoulos are featured in “Near and Far,” on view at the Cranbury Public Library through December 29.

The Cranbury Public Library is hosting a solo exhibition by local artist Donna Senopoulos through December 29. Entitled “Near and Far: From NJ to Florida in Watercolor,” the collection includes scenes from locales such as Cranbury, the Jersey Shore, and Fort Myers, Fla. The artwork is primarily watercolor-based medium on paper, canvas, and wood, and also includes mixed media with pen or pencil, and metallic foils. All artwork is for sale. more

“NO TIME TO EXPLAIN”: This acrylic and mixed media work is featured in “The Super Hero’s Journey,” a solo exhibition of paintings by Princeton resident Patrick McDonnell, on view November 9 to December 7 in the Arts Council of Princeton’s Taplin Gallery. A gallery opening is on November 16 from 3 to 5 p.m.

The Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) will present “The Super Hero’s Journey,” a solo exhibition of paintings by artist Patrick McDonnell, November through December 7 in the Taplin Gallery. McDonnell, a Princeton resident, has entertained audiences for 30 years with MUTTS, his internationally syndicated comic strip. For the first time on the East Coast, he will display his large modernist paintings.

McDonnell’s works, created with acrylic latex, oil stick, ink, and collage, are a continuation of the story of self-discovery told in his graphic novel, The Super Hero’s Journey, created for Marvel and Abrams Books.  more

The Princeton Photography Club, in conjunction with Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) University Hospital, Hamilton, is presenting an exhibit of four local photographers as part of its Spotlight Series. The exhibit is on view at the Lakefront Gallery November 7 to January 29, 2025, with an opening reception on November 6 from 5 to 7 p.m. The reception and exhibit are free and open to the public.

The works of the four photographers in the exhibit span a wide range of styles and themes. Ernestine Ruben’s “Layers,” Gerrit Dispersyn’s “Liquid Spheres,” Jill Mudge’s “Seascapes.” and Julie Tennant’s “Simply Portraits” present a fascinating and diverse body of work including landscapes, macro photography, and intimate visions of the sea. more

“NATITO”: This photograph by Rebecca DePorte is featured in “Walk on the Wild Side,” on view at Gallery 14 Fine Art Photography in Hopewell through November 24.

Gallery 14 Fine Art Photography in Hopewell now presents photography exhibitions by members Rebecca “Becky” DePorte and Charles Miller, as well as paintings by the Watercolor Women of Galley 14, on view through November 24.

Works by DePorte can be seen in “Walk on The Wild Side.” New to Gallery 14, she is an award-winning photographer specializing in wildlife. Her photographs have been published in USA Today, FotoNostrom, BirdWatching magazine, Gardener’s Journal, and Backroads catalog. Deportre has taught Wildlife Photography at Princeton Adult School. Her favorite subjects are animals with fur or feathers, and her exhibition features the animals she has photographed in Africa, India, and the U.S. more

October 30, 2024

By Stuart Mitchner

Denizens of YouTube’s cosmic jukebox can celebrate Ezra Pound’s birthday by listening to him deliver Part I of his landmark poem Hugh Selwyn Mauberly (Life and Contacts). The reading was reportedly recorded in 1959 when he lived in Castle Brunnenburg in the Italian Tyrol, some 39 years after the poem was first published and 65 years before the 2024 election. With a few taps on the keyboard, you can go eye to eye with the old poet, who describes himself as E.P. “born in a half-savage country, out of date” — actually Hailey, Idaho Territory, U.S.A., October 30, 1885. more

HONORING VETERANS: Pianist Jeffrey Biegel is the soloist when the New Jersey Youth Symphony performs “Rhapsody in Red, White, and Blue” at Patriots Theater at the War Memorial on Veterans Day, November 3.

The New Jersey Youth Symphony (NJYS) will present a concert to honor veterans and armed forces on Sunday, November 3 at 3 p.m. at the Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton.

Veterans are invited to attend the concert for free by using discount code VETERAN. Tickets and more information can be found at NJYS.org.

The program features the New Jersey premiere of Peter Boyer’s Rhapsody in Red, White, and Blue with pianist Jeffrey Biegel. Biegel commissioned Boyer to compose the piece to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the premiere of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and gave its first performance in June 2023 with the Utah Symphony. Biegel later recorded the work for the Naxos label with the London Symphony Orchestra and Boyer conducting. more

The Westminster Community Orchestra brings its first performance of the season to Hillman Hall, on the Westminster Choir College campus, 101 Walnut Lane, on Sunday, November 3 at 3 p.m. Conductor Ruth Ochs, left, leads a program of music by George Gershwin, Scott Joplin, Florence Price, and other American composers; recorder player Tegan Costello, right, is soloist in Telemann’s Recorder Concerto in C. No tickets are required, but there is a suggested admission of $10. Visit rider.edu.