Hailed by critics as New Jersey's "virtuoso orchestra," the Princeton Symphony Orchestra is the 2004 - 2006 recipient of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts' Citation of Excellence, given to the PSO "for exhibiting the highest standards of excellence in its artistry, operations, governance, and public benefit."
Whether performing the classical masterworks, introducing music by the most innovative contemporary composers, or delighting area schoolchildren with their first orchestra experience, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra is regarded as one of the region's finest musical organizations. The PSO is greater Princeton's only resident professional orchestra and performs its subscription series in historic Richardson Auditorium in downtown Princeton, as well as special performances throughout the region.
Founded in 1980 as The Little Orchestra of New Jersey by the late Portia Sonnenfeld, what is now known as the Princeton Symphony Orchestra originally presented two or three informal concerts each year. The orchestra was restructured in 1983 and just before Ms. Sonnenfeld's death in 1986, the Board of Trustees selected Mark Laycock as Music Director of the Princeton Chamber Orchestra, later renamed the Princeton Chamber Symphony, and finally, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. Mark Laycock has concluded his long tenure as the Princeton Symphony Orchestra Music Director. The Board has initiated a search process that will be chaired by Robert L. Annis, Dean and Director of Westminster Choir College of Rider University. Guest conductors will lead the the classical series, Pops concerts, and BRAVO! performances until the appointment of the new Music Director is announced.
In addition to its five-concert classical series, the PSO is in its sixth season of presenting its Sunday Afternoon Chamber Series, featuring members of the orchestra in small ensemble performances at the Institute for Advanced Study and the Montgomery Center for the Arts/Stonebridge. PSO POPS! Plays Broadway debuted three seasons ago, with Broadway and television stars Rebecca Luker and Stephen Bogardus. The 07-08 season will feature three Broadway Pops International singers—Nat Chandler, Teri Hansen, and Sal Viviano. PSO POPS! Annual Family Holiday Concert bows on December 15th.
Past seasons have included a concert production of Verdi's La Traviata, New Year's Eve gala Operafest at the State Theatre in New Brunswick; encore classical performances for the Monroe Township Cultural Arts Commission; a three-year Sacred Music Series in collaboration with the Princeton Theological Seminary; the American premiere of Daylight Divine by Augusta Read Thomas; American Salute July 4th concerts; New Jersey Gay Men's Chorus; Waterloo Festival Concert; Holocaust Remembrance Concert; collaborations with American Repertory Ballet and Princeton Art Museum; and an All-Bach New Year's Day concert.
Guest artists that have appeared with the PSO include the Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble, the American Boychoir, Leon Bates, John Chancellor, John Cheek, Linda Hohenfeld, Joan LaBarbara, Chantal Juillet, Emily Mann, Bernard Rands, Tania Leon, Joel Quarrington, Anthony Hewitt, Arve Tellefsen, Cynthia Clarey, Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Christina Castelli, Gerard LeFeuvre, Wolfgang Basch, Yuri Mazurkevich, Peter Odrekivskyy, Reiko Uchida, Meagan Miller, Stuart Neill, Gregory Smith, Thomas Pandolfi, the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia and the Westminster Symphonic Choir.
PSO also produces BRAVO!, an in-school educational series with children's concerts reaching more than 10,000 schoolchildren each year, with programs that introduce students to the instruments of the orchestra and the joy of classical music. Carefully prepared programs sequentially introduce the four instrument families, as well as the process of composing and performing music, all brought to life by the professional musicians of the PSO. Each year, the in-school programs culminate in a fun-filled, full orchestra concert just for children at Richardson Auditorium, attended by thousands of children.”
|
