Five Sundays at 4:00 pm
Pre-concert lecture at 3:00 pm
Richardson Auditorium, Princeton, NJ

Our opening concert includes two of the nineteenth century's towering masterworks-Brahms Violin Concerto and Schumann Symphony No.2. The Princeton Symphony Orchestra welcomes our first guest conductor, Shi-Yeon Sung-the first woman to win the Georg Solti International Conductor's Competition in Frankfurt (2006).

In the midst of mental and physical illnesses, Schumann worked on the second symphony: "I sketched when I was still in bad shape physically. Indeed, I can perhaps say that it was the resisting power of the spirit that here had a visible influence, and through which I sought to help my bodily condition." It is not only his longest symphony, but emotional, expressive, and decisive in form. Schumann discovered Brahms in the early 1850s and promoted his career. Brahms developed a close and extensive relationship with both Robert and Clara Schumann. The brilliant young Chinese violinist, Dan Zhu, makes his début with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, performing Brahms' immortal Violin Concerto.

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November’s concert will pay tribute to the sweeping realm of Russian music while delving further into music’s abundant links to literature and film. Jens Georg Bachmann, recent Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and current conductor of the Metropolitan Opera, will be the PSO’s guest conductor. Highlights of the concert include Tchaikovsky's thrilling adaptation of Shakespeare's immortal love-drama, “Romeo and Juliet,” and Shostakovich's 9th Symphony—a work whose classical style is nonetheless steeped in the dark colors of Shostakovich’s gripping musical language. The PSO will introduce an American premiere of Colours of Autumn for String Orchestra, composed by the young Russian composer, Victoria Borisova-Ollas. The program will open with Austrian-American film composer, Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Theme and Variations, honoring the anniversaries of the composer’s 110th birthday and 50th year of his death.

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Our second annual Edward T. Cone Concert honors Ed’s own great gifts as a composer and his love for Mahler. Written in 1942 and now receiving its premiere, An Overture in a Time of War is unfortunately as timely today as it was sixty-five years ago. Paired with another composition, Elegy, we are able to see two contrasting and profound sides of this composer and humanitarian.

Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn is an outstanding result of German romantic literature. Mahler selected from more than three volumes containing over seven-hundred works with a poetic element beyond “high literature.” He chose poems with which he felt a strong connection, and composed another of his magnificent song-cycles. “The Youth’s Magic Horn” presents a variety of evocative tones and moods, as well as different characters and styles as only Mahler could conceive.

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Once again, we are privileged to present a collaborative concert in association with the Princeton University Art Museum. A series of lectures held at the Museum leads up to this performance in which the Princeton Symphony Orchestra showcases three distinctive compositional styles, all inspired by specific paintings.

The brilliant orchestral colorist and impressionist, Ottorino Respighi (The Pines of Rome), paints with tones, using orchestral textures and harmonies to convey the moods he perceived in three of Botticelli’s paintings. American composer Gunther Schuller uses several contrasting styles, including folk music and jazz, to describe both mood and title, as well as the actual design, shape, and colors of Paul Klee’s paintings. Paul Hindemith, living in precarious times of international conflict, found himself inspired by Matthias Grünewald’s Altarpiece in Colmar (Princeton’s sister-city), and related personally to the painter living in politically challenging times. His “Mathis der Maler” Symphony remains one of the strongest symphonic statements in the orchestral repertoire.

Immediately after the concert, our audience is invited to a reception at the Princeton University Art Museum, where the celebration of art and music continues.

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The PSO ends its season on Prokofiev’s birthday. In tribute, the PSO performs his rarely heard and exceedingly beautiful waltzes, written on the occasion of the Russian writer Alexander Pushkin’s 150th birthday. Pianist David Greilsammer performs two delightful concerti—an early concerto by Mozart and the dazzling Second Concerto of Camille Saint-Saëns. Our season comes to a close in a triumphant fashion with what is perhaps the most famous of all symphonies, Beethoven Symphony No.5. Commencing with its inspiring “fate” motif, Beethoven’s Fifth is universally celebrated for the grand scale of its irrepressibly life-affirming spirit.

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Before Every Concert:
Free Pre-Concert Lecture with Gene De Lisa

Each subscription concert begins with pre-concert insights of Gene De Lisa, who also pens the PSO's program notes. A friend of the PSO, Gene De Lisa earned his doctorate in Composition from the University of North Texas College of Music. He studied composition with illustrious composers including Witold Lutoslawski and also with the PSO's longtime program annotator and lecturer, Lawrence Taylor. Additionally, Gene has studied computer music at the Universitá di Padova, Italy, and was a private trumpet student of Edward Treutel at the Juilliard School. Gene's pre-concert lectures take place at 3:00 pm in the Richardson Auditorium and are free to all ticket holders.