Student Musings

by Audrey Yang, Princeton University Class of 2025

Audrey Yang is pursuing a degree in French at Princeton University. In January 2023, she completed an internship with PUC and signed on to be the leader of the Student Ambassadors program.

To learn more about the Jupiter Ensemble’s appearance and get your tickets, click here.

The Jupiter Ensemble is unique in its founding — in 2018, lutenist Thomas Dunford called upon influential musicians he had encountered in his career, asking them to join him on a new musical adventure. In this way, the Jupiter Ensemble was born, a group of younger musicians channeling a shared musical energy to bring early music to life. The Jupiter Ensemble’s performances highlight the passion, power, and emotion in early music through their unique approach to playing together, marked by a striking sense of improvisational and collaborative freedom. 

Thomas Dunford has collaborated with many classical musicians and ensembles, but also cites jazz among his influences. Improvisation, after all, is something that transcends the limits of “classical” or “jazz”, which you might see as very separate categories and styles. From improvised jazz solos to baroque ornamentation, vocal riffs, and classical cadenzas, gaining exposure to different modes of improvisation can benefit any musician. 

You may feel as though classical music is guided by many rules, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t space for freedom and creativity in interpretation. The Jupiter Ensemble embodies just that: the spirit of creating and recreating musical works through collaboration and innovation.

For a younger audience, the Jupiter Ensemble is an excellent example of how we might dare to leave our own interpretive marks on already established repertoire, perhaps even teaching a greater lesson: not to be afraid to be a new voice in an age-old conversation. 

by Audrey Yang, Princeton University Class of 2025

Audrey Yang is pursuing a degree in French at Princeton University. In January 2023, she completed an internship with PUC and signed on to be the leader of the Student Ambassadors program.

To learn more about Alina Ibragimova’s and Cédric Tiberghien’s appearance and to get your tickets, click here.

Alina Ibragimova, violin, and Cédric Tiberghien, piano, are both well-known for their musical versatility, eagerly performing a wide range of repertoire from baroque to new commissions.

They bring this flexibility to the Richardson stage, performing Schumann’s first two violin sonatas, Mendelssohn’s Violin Sonata in F Minor Op. 4, and Webern’s Four Pieces for Violin and Piano, an chance for us all to gain exposure to lesser-known romantic pieces and modern repertoire. 

Additionally, these pieces all explore the idea of ‘firsts,’ each being its composer’s attempt at doing something new. Schumann had remarked, “I did not like the first Sonata for Violin and Piano; so I wrote a second one, which I hope has turned out better.”

Mendelssohn wrote his Violin Sonata in F Minor at only 14 years old, through which we may appreciate the calm, undramatic beauty of his early composition before he became known for more dramatic expressions. Webern’s Four Pieces for Violin and Piano Op. 7 is also regarded as the start of his experiments on form and sound material, and was his first piece ever printed.

Through these works, we might be able to gain insight into what it means to be producing creative work just for the sake of producing it — to be unapologetic about our ‘firsts,’ and to always seek challenges which push us to grow in our own passions.

by Perla Diaz, Trenton Central High School Class of 2023

Perla Diaz is a senior at Trenton Central High School (TCHS), where she plays in the TCHS Orchestra and participates in programming by our partners at Trenton Arts at Princeton (TAP). She began playing the violin when she was in the fifth grade and started playing in the Trenton Youth Orchestra in 2019..

To learn more about Alexi Kenney’s appearance and get your tickets, click here.

I cannot wait to hear 29 year old music explorer Alexi Kenney captivate us all with what’s sure to be a breathtaking performance of his Shifting Ground program. We are honored to hear an artist as talented as Kenney play his “blend” of Bach and contemporary pieces, a program with a fascinating choice of music that you wouldn’t put together otherwise. Even if it is not your first time listening to Kenney play, you are up for a ride, an experience difficult to forget. Some of the pieces on his program are absolutely gorgeous and hypnotizing, while others are weirdly creepy but mesmerizing at the same time.

In his Shifting Ground program, Kenney uses the piece “Under A Tree” by Du Yun, a chanting recording of the ancient language Vedic Sanskrit, as a backing track to one of the pieces he will perform.

While listening to the set, I was fascinated by the soft, melodic beginning and the change to more harsh, snappy sounds. It became unsettling but entertaining. It’s definitely one of the pieces I want to hear the most in person!”

The pieces Kenney will be performing are proof that music, however different, can still come together and create something enjoyable for all.

by Helia Cui, Princeton University Class of 2023

Helia is pursuing a degree in Music at Princeton University. In January 2023, she completed a Princeternship with PUC through the University’s Center for Career Development.

To learn more about Fred Hersch’s appearance and get your tickets, click here.

If you didn’t know Fred Hersch before, a Google search would give you all his accolades — “a living legend”, “select member of jazz’s piano pantheon”, “fifteen-time GRAMMY nominee”. . . Equally legendary as his musical career, Fred was one of the first openly-gay, HIV-positive jazz musicians who remains an AIDS activist to this day.

At this point you may feel like Fred and you come from different universes. At his PUC debut, however, aside from bringing all that wonderful music, Fred will engage in an intimate conversation with the audience, sharing his experience facing what everyone inevitably faces — illness. In the year 2008, Fred was so sick from AIDS and related diseases that he fell into a two-month coma.

He came out of the coma unable to hold a pencil, not to mention being able to play the piano, and yet with an ever-deeper connection to music and a renewed determination to make as much music as he can.”

The project “Breath by Breath”, all composed by Fred during the pandemic, is a showcase of music’s ability to soothe, to reflect, and to invigorate.

The major part of the project, the eight-part Sati Suite (Sati is the Pali word for “mindfulness” or “awareness”) takes inspiration from Fred’s longtime insight meditation practice. When we think of meditation music, jazz may not be the first that comes to mind.

What does Fred find in meditation that he is now communicating to us through music? I can’t wait to hear.

Two more points on the program worth noting for classical music enthusiasts

– “Breath by Breath” features Fred’s first incorporation of a string quartet into his compositions.

– “Pastorale” which pays homage to Robert Schumann.

For the eminent musician, for the vibrant music, for an experience that speaks to our fundamental existence as human beings, this is a concert not to miss.

by Helia Cui, Princeton University Class of 2023

Helia is pursuing a degree in Music at Princeton University. In January 2023, she completed a Princeternship with PUC through the University’s Center for Career Development.

To learn more about Alexi Kenney’s appearance and get your tickets, click here.

Violinist Alexi Kenney’s upcoming program on Thursday, February 16, 2023  is unique first of all for its format. I would call it a “playlist” concert —single movements are played one after another mostly without pause.

Similar to how a modern listener would head to Spotify (or Apple Music) and select a playlist, Alexi will bring us a holistic program that not only takes inspiration from J. S. Bach but that is also his own expression, innovatively mixing Bach with works by composers of our time. If we think about it, all music written has once been ‘contemporary’ music.

Alexi’s program connects the “contemporary” music for Bach to contemporary music for us, bringing to light the common threads that transcend history.

Some things I love about the program:

– All the Bach pieces come from his Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, a foundational repertoire for the violin as a solo instrument. The ending piece of the program, the masterful, monumental Chaconne from Violin Partita No.2, is a series of variations on a repeating bass-line. This is a reference to the program title “Shifting Ground.”

How does this “ground” shift throughout the program? We can only listen to find out!

– As for the contemporary compositions, they have a story behind them that speaks to our shared experience living in today’s world.

The first contemporary piece in the program, “Playing Changes” from Violin Diptych by Samuel Adams, for instance, was written in the pandemic and came out of the composer’s desire to connect in the difficult time.

The piece by Du Yun, “Under A Tree,” uses as its backing track a recording of vedic Sanskrit chanting. I’m very curious to see how the violin would stand out against this religious backdrop.

– For those of you wondering how music could interact with visuals, the lighting of this production is designed by Jane Cox, Director of Princeton’s Program in Theater, award-winning lighting designer and two-time Tony Award nominee. Be ready for your eyes and ears to be pleased at the same time!