Princeton Festival Lectures To Focus On Baroque Music, Opera

PRINCETON, NJ — Music lovers are in for a treat. This year’s edition of the Princeton Festival’s popular lecture series will include an interview on immersive video and a special focus on Baroque music and opera.

The series, co-sponsored by the Princeton Public Library, begins Wednesday with a panel interview of the artists behind Dreaming/Undreaming, a multimedia concert scheduled for June 17.

“Our next lecture kicks off four consecutive evenings centered on Baroque music, alternating lectures and concerts,” said Gregory Geehern, the Festival’s Acting Artistic Director.

“For lovers of Bach, Vivaldi, and other Baroque composers, it will be like binge-watching a favorite TV show.”

The first lecture, Profound Harmony and Invention on June 7, will feature scholar and musician John Buckhalter who will demonstrate the style and sound of Baroque music that the Festival’s Baroque Chamber Ensemble will play at the concerts on June 8 and 10.

On June 9, viewers can participate in an Artists’ Round Table where members of the chamber ensemble will reveal secrets behind playing Baroque music correctly.

All four lectures will allow fans of music to immerse themselves in their chosen subjects.

Here’s a list of what’s in store:

• “What the Opera Meant to Paris in the 19th Century,” June 11, Princeton Art Museum docent Marianne Grey will trace the influence of opera through artists likem Manet, Renoir, and Pissarro.
• Rutgers music professor Timothy Urban will explore “Wine, Women, and Song in Opera” on June 14.
• Opera expert and former Metropolitan Opera backstage tour guide Harold Kuskin, will present the lecture “Expressions of Love in Opera” on June 15.
• Stuart Holt, Director of School Programs and Community Engagement for the Metropolitan Opera, will talk on two forms of music theater in “Opera or Musical? – The Fine Line that Divides Them” on June 17.

For more details on this year’s line up, visit https://princetonfestival.org/