Music EVENTS 7 Sid Bernstein Presents
The legendary concert promoter, responsible for bringing The Beatles and The Rolling Stones to American shores, returns to the library with his partner, John Anthony, president of Banner Records, to present their newest discoveries. Pop singers Amanda Perko and Rachel Conrad will perform, and fashion model Tamara Frae will also appear. Dec. 12, 2 p.m.
Amanda Perko
Rachel Conrad
Bill Collins and the Poetry Music Project This singer, songwriter, poet, and musician will perform his latest program, a solo of original poetry backed by recorded instrumental music with vocal improvisations. The Poetry Music Project is a performance-driven combination of poetry and prose in conjunction with musical jazz arioso, which is a style of solo singing between recitative and aria. Jan. 30, 3 p.m.
Princeton Girlchoir
Members of the Princeton Girlchoir will present “A Girl’s Life: Choral Music For and About Girls of the World.” The girls will sing music from a variety of time periods and cultures, including Vivaldi’s Gloria in D Major, written during the Venetian composer’s employment at an orphanage for girls, and Caldwell and Ivory’s “Beneath the African Sky,” based on the real-life experience of Clementine, a refugee of the Rwandan genocide. Audience members will have a chance to learn more about diverse music written by female composers and the quandaries of love and marriage in contemporary pieces such as “Dance On My Heart” and “Rockabye Baby.” Associate Director Kelly Ann Nelson Westgate will conduct the choir, accompanied by Ryan Brechmacher. Feb. 13, 3 p.m. Funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
PRINCETON SYMPHONY SOUNDTRACKS
The Beethoven Difference Get a behind-the-scenes look into the workings of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra as a prelude to its Jan. 23 performance at Richardson Auditorium with a lecture by Beethoven scholar Scott Burnham. The focus will be Beethoven’s Eroica symphony, a highlight of the upcoming program. Burnham is the Scheide Professor of Music History at Princeton University. This is an illustrated lecture exploring the musical values of Beethoven’s “heroic” style, explaining the huge impact the composer had on the rest of Western musical history. Burnham will guide the audience to listen for the ways in which Beethoven quickly absorbed the ethos of the Viennese classical style of Haydn and Mozart and inflected that style into his own, iconic voice. Jan. 12, 7:30 p.m. Library cardholders are invited to read about Beethoven and listen to recordings of his music from the collection. Among the books recommended are “Beethoven Hero” by Scott Burnham; “Beethoven and His World,” edited by Scott Burnham and Michael P. Steinberg; “The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824,” by Harvey Sachs; and “Beethoven, The Music and the Life,” by Lewis Lockwood. The library’s CD collection includes recordings featuring some of the top conductors and soloists, including Fürtwangler, Haitnik, von Karajan, Brendel and Richter.
Rossen Milanov, music director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra.
Scott Burnham