Independent Arts News Reporting 
Pictured Above: The Sebastians Ensemble. Photo Credit: Front Row Productions.
The Sounds of Summer: Princeton Festival Blends Drama, Dance, and Divine Music
By: Lori Goldstein
The Princeton Festival, presented by the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, is striking all the right chords this summer with an exhilarating and eclectic lineup ranging from Puccini’s dramatic Tosca to a Sondheim cabaret, the best of Motown, and ABBA’s infectious pop. With the much-anticipated return of world-renowned soprano Renée Fleming and a festival program curated to thrill opera lovers, musical theater fans, and classical connoisseurs alike, 2025 promises one of the Festival’s most ambitious seasons yet. All from under the performance tent at Morven Museum and Gardens to the historic Trinity Church. The Princeton Festival is ready to once again take center stage—boldly, beautifully, all with an air of added excitement for the unexpected.
There is much excitement about the appearance of the world-renowned soprano Renée Fleming, who will sing some of her favorite arias and songs, at the 2025 Princeton Festival—so much so that the concert was sold out in March. This will be a reunion for the soprano and music director Rossen Milanov. The 2021-22 season of the Columbus Symphony, which Milanov also conducts, opened with a performance by Fleming. And last summer, they presented a concert at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. (Consult the princetonsymphony.org website for a waiting list for the June 7 concert.)
Pictured Above: Renée Fleming. Photo Credit: Marvin Joseph.
Maestro Milanov encourages Princeton Festival attendees to avail themselves of the immensely talented and varied array of vocalists, singing everything from Sondheim to soul and pops; of instrumentalists, playing music from the baroque and classical music eras, even bluegrass; and of dancers, from the American Repertory Ballet. The Festival runs from June 6 through June 21, under the performance tent adjacent to Morven Museum and Garden.
If there is anyone who can complement Renée Fleming, it is Puccini’s Tosca. The impassioned diva valiantly tries to rescue her love, the artist Cavaradossi, who defies the authoritarian regime of Rome, embodied in Scarpia, the Chief of Police. The choice of Tosca is a departure from the past three seasons, when the Festival offered delightful opera buffa (comic opera)—remember Derrick Wang’s Scalia/Ginsburg, whose mutual love of opera connected the two ideologically opposed Supreme Court Justices. Maestro Milanov says, “It was about time to return to opera seria,” which is characterized by serious, often tragic themes, and he has chosen one of Puccini’s most enthralling operas to do so.
Pictured Above: Luis Ledesma. Photo Credit: Paul Sirochma.
“I think with Tosca, this is one of the most popular titles. It also requires voices that are a little bit bigger than, say, La Bohème. It’s a fantastic drama that relates on so many different levels, even up to these days. These are questions that we’re still dealing with–when a person with a great amount of power decides to abuse it and also decides to destroy the world around him. It’s one of these stories that have been existing for as long as people are alive,” says Milanov. Puccini addresses themes of “what is secular and what is profane, the power of religion and the power of the state… And the music is outstanding. There are numbers that are absolutely heartbreaking, other numbers that are absolutely terrifying. That’s what opera is all about, it’s really being on the extremes.”
Knowing that he would be conducting Tosca this summer, Milanov decided to take a journey of “personal enrichment” when he was in Rome over Christmas last year. He visited all the sites in the city where the opera–set in June 1800, over the course of a day and the following morning–takes place: the Basilica di Sant’Andrea della Valle, the church where Cavaradossi paints and promises to hide Angelotti, an escaped political prisoner; Palazzo Farnese, where Scarpia lives and where Tosca brokers a deal to free Cavaradossi, now under arrest as an accomplice; and Castel Sant’Angelo, the state prison, on the banks of the Tiberius River.
“As you are walking toward the Vatican, that beautiful statue [of the archangel Michael] with wings is still there on top [of the Castel Sant’Angelo],” recalls Milanov. “So one can visit all the sites of the opera, which is rare, to visit the historical location that is exactly what is represented in an opera. I think my interpretation of the piece is going to be different, because I have been physically on the space where the events of the story are happening.”
Pictured Above: L: Toni Marie Palmertree. Photo Credit: Contributed. R: Victor Starsky. Photo Credit: Visual Victory Studios
Milanov is excited about the three principal vocalists. Luis Ledesma has been hailed by Opera News for his command of “the stage with a rich but well-controlled baritone as a Scarpia convincingly devious.” Ledesma has performed this and many other roles in countless major American opera houses. “I have worked with him on numerous occasions,” says Milanov, citing a concert version of La Bohème with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Center in 2008, with Ledesma singing the role of Marcello. “His voice has matured and become bigger. He is, at the moment, I think, one of the finest Scarpias, not only vocally, but because of his ability to portray that character.”
Milanov chose Toni Marie Palmertree for the title role after auditioning several sopranos. When she performed Tosca with the Florida Grand Opera, Palmertree “delivered a truly remarkable performance. Her voice was powerful, clear, and expressive, capturing the complex emotions of the character with ease.” (Schmopera) She recently joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in her signature role as Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly, and she made her house and role debut as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Arizona Opera.
Tenor Victor Starsky recently sang his role debut as Mario Cavaradossi with New York City Opera and Lirico D’Europa, as well as the role of Maurizio in Pittsburgh Festival Opera’s production of Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur. In the winter of 2025, Starsky will sing the title role in Verdi’s Stiffelio. “He is just a fantastic lyric spinto–a tenor that has beautiful lyric lines, but at the same time has power,” explains Milanov, “as opposed to, say, a dramatic tenor, which you normally hear in Wagner operas.”
Milanov expects audiences to be impressed by the majestic “Te Deum” scene that ends Act One, with its mixed adult chorus as well as a children’s chorus. “This is the first time we’ll have a large group of artists onstage. Essentially it features a big number for Scarpia with the chorus in the background as part of a liturgy, so his evil aria is on the background of an actual religious service, which I think is one of the most amazing ways to juxtapose both the diabolic and the divine.” On other occasions during the opera, the chorus can be heard behind the curtain. “There is a lot of beautiful atmospheric music” in Tosca, of which there will be three performances, on June 13, 15, and 17.
Other vocal performances you won’t want to miss occur on opening night, June 6, with the return of Ryan Shaw, a soul musician from Georgia, and Capathia Jenkins, best known for her work on Broadway shows such as Caroline, or Change, Newsies, and Fame Becomes Me. Their new program, titled “ICON: The Voices That Changed Music,”will feature songs of Prince, Whitney Houston, Gladys Knight, Elvis, and other great American performers. They will be accompanied by the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO), conducted by Lucas Waldin.
Pictured Above: Melissa Errico. Photo Credit: Jenny Anderson.
On June 8, Melissa Errico, who’s known for her starring roles in My Fair Lady, High Society, Anna Karenina, White Christmas, and Les Misérables, as well as numerous recordings of musical theater classics, will present an evening of “Sondheim in the City,” a cabaret-style tribute to Broadway’s greatest songwriter. Also on June 8, this year’s free Community Day will include yoga in the garden, a Farmers’ Market presented in partnership with edibleJERSEY, as well as family fun and magic.
Pictured Above: Masters of Soul. Photo Credit: Ron Jantz.
On June 19, the Masters of Soul will perform “A Motown Revue,” featuring the music of such legendary artists as Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, James Brown, and more. And on June 21, the ensemble ARRIVAL, from Sweden, will sing the beloved hits of ABBA.
Of the peerless Baroque ensemble, the Sebastians, Milanov says, “It’s such a wonderful tradition to have Baroque music played in such an informed way, and in Trinity Church, appropriate for the Baroque period.” Their concert date is June 18. Milanov is equally enthusiastic about violinist Tessa Lark, who will present her program, “Stradgrass” on June 12 in the Church. “Tessa is a versatile artist, capable of doing bluegrass and classical and anything in between. She has created a name for herself of being able to span all the different styles and to appeal to a wide base of musical taste.”
Pictured Above: Daniel Rowland and Maja Bogdanovic. Photo Credit: Sarah Wijzenbeek.
On June 20, Daniel Rowland, a violinist who appeared with the PSO in 2016 and 2018, will be joined by his wife Maja Bogdanović, whom Milanov considers “a wonderfully accomplished cellist of Serbian descent.” This internationally renowned duo will be joined by an ensemble of PSO musicians to perform “Viva Vivaldi,” a program of works including those of Antonio Vivaldi, Osvaldo Golijov, and Max Richter. Maja Bogdanović will also appear as a soloist in the last concert of PSO’s 2025-26 season.
Pictured Above: Delibes Duet Choreography by Ethan Stiefel. ARB Dancers, Lily Krisko and Tiziano-Cerrato. Photo Credit: Rosalie-OConnor.
The American Repertory Ballet returns on June 14 for “An Evening of Pas de deux.” “That’s something we started a few years ago, and we always found that the match between the American Repertory Ballet and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra was a very natural [one],” says Milanov. “We’ve done quite a number of productions with them during their winter repertory season. This time it will be a little bit different because we will feature a program of mostly pas de deux [dance duets].”
Pictured Above: Maestro Rossen Milanov 2025. Photo Credit: PSO Staff Photo.
“It will be more like a big ballet gala, when you will see a great display of dancing from the classical traditions.” Selections will include two pas de deux from Swan Lake, one from Don Quixote, as well as the Delibes Duet, choreographed by the ballet company’s Artist in Residence, Ethan Stiefel. Four couples will each perform one excerpt, and the PSO will intersperse instrumental excerpts between their performances.
To purchase tickets and to confirm concert dates, times and locations, consult the princetonsymphony.org website.
