Independent Arts News Reporting Don't Miss Jennifer Koh Play Mazzoli Violin Concerto
Pictured Above: Jennifer Koh Photo Credit: Juergen Frank.
Newsroom Post: PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Princeton, NJ – GRAMMY® Award-winning violinist Jennifer Koh appears with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) at performances the weekend of October 14-15. She will play Missy Mazzoli’s Violin Concerto(Procession), which was written specifically for her in 2022. Also on the program are Felix Mendelssohn’s Scottish-inspired The Hebrides Overture (Fingal’s Cave), Op. 26 and Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43, one of his most popular works. Georg and Joyce Albers-Schonberg Assistant Conductor Kenneth Bean conducts the concerts, taking place on Saturday, October 14 at 8pm and Sunday, October 15 at 4pm at Richardson Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University. The Sunday performance will be preceded by a 3pm pre-concert talk.
Kenneth Bean is excited to immerse audiences in the music. He says, “I look forward to taking patrons on this amazing musical journey from the tumultuous waves of Mendelssohn’s Hebrides, to the contemporary vibrance of Mazzoli’s concerto brought to life by the incomparable Jennifer Koh, and culminating with the grandeur of Nordic landscapes depicted by Sibelius’ 2nd Symphony. The program serves as a wonderful reminder that music is both an echo of the past as well as a beacon for the future.”
Pictured Above: Kenneth Bean, Conductor. Photo Credit: Contributed.
Jennifer Koh is recognized for her intense, commanding performances, delivered with dazzling virtuosity and technical assurance. This season, Koh continues her New American Concerto series, an ongoing, multi-season commissioning project that explores the form of the violin concerto and its potential for artistic engagement with contemporary societal concerns. Koh continues to perform works from critically acclaimed solo and duo commissioning projects, including Alone Together, Bach and Beyond Bridge to Beethoven, Limitless, and Shared Madness. She also begins a new role as Artistic Director of the Fortas Chamber Music Concerts at the Kennedy Center. Koh has appeared with orchestras worldwide including the New York, Los Angeles, and Helsinki Philharmonics; Cleveland, Mariinsky, Minnesota, and Philharmonia (London) Orchestras; and Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, BBC, Chicago, Cincinnati, National, New World, NHK, RAI (Torino), and Singapore Symphonies. Named Musical America’s 2016 Instrumentalist of the Year, and “A Force of Nature” by the American Composers Orchestra in 2019, Koh has won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Concert Artists Guild Competition, and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Koh is also Artistic Director of arco collaborative, an artist-driven nonprofit that fosters a better understanding of our world through a musical dialogue inspired by ideas and the communities around us.
Kenneth Bean has served as the Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s Georg and Joyce Albers-Schonberg Assistant Conductor as well as the Symphonic Orchestra Conductor for the affiliated Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey since 2021. He is also an instructor and conductor in the Philadelphia area, as well as an active freelance trumpeter. He has appeared as a guest conductor for the Marywood String Festival, Berks County Orchestra Festival, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. His past music director/ conductor appointments include the Junior String Philharmonic of the Lehigh Valley, the Young People’s Philharmonic of the Lehigh Valley, and Luzerne Music Center. Kenneth currently serves as assistant conductor of Symphony in C, conductor of the Symphony in C Youth Orchestra in Collingswood, NJ, and director/conductor of the Young Musicians Debut Orchestra, the newest full orchestra within the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Music Institute.
In 1830, Felix Mendelssohn composed his concert overture “Hebrides,” also known as “Fingal’s Cave in response to his visit to the Hebrides Islands off the west coast of Scotland. Drawing on ideas of music and healing, particularly from the medieval period, Missy Mazzoli’s violin concerto was tailor-made for violinist Jennifer Koh, Mazzoli’s colleague at the Mannes School of Music. Jean Sibelius’s second symphony is an anthem for Finnish independence, known for both its expansive melodies and lush orchestration.
Performances take place on Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 4pm at Richardson Auditorium. 5-Concert Subscriptions and other discounted ticket packages are available. Youths 5-17 receive a 50% discount with an adult purchase. To subscribe or purchase single tickets to any orchestral performance or Holiday POPS! (Saturday, December 16, 3pm & 6pm), visit the Princeton Symphony Orchestra website at princetonsymphony.org or call 609-497-0020.
