Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer Aaron Jay Kernis’ is set to discuss his piece, Colored Field, at PSO’s Behind the Music discussion 3 p.m. Nov 2, 2013.
Princeton Symphony Orchestra is set to present a Classical Series concert called Eternal Light.
The concert explores the darker side of this season’s theme, nights and dreams. The program features works by Aaron Jay Kernis’s Colored Field and Richard Strauss’ Salome’s Dance and Death and Transfiguration.
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kernis’ wrote Colored Field, a concerto for cello and orchestra, after touring the Auschwitz-Birkenau Holocaust sites. During his visit, he experienced a sense of dark forces underlying the now beautiful green grass.
Guest cellist Susan Babini is set to perform the lyrical solos, representing the voice of a single, indomitable soul against a relentless backdrop of sound.
In Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration, the early 20th century composer departs from his more literal tone poems by letting the music itself evoke a sense of dying, including a struggle with death, calm reflection, and, finally, transformation.
His Salome’s Dance caused a stir when first performed as part of the opera Salome in Dresden in 1905. The “Dance of the Seven Veils” seduces with its oriental rhythms and alluring tones. The dance’s famous post-script still shocks, as Salome demands the head of the prophet John on a platter.
PSO is set to host two events to accompany the concerts.
PSO Soundtracks is scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 23 at the Princeton Public Library, 62 Witherspoon St., Princeton.
The event features a screening of the documentary Orchestra of Exiles. The film tells the story of violinist Bronislaw Huberman’s rescue of Jewish musicians from Nazi Germany . Huberman brought the musicians to Palestine to form the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
PSO Behind the Music with Aaron Jay Kernis is scheduled for 3 p.m. Nov. 2 at the Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon St., Princeton.
Kernis is set to discuss his tour of Holocaust sites and why he titled his work Colored Field. PSO Music Director Rossen Milanov will join in the discussion. To reserve space email info@princetonsymphony.org or call (609) 497-0020.
The concert is scheduled for 4 p.m. Nov. 3 at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium.
While the prelude events are free, tickets to the PSO Classical Series Concert Eternal Light are $75, $60, $48, $30 and $25.
More information is online at princetonsymphony.org.
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