When was the last time you and your family gathered around the piano and sang together? Not for a long time, guesses Penna Rose, director of the Princeton University Chapel Choir and organizer of the chapel’s 22nd annual community Messiah sing on Monday, December 12, at 7:30 p.m. The choir, comprising mainly undergraduate students, will be joined by faculty and community members — no experience required — to sing selections from Handel’s work, including the famed “Hallelujah” chorus, in what has become a Princeton-area tradition.
Rose, director of the Chapel Choir since 1992, conceived of the sing as a way to expose residents who would otherwise not visit the chapel to its Mander-Skinner organ and its nearly 8,000 pipes. The event now attracts 300 to 600 singers each year. There is no rehearsal, and the $5 price of admission includes a score.
“It’s a piece everybody knows,” Rose told U.S. 1 Newspaper in 2015. “I believe that people come to this because it’s rare any more for people to sing around the piano at home, and people love to do that, it seems. And so this has replaced that, at least for this time of year. And so many people come really eager to sing and really eager to do a good job.
“It’s not a pressure situation,” she added. “You want it to be as good as it can be in this particular situation, and you want people to have a good time.” For tickets visit tickets.princeton.edu.
Art to music to dance
Multiple facets of South Asian culture will be on display at the Princeton University Art Museum as part of the ongoing exhibits, “Epic Tales from India: Paintings from the San Diego Museum of Art” and “Contemporary Stories: Revisiting South Asian Narratives.” The museum hosts a South Asian Arts and Music Festival on Saturday, December 3, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The event includes music, dance, storytelling, activities for all ages, and ethnic cuisine, and concludes with a dance performance by Ramya Ramnarayan, a Bharatanatyam (classical Indian) dancer, accompanied by musicians from the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. The dance show will be held in McCosh Hall 10 at 5:30 p.m. and is free with reservations.
Visit artmuseum.princeton.edu or princetonsymphony.org.
‘The baggage of history’
‘What is it like to travel to Berlin today, particularly as a Jew, and bring with you the baggage of history? And what happens when an American Jew, raised by a secular family, falls in love with Berlin not in spite of his being a Jew but because of it?” Leonard Barkan, a Princeton professor of comparative literature, will address that question, among others, in a conversation on Tuesday, December 6, at 6 p.m. at Labyrinth Books with the store’s co-owner, Dorothea von Moltke, who holds a PhD in German literature.
Barkan is the author of “Berlin for Jews: A Twenty-First Century Companion,” published this year by the University of Chicago Press. The book, according to materials from Labyrinth, addresses questions of history and identity and serves as a travel guide of sorts: “A winning, idiosyncratic travel companion, ‘Berlin for Jews’ offers a way to engage with German history, to acknowledge the unspeakable while extolling the indelible influence of Jewish culture.”
Science on parade
Two books by Princeton University math and science professors will be the subject of conversations on two consecutive nights. On Wednesday, December 7, at 6 p.m. math professor John Conway, the subject of the 2015 biography, “Genius at Play,” will appear at Labyrinth Books with his biographer, Siobhan Roberts. Armed with her BA in history, a background in journalism, and no formal training in mathematics, Roberts spent months with Conway and developed her own method for wrapping her head around the complex mathematical problems his work addresses.
In a 2015 interview, she explained: “First, there were no archives or written records to draw upon. The one asset I had was Conway himself. And he made himself available pretty much ad infinitum — he was extremely generous with his time. I talked to him again and again and again on any number of subjects. I circled around numerous times. That’s how I get at the mathematics. I ask a lot of rather stupid questions and go back repeatedly to correct what I have no doubt gotten all wrong the first time around.”
“I listened and didn’t worry about understanding,” she added. “Then, eventually, I had to interrupt Conway and ask questions, because I did need to understand, to some extent, at least the gist of things.”
Bridging the literary and scientific worlds are Princeton University astrophysics professors Michael Strauss and J. Richard Gott who, along with Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, are authors of “Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour,” newly published by Princeton University Press. Strauss and Gott discuss the book at Princeton Public Library on Thursday, December 8, at 7 p.m.
Publicity materials from the publisher note the following:
“Describing the latest discoveries in astrophysics, the informative and entertaining narrative propels you from our home solar system to the outermost frontiers of space. How do stars live and die? Why did Pluto lose its planetary status? What are the prospects of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? How did the universe begin? Why is it expanding and why is its expansion accelerating? Is our universe alone or part of an infinite multiverse?
“Answering these and many other questions, the authors open your eyes to the wonders of the cosmos, sharing their knowledge of how the universe works.”
Tour the town
Mimi Omiecinski’s Princeton Tour Company will once again offer Holiday Trolley Tours, one-hour rides with stops at the homes and hangouts of Albert Einstein, Woodrow Wilson, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, as well as some less well known celebrities, such as Margaret Hamilton, the actress who played the Wicked Witch of the West in “The Wizard of Oz.” The tours, $15, take place Saturdays through December 24 and depart on the hour from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information visit princetontourcompany.com.
In the galleries
Paintings by Princeton-based artist Jannick Wildberg will grace the walls of Small World Coffee’s Nassau Street cafe during the month of December. On her website, www.jannickwildberg.com, she offers a statement about her work:
“There is inner beauty in every sentient being. My portraits aim to represent the energy, presence, and vibrancy of life that inheres in every one of us,” says Wildberg.
“Landscape Perspectives: A Local View” — oil paintings by Catherine J. Martzloff — is on view at Nassau Presbyterian Church from Saturday, December 3, through Sunday, January 1. A reception takes place Sunday, December 4, from 2 to 4 p.m. The exhibit is a celebration of New Jersey and Pennsylvania landscapes enhanced by color and texture.
More information is available at catherinejmartzloff.com.
Ramya Ramnarayan performs at Princeton University following the Art Museum’s South Asian Arts and Music Festival on December 3.,
