As part of the Princeton Festival’s free “Virtually Yours” season of online performances, leaders of seven Greater Princeton-area arts organizations will meet in a public online panel discussion on Tuesday, June 16, at 1pm at HERE to talk about how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected their organizations and how they are planning ahead in the face of so much uncertainty. Viewers will be able to type questions to the panel.
The post-Covid panel will be hosted by Richard Tang Yuk, Executive and Artistic Director of the Princeton Festival. Other participants include Mary Trigg, Executive Director, Princeton Pro Musica; Hilary Butler, Executive Director, Westrick Music Academy; Kate Mulligan, Executive Director, Trenton Children’s Chorus; John Cloys, Executive Director, Princeton Singers; David Osenberg, Development Director, WWFM/The Classical Network; and Jerry Kalstein, Chair, Board of Trustees, Bohème Opera NJ.
“The model for live performances such as concerts, operas, and theater is to attract the largest audience you can and seat them close together in a hall,” said Tang Yuk. “That has not been possible for months because of the pandemic. We don’t know when or how it will be possible again. We will talk about how we can continue our mission under these circumstance, and about coping with the future.”
The Festival also announced that it will stream a video of its highly acclaimed 2016 production of Benjamin Britten’s 1945 operatic masterpiece, Peter Grimes, on its website and YouTube at 1 pm on Sunday, June 21. This is a new addition to the “Virtually Yours” schedule for June 15-21.
Peter Grimes, a story about an outcast fisherman accused of beating and killing his young apprentices, also includes Britten’s famous Sea Interludes for orchestra only. Viewers must access the panel discussion and the opera at their scheduled times. This is also true for the WWFM broadcast (June 19, 8 pm) and the Live Musical Theater Revue (June 20, 8 pm). Other events are posted at 9 am and remain on the website through June.
The full roster of Virtually Yours events for its third week looks like this:
- Monday, June 15: 1) First day of four-part Musical Workshop, with Steven LaCosse; 2) “Signature Artist Showcase” featuring Shannon Rakow singing “The Girl in 14G.”
- Tuesday, June 16 at 1 pm: Live Discussion Panel with Princeton Arts Organizations. This event will be streamed only once.
- Wednesday, June 17: Podcast interview on “Life after the Princeton Festival Piano Competition” featuring competition winner and classical pianist Shai Zohar
- Thursday, June 18: Lecture “Beyond Broadway: The Pleasure and Promise of Musical Theater Across America,” by Professor Stacy Wolf
- Friday, June 19: 1) “Signature Artist Showcase” – Todd Williams talks about natural horns, plays an excerpt from Michael Haydn's Romance in A-flat major. 2) Rachel Cheung, Cliburn competition award-winning pianist, playing music by Rameau, Chopin, Fauré, Ravel, and Schubert. Available on WWFM radio and www.wwfm.org at 8 pm. This concert will be streamed only once.
- Saturday, June 20, 8 pm: Live Musical Theater Revue. This concert will be streamed only once.
- Sunday, June 21, at 1 pm. Video stream of Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes from the Festival’s archives. This opera will be streamed only once.
More details, plus a list of “Virtually Yours” events in the remaining week of the season, may be viewed at https://princetonfestival.org/virtually-yours/.
