A MUSICAL "PRINCETON CONNECTION" AT INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY

PRINCETON, N.J. -- November 15, 2004 -- Concerts of recent music, and talks by living composers, will highlight A Princeton Connection, the next event in the Institute for Advanced Study’s concert season. 

According to Institute Artist-in-Residence, composer Jon Magnussen, "A Princeton Connection celebrates the richness and diversity in the work of composers associated with the town of Princeton by attempting the impossible: to present a representative spectrum of Princeton-associated music spanning three-quarters of a century." Included, he says, will be "music of Roger Sessions through the 1960s heyday of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, to today’s younger generation of composers – and the world premiere of compositions by Su Lian Tan and the late Edward T. Cone."

On December 3, at 8:00 p.m., soprano Judith Bettina will be accompanied by pianist James Goldsworthy in a program of works by Milton Babbitt (Phonemena), the late Edward T. Cone (Three Songs from Pippa Passes—world premiere), Mario Davidovsky (Song), Tobias Picker (Native Trees and To the Insects), Mel Powell (Levertov Breviary), and Roger Sessions (On the Beach at Fontana). The concert will take place in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute campus.

Soprano Bettina, hailed for her proficiency in a wide range of musical styles, has been judged a "sensationally accomplished soprano soloist" by New York magazine. She has appeared with symphony orchestras and chamber groups throughout the United States and Europe, and has had works written for her by Milton Babbitt, Tobias Picker, and others. Her performances are recorded on Bridge, Harmonia Mundi, New World, and Wergo labels.

Goldsworthy, who has performed worldwide, is currently on the faculty of Westminster Choir College of Rider University. He directs the New Works for Young Pianists Commissioning Project.

On December 4, at 8:00 p.m., pianist Blair McMillen will perform works by Mario Davidovsky (Synchronisms No. 6), Emily Doolittle (Minute Etudes), John Harbison (Gatsby Etudes), Andrew Imbrie (Daedalus), Jon Magnussen (Toccare!), Frederic Rzewski (Dust—North American premiere), Su Lian Tan (New Work), and Barbara White (selections from Reliquary).

There will be a concert talk at 6:30 p.m. preceding the concert; Magnussen, Tan, and White will join McMillen for a discussion of works on the program. Both December 4 events will be held in Wolfensohn Hall.

McMillen, whose performances have been called "lustrous" and "riveting" and "prodigiously accomplished" by the New York Times, is a recitalist whose repertoire extends from Renaissance masters to 21st-century composers. Recent performance venues include Carnegie’s Weill Hall, the Moscow Conservatory, Merkin Hall, and Avery Fisher Hall.

In other Princeton Connection events, composer Paul Lansky will present some of his most recent work and speak about "The Contexts of Musical Technology" on December 2 at 4:00 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall. 

And, on December 3, at 4:00 p.m., in the West Building Lecture Hall, composers Milton Babbitt and Andrew Imbrie will reflect on their long and influential careers in music.

Lansky, who is William Shubael Conant Professor of Music at Princeton University, has done extensive work in the area of computer music, as well as software development and music theory and analysis.

Babbitt, William Shubael Conant Professor of Music, Emeritus, first joined the Princeton University faculty in 1938. He also taught mathematics at Princeton. Former director of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, he has been widely honored; he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Andrew Imbrie, a member of the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, until he retired in 1991, has also taught at the San Francisco Conservatory. His many honors include the N.Y. Music Critics’ Award, two Guggenheim fellowships, and commissions from the Koussevitzky, Fromm, Ford, and Naumburg foundations, as well as the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Both Babbitt and Imbrie were students of Roger Sessions. 

Concert tickets are free but must be reserved; no tickets are necessary for the talks. For ticket information, or further information about the Institute for Advanced Study’s Artist-in-Residence Program, call (609) 734-8228 or visit www.ias.edu/air.