On the Cover Marching to the Arts

BY REBEKAH SCHROEDER AND DAN AUBREY

The month of March is the ideal time for arts enthusiasts to catch the first crop of events as they “spring” to life in music, dance, opera, and theater, so mark your calendars, Mercer County, and become a true connoisseur of the state’s creative prowess.

Editor’s Note: A number of these events ran in the winter arts preview of Community News Service’s Princeton metro area paper, U.S. 1, as “Winter Culture Calendar Forecast: Time for Shows” on January 18. The list has been edited for currency and clarity.

muSic Princeton Sound Kitchen

Princeton University’s Music Department showcases cutting-edge works by emerging composers and internationally renowned performers, which include the following acts:

~Nois is a music saxophone ensemble founded in 2016 with quartet members Hunter Bockes, János Csontos, Jordan

Lulloff, and Julian Velasco

According to the group’s website, ~Nois merges “contemporary chamber music and improvisation to connect with audiences in unique concert experiences,” such as this upcoming selection of pieces by Princeton University composers.

Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall, Princeton University. Tuesday, March 7, 8 p.m. Free.

Alarm Will Sound, a Brooklyn-based 20-piece chamber orchestra focused on contemporary music performances and recordings, will play new works by Princeton University graduate student composers

Gulli Björnsson, Dai Wei, Liam Elliot, Hope Littwin, Soo Yeon Lyuh, Christian Quiñones, Elijah Daniel Smith, Max Vinetz, and Justin Wright, with Alan Pierson as conductor.

Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University Tuesday, March 21, 7:30 p.m. Free.

Interdisciplinary tap dance artist Michael J. Love is set to join Princeton University graduate student and faculty composers Gulli Björnsson, Rudresh Mahanthappa, James Moore, Hope Littwin, Dan Trueman, and Jason Treuting to round out a program of new compositions.

Community News Service 9 Princess Road, Suite M Lawrenceville, NJ 08648

Phone: (609) 396-1511

News: news@communitynews.org

Events: events@communitynews.org

Letters: rschroeder@communitynews.org

Website: communitynews.org

Facebook: facebook.com/mercereats

Twitter: twitter.com/mercerspace

Six09 is inserted into each of Community News Service’s nine hyperlocal monthly publications. Over 125,000 copies are distributed each month in the Greater Mercer County, N.J. area.

TO ADVERTISE call (609) 396-1511, ext. 110 or e-mail advertise@communitynews.org

A proud member of:

Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall, Princeton University Tuesday, March 28, 8

Candlelight Lounge

Performers appear on these Saturday afternoons from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. at this Trenton bar for the area’s real-deal jazz

James Stewart, Trenton saxophonist; March 11, Dan Kostelnik, jazz organist; March 18, Aaron Graves, Philadelphia pianist; March 25, Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin singer in the Princeton University depart ment of music; April 1, and April 8, Philadelphia saxophonist

A budget-friendly carpet that combines softness with breakthrough stain prevention

24 Passaic Street, Trenton songwriter, a show featuring a change in tune for the group. Rather than continue their tradition of classic rock covers, which the Reock & Roll Revue has been doing together for 15 years, the members are performing their own original music.

Founded by Hamilton-based keyboardist, singer-songwriter, and musical maestro Tom Reock, the Reock & Roll Revue fuses “great music and historical content” in their renditions of late 1960s and early ‘70s hits, according to the band’s Facebook page.

The lineup for “Songwriters” is as fol-

Sameer Patel, above right, will conduct the Princeton Symphony Orchestra with Dibyarka Chatterjee, above left, on tabla, in the world premiere of William Harvey’s “Seven Decisions of Gandhi” on March 11 and 12. The Québec City dance troupe Cirque FLIP Fabrique soars in “Muse,” at right and below, at the New Jersey State Theater on March 22.

ARTS, continued from Page 3

Ragamala Dance Company, according to the organization’s website, features choreography “rooted in the South Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam.”

Founded by co-artistic directors Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy, as well as their mother Ashwini, the Minneapolis-based group presents a personal journey of spirituality and movement with “Fires of Varanasi: Dance of the Eternal Pilgrim.”

After the death of the Ramaswamy family’s father and grandfather “away from his homeland of India four years ago,” the show was conceptualized as a tribute to the enduring strength of familial bonds from a Hindu perspective of life and death.

Per the McCarter description, his request was for his ashes to be scattered in the city of Varanasi’s Ganges River, a sacred site.

“Through images that reflect the cosmic trinity of Varanasi, India — sacred pilgrimage routes, the Ganges River, and the patron deity Shiva, heightened by the chants of Vedic priests — the choreographers imagine a metaphorical crossing place where one may leave the mundane and enter into the world of immortality,” the website continues.

“In this theatrical reimagining, we expand upon the birth-death-rebirth continuum in Hindu thought to honor immigrant experiences of life and death in the diaspora.

The 10 performers in this full-length work dance to “an original, recorded score” on a stage enhanced by Willy Cessa, a French scenic and lighting designer.

Wednesday, March 15, 7:30 p.m. $35 to

$55.

More: 609-258-2787 or www.mccarter. org

State Theatre New Jersey

15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick

The Dublin Irish Dance’s new, original production, “Wings: A Celtic Dance Celebration,” is a taste of Irish heritage in musical motion.

According to the State Theater, the show promises a combination of “Ireland’s finest musical and vocal virtuosos” alongside champion dancers in this cultural spectacular of family fun. Tuesday, March 7, 7:30 p.m. $29 to $59.

Cirque FLIP Fabrique’s “Muse,” a night of “breathtaking artistry and athleticism” conveyed through the “playful storytelling” of the Québec City troupe, is another opportunity to see gravity-defying dance numbers.

The acrobats, donning everything from high heels to shoulder pads, become “bodies in flight” against an original score by beatmaker Millimetric and onstage vocals by singer Flavia Nascimento Wednesday, March 22, 7:30 p.m. $29 to $59

More: www.stnj.org.

Opera Boheme Opera

“Madama Butterfly” is Giacomo Puccini’s 1904 tragic opera about a loyal young geisha whose betrayal by her American naval officer husband leads to her shame and destruction.

Part of the company’s 34th anniversary, the performance will be directed by co-founder Joseph Pucciatti and feature the Boheme Opera chorus and orchestra, as well as original sets and costumes by Giorgio Lalov, the Maryland-based artistic director of Teatro Lirico d’Europa in Bulgaria and artistic advisor for Opera New Hampshire.

The production will be sung in Italian with English supertitles.

Kendall Theater, The College of New Jersey, Ewing. Friday, March 24, 8 p.m., and Sunday, March 26, 3 p.m. $15 to $75.

More: www.bohemeopera.org. ***

SymphOnic muSic Princeton Symphony Orchestra

The next concert of PSO’s season passes the baton to Sameer Patel, who conducts the world premiere of William Harvey’s “Seven Decisions of Gandhi.”

Harvey is not only the piece’s composer but also its violin soloist, and he will be joined by Dibyarka Chatterjee on the tabla, a traditional “Indian subcontinent” percussion instrument with two drums of contrasting size and pitch.

Also on the program are Alexander Borodin’s “Polovtsian Dances,” from the opera “Prince Igor,” and Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony.

Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University. Saturday, March 11, 8 p.m., and Sunday, March 12, 4 p.m. $30 to $112. Youth (ages 5 to 17) pay half-price.

Princeton University Concerts

Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University

The Richardson Chamber Players present “March of the Women” at the Richardson Auditorium. The afternoon program of mixed chamber works, inspired by Ethel Smyth’s 1911 composition of the same name, will feature members of the Princeton University Glee Club.

Other performances for the faculty, guest artists, and student musicians are to follow. Sunday, March 5, 3 p.m. $20

Tenor Lawrence Brownlee and pianist Kevin J. Miller share their talents onstage in “Rise,” a program of “new settings of Harlem Renaissance texts by contemporary Black composers.” Wednesday,

March 8, 7:30 p.m. $25 to $40

The Performances Up Close series, in which small audiences are invited to sit on the Richardson stage, continues with a visit from the Chiaroscuro String Quartet, who are set to perform “a program rooted in love” with the sounds of violins and cellos.

The concert features Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 11 in F Minor, Op. 95 “Serioso,” and Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 13. Sunday, March 26, 3 and 6 p.m. $40.

The Jupiter Ensemble presents an all-Vivaldi program starring artistic direc- tor Thomas Dunford on lute and Lea Desandre, a mezzo-soprano, joined by fellow musicians to help make hearing Vivaldi all the more vivid. Thursday, March 30, 7:30 p.m. $25 to $40

Cultural performances bring on the vibrant colors with the Ragamala Dance Company’s “Fires of Varanasi: Dance of the Eternal Pilgrim,” left, and Dublin Irish Dance’s “Wings: A Celtic Dance Celebration,” right.

Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey

Award-winning Italian violinist Lorenzo Mazzamuto and the Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey serenade audiences into spring in a rendition of Vivaldi’s “The Seasons” at the Trenton War Memorial’s Patriots Theater.

After being chosen out of the 15 local pianists who auditioned for CPNJ’s inaugural “Youth Concerto Competition” in January, winner Angela Zhang will perform Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 3” in C minor with the orchestra that night.

Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, 1 Memorial Drive, Trenton. Saturday, March 18, 7:30 p.m. $10 to $50.

More: www.capitalphilharmonic.org

TheaTer Passage Theatre

Mill Hill Playhouse, 205 East Front Street, Trenton

“Clean Slate,” a new musical about “radical empathy,” introduces the audience to “a group of disaffected high school students” in “a rehabilitation camp that may, or may not, also be haunted by the souls of former” missing campers.

The work by “Alien 8” creators—with a book by New Jersey playwright David Lee

White and lyrics and music by Kate Brennan—is a co-production with Passage Theatre and Rider University. Passage artistic director C. Ryanne Domingues directs, while Louis Danowsky oversees the musical direction. March 10 through 12. $33.

“

Rendition: A Night of PlayLab Readings” centers on two new works by area playwrights with a community discussion about the development process. Saturday, April 22. $15 to $25.

More: 609-392-0766 or www.passagetheatre.org

McCarter Theatre

“Wuthering Heights” is a freewheeling and irreverent theatrical interpretation of British novelist Emily Brontë’s famed 1847 novel of passion, love, and revenge in the wilds of Yorkshire.

Presented in association with the Berkeley Repertory Theater in California, the work featuring original music and movement was written and directed by Britain-based Emma Rice, performed by her company, Wise Child, and co-produced with the National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, and York Theatre Royal. Matthews Theater, 91 University Place, Princeton February 23 through March 12. $25 to $60.

Pegasus Theater

Old City Hall, 13 Crosswicks St., Bordentown

“Bordentown’s Dramatic Future” is an evening with David Lee White, Bordentown’s nationally produced playwright, whose new musical, “Clean Slate,” is currently having its world premiere at Trenton’s Passage Theater, and Peter Alexander, the founder and artistic director of Bordentown’s nonprofit professional Pegasus Theater Company. Dan Aubrey, U.S. 1 Newspaper editor and past theater producer, will host. Saturday, March 4, 4 p.m. Free

The Pegasus Theater then presents “Every Brilliant Thing,” directed by Bordentown theater artist Jonathan Martin and starring Peter Alexander. March 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, and 26. Tickets $30 to $35.

Bordentown’s theater scene brings together “Clean Slate” playwright David Lee White, above left , with Pegasus Theater Company’s founder and artistic director, Peter Alexander, left , on March 4, for an event titled “Bordentown’s Dramatic Future.”

The musical “Clean Slate,” above right, is a co-production of Rider University and Passage Theater and will be performed at Trenton’s Mill Hill Playhouse from March 10 to 12.

Original Artwork by Alia Bensliman.

Boys & Girls Clubs

The Most Affordable Summer Camp in Mercer County

Boys & Girls Clubs (BGC) has the most affordable Summer Camp in Mercer County! BGC provides quality curriculum, great themes and exciting trips for youth ages 5-14. Register for just one, or all ten weeks of Summer Camp. Early bird rates are available until April 29th and scholarships are available to those who qualify.

Campers age 5-10 go on one trip per week and Tween Travel campers, ages 11-14, participate in three weekly trips. Campers of all ages enjoy a new theme each week, and participate in swimming, STEM, sports, art, reading, outdoor education and other fun activities onsite while combatting summer learning loss.

Two convenient locations:

212 Centre Street, Trenton

1040 Spruce Street, Lawrence

For more information or to