ABOUT THE WINNERS

Eugenio Monjeau

Eugenio Monjeau is a writer, translator, editor, former choir baritone, and professor of music history and appreciation. Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, he now lives in Princeton with his spouse who is a graduate student at the Princeton University Department of Spanish and Portuguese (and, coincidentally, who was a winner of the 2021-22 Creative Reactions student writing contest). Eugenio is currently “recovering” from his former involvement with Argentinian politics. He prefers to concentrate on “things bringing pleasure and joy,” such as Roberto Murolo’s recordings of Neapolitan songs, his mother’s eggplants with yogurt (when he’s in Argentina), movies with Gene Hackman, and Prince’s album Graffiti Bridge. He describes his experience of writing his winning entry as both painful and rewarding—“similar to Victor Hugo’s definition of melancholy: the happiness of being sad.” He entered the contest because the topic of “Healing with Music” appealed to him in a very personal way, as his writing attests. Eugenio identifies the Tetzlaff String Quartet’s appearance in April 2022 as his favorite Princeton University Concerts program since he began attending our events with his husband a year ago.

Jacqueline Burkholder

Jacqueline Burkholder is a Philadelphia-based vocalist training at Westminster Choir College. She has been a Princeton University Concerts patron for over a decade, and the Tenebrae Choir’s 2018 performance of Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles in the Princeton University Chapel continues to resonate in her memory. Jacqueline entered the Audience Voices contest in hopes of winning the opportunity to see more such events, believing that attending live performances is a vital part of her music education. She has passed on her passion for music to her delightful eight-year-old daughter and loves introducing her “to the wonders of the musical universe” that she adores so much. Jacqueline shared: “It did me very much good to write out my story and try to see its potential universality. I am profoundly grateful to have been heard.”

Lorraine Goodman

Lorraine Goodman, Princeton University Class of 1983 (Department of History), is a Princeton-based nonprofit professional and former singer on Broadway, at Carnegie Hall, and abroad. She is currently the Director of Advancement at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mercer County. Having performed in the Phantom of the Opera and Cats, among other musicals, Lorraine entered the Audience Voices contest because, in her words, “the prompt stirred memories (pun intended!)” of why she wanted to become a professional musician. In addition to being an amateur cellist, she is also a published cruciverbalist (crossword puzzle constructor) and is working on a novel based on her experiences as an understudy on Broadway.

Janice Gossman

Janice Gossman, a recently retired art teacher of 31 years, lives in Kingston, NJ. She is a committed member of the Princeton community both as the daughter of two Princeton University faculty members and as a longstanding Princeton University Concerts patron. Describing her relationship to music, she shares: “There is a wide range of music from different time periods and areas of the world that I love and appreciate, and I know that there is still so much more out there to be discovered. Most of the artwork that I have been doing recently has involved an attempt to create my own translation of the sounds of selected music into visuals on the paper through art elements such as lines and colors. Miles Davis is one of my favorites because of his masterful spontaneity and the ways in which he is able to express subtle emotions through his trumpet. I very much enjoy playing the guitar, though I do not yet play it well.” You can explore more of her work at www.janice-gossman-art.com

Ameen

Amber Ameen, a former Princeton University employee, is now a Grants Administrator at the Broad Institute. The daughter of a musician, she began playing the violin when she was five years old under the tutelage of her father—a pursuit that she returned to during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although she had never before attended a Princeton University Concerts event, Amber found out about the Audience Voices contest on social media and was immediately inspired by the prompt about how her relationship with music changed since the start of the pandemic. At first starting her response as a personal essay, she wanted to challenge herself to experiment with representing the narrative in a more abstract, visual format. The resulting painting was inspired by her father. In her spare time, Amber enjoys hiking throughout New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania with her dog, Cooper.