NEWS & UPDATES
October 9, 2026
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| | The Beat: News from Our Music Community | | A New Context for Barbara Strozzi | |
Scheide Professor of Music History Wendy Heller discusses Barbara Strozzi in Context, a decade-spanning collaboration with Beth Glixon and the first English-language book on the Baroque composer.
Barbara Strozzi was arguably the most prolific composer of vocal chamber music in mid-seventeenth-century Italy. An accomplished singer, Strozzi also published eight volumes of her own music—a remarkable feat for a female musician in the early modern period. Although her music has become increasingly well-known in recent decades and is frequently heard both in recordings and on the concert stage, her compositions and the circumstances of her life in seventeenth-century Venice have not had the scholarly attention that they merit.
A new collection of essays edited by Wendy Heller and Beth Glixon, Barbara Strozzi in Context (Cambridge University Press 2026), casts light on the world Strozzi inhabited and the work she produced. Our conversation offers insight into the process of bringing the collection into fruition.
| | Professor Donnacha Dennehy's Album Reviewed by The Guardian, featured on BBC Record Review and Radio France | |
Professor of Music Donnacha Dennehy's most recent album Limina, released on Aug 28, received a five-star review in The Guardian, which noted that the "these two concertos, beautifully paired, are both firmly grounded – both rhythmically and in his fascination with the harmonic series – and, to the ear at least, joyously unfettered".
Listen on BBC Record Review.
Radio France.
| "Of Monkathons & Boomtowns": Performance Faculty, Miles Okazaki, featured in Downbeat Magazine | |
Performance Faculty, Miles Okazaki, was highlighted in Downbeat Magazine for his latest album Boomtown, released on Pi Recordings. The magazine recognized Miles for his creative process and his marathon performance of Thelonious Monk's compositions.
"Okazaki’s preparation for the performance paralleled and intersected with his preparation for the New York City running marathon. The two events were held only two weeks apart in 2024, and, in an extraordinary instance of Okazaki’s affinity for imposing order on real life — as well as his ability to draw connections between seemingly divergent life activities."
Read full article.
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September, in photos at Princeton 📸
Snapshots from:
Steingo & Levin’s Topics in Media Theory & History: Sonic Politics
Mahanthappa’s Jazz Solo Transcription and Analysis
Tarpaga’s Projects in West African Mande Drumming
Ochs’ Instrumental Music: The Symphony from Haydn to Florence Price
Visit our IG for full post.
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Princeton University Orchestra: Ginastera, Korngold & Dvořák
WHEN: Oct. 9 & 10, 2026, 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall
Learn about PUO Concert
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Musicology Colloquium with Benjamin Barson
WHEN: Oct. 13, 2026, 4:30 p.m.
WHERE: Woolworth Center, Mendel Music Library, (First Floor Reading Room)
Learn about Musicology Colloquium
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Princeton Sound Kitchen: Akropolis Reed Quintet
WHEN: Oct. 13, 2026, 8 p.m.
WHERE: Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall
Learn about PSK Concert
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"Hearing Math" with Sandeep Das, Tabla
WHEN: Oct. 14, 2026, 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall
Learn about "Hearing Math"
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Sandeep Das, Tabla & Friends (Princeton University Concerts)
WHEN: Oct. 15, 2026, 6 & 8:30 p.m.
WHERE: Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall
Learn about Sandeep Das, Tabla & Friends
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Ema Nikolovska, Mezzo-Soprano & Sean Shibe, Guitar (Princeton University Concerts)
WHEN: Oct. 27, 2026, 6 & 8:30 p.m.
WHERE: Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall
Learn about Ema Nikolovska, Mezzo-Soprano & Sean Shibe, Guitar
| | Music Department Announcements | |
Free Tickets to Oratorio for Living Things by Heather Christian
Music Department students, faculty, and staff can use the code LCA2027 to obtain free tickets to see Oratorio in November!
About the Performance: Infusing a classical oratorio with blues, gospel, jazz and soul, this musical and visual journey investigates human experiences of time and memory alongside powerful physical forces that shape the universe. Our exploration emphasizes the significance of the ritual of gathering for live performance in an increasingly screen-focused world.
Featuring the students of the Lewis Center as the cast and crew, this production is the first non-professional performance of this important new work which premiered in 2022 in New York City to great critical acclaim.
Learn about Oratorio for Living Things
| Mendel Music Library News | |
Musicology Colloquium Pop-up Display
To coincide with each musicology colloquium throughout the year, Mendel staff puts together a pop-up display of materials to showcase works by the guest speakers and topics related to their research. The first display, for Ben Barson’s 10/13 colloquium, can be found on the bookshelves in the Mendel First Floor Reading Room, which is also where the event will take place. Among the materials featured are books, articles, and media published by the lecturer (physical copies and e-resource links), books on relevant research topics, and a brief summary of the subject matter of the presentation. Please stop by to check out this selection of resources as a way to supplement each musicology colloquium!
| | | Around the Corner: Campus Collaborations | | |
How A Professional Journalist Finds Truth in a Complicated World by Guest Speaker, Alix Spiegel
Friday, October 9th at 12:30
Presented by the Department of Psychology & Department of Music
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Opera Philadelphia’s Operatic Adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer
Free dress rehearsal tickets for Princeton students and faculty available on Tuesday October 20 at 2 pm at the Forrest Theater.
If you have any questions or you are interested in attending, please reach out to kass@operaphila.org. You can also fill out the registration form here. Deadline: 10/16
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Fund for Irish Studies: Conversation with Yiyun Li — Music Against the Night
Yiyun Li, Pulitzer Prize winner and Princeton Professor of Creative Writing, launches her new novel, Music Against the Night, a historical saga tracing the life of Irish composer and pianist John Field (1782–1837). Known as the inventor of the nocturne, Field is portrayed from his musical upbringing in Dublin to his success in Russia. The story follows his artistic development, personal struggles, and legacy. Li will read briefly from the novel and be in conversation with Princeton Professor of Music Donnacha M. Dennehy, and pianist Cristina Altamura will play a John Field nocturne and an early Chopin nocturne, composed when Chopin was seventeen and heavily influenced by Field.
October 30, 2026, 4:30 p.m.
Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall
Free, Open to the Public
Learn more.
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Meditations on the Mystery of the Holy Trinity by Olivier Messiaen
Friday, October 30, 7:30 pm
Princeton University Chapel
Free - no ticket required
Dr. Gail Archer, recording artist and concert organist, teaches at Barnard College of Columbia University, and is College Organist at Vassar College. Her performance will consist entirely of Olivier Messiaen’s Meditations on the Mystery of the Holy Trinity. Complete performances of the work are rare, so I hope you will seize the opportunity to hear this monumental work.
Learn more.
| | Please submit any event or news you would like to share with the Department of Music students, faculty, and staff in future iterations of the Synthesizer. | | |
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