Princeton Symphony Orchestra Hosts Talk 'Soundtracks: From Score to Stage'

Discover how a new work of music goes from a composer's notebook to a world premiere performance at the free Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) Soundtracks Talk "From Score to Stage" at Princeton Public Library on Thursday, March 5 at 6:30pm.

Join composer Julian Grant in conversation with world-renowned harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani as they discuss the upcoming world premiere of Grant's new work for harpsichord and small orchestra, Vaudeville in Teal. The two will explore the connection between composer and performer in a behind-the-scenes talk about what it means to take new music from pages of a written score to the concert stage.

Julian Grant has composed 20 operas of various lengths and sizes which have been performed by English National Opera, The Royal Opera, Almeida Opera, Mecklenburgh Opera, and Tétè-a-Tétè. He has won the National Opera Association of America's New Opera prize and been nominated for an Olivier Award. In 2012, his Cultural Olympiad commission Hot House, devised by Gareth Malone, was premiered at the Royal Opera House. His chamber opera, with librettist Mark Campbell The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare, a co-commission with Music Theatre Group and Boston Lyric Opera, premiered in Boston November 2017, and was nominated for an International Opera Award in 2018. During the pandemic he wrote a Suite for Solo Viola; a commission from the Harvard Musical Association for the 50th anniversary of Emmanuel Music - Salt; and Scarlatti in Soweto, a further commission from Buskaid after the widely performed Sancho's Dance Mix (2014). Jump Cuts was premiered by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra in 2022, and he recently completed Vaudeville in Teal, for harpsichord and small orchestra for Mahan Esfahani. He was director of music at St. Paul's Girls' School, London, a post previous occupied by Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan-Williams.

Mahan Esfahani has established himself as a new pioneer of his instrument, the harpsichord. Following studies in musicology and history at Stanford University he completed his studies with Zuzana Růžičková in Prague. He was the first and only harpsichordist to be a BBC New Generation Artist (2008-2010), a Borletti-Buitoni prize winner (2009), and a nominee for Gramophone's Artist of the Year (2014, 2015, and 2017). His richly-varied discography includes ten critically-acclaimed recordings for Hyperion and Deutsche Grammophon – garnering one Gramophone award, two BBC Music Magazine Awards, a Diapason d'Or and “Choc de Classic” in France, and two ICMAs. For BBC Radio 3, Esfahani recently recorded a three-part series entitled The Alternative Bach exploring rare recordings and interpretations of J.S. Bach's music. This goes alongside his ongoing cycle at the Wigmore Hall in which he performs the entire collection of J.S. Bach's works for keyboard. In 2022, he became the youngest recipient of the Wigmore Medal, in recognition of his significant contribution and longstanding relationship with the Hall. Born in Tehran in 1984 and raised in the United States, he lived in Milan and then London for several years before taking up residence in Prague.

Attendees of the presentation will have the opportunity to enter a drawing to win tickets to the Princeton Symphony Orchestra's March 7 - 8 concerts, featuring world premiere performances of Vaudeville in Teal at Richardson Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University.