'Be Inspired' By The PSO And Discover The Creative Genius Within

The Princeton Symphony Orchestra's (PSO) invites the greater Princeton community and world-wide friends to listen to its music, then respond creatively, tapping into the poet, painter, and writer within. As outlined on the orchestra's latest online activity page "Be Inspired," visitors can listen to one of the PSO's weekly featured recordings, consider the emotional impact of the music, and let it lead to an outward expression of feelings or memory it evokes. If desired, participants can send in their art, poetry, and/or prose for possible publication on the webpage and/or as a post on social media.

"Anyone, anywhere can participate. There are no age or location requirements," says PSO Executive Director Marc Uys. "One of the truly incredible things about the music we all love is its ability to elicit an emotional response, usually unique to each of us because of our individual histories. Sharing these personal responses expressed through other media is a wonderful way to enrich each other's experience of the same music, and a way for us to connect during this time of isolation."

There are no deadlines or fees for entry, and the orchestra stresses that this is not a contest, but a way of celebrating the interconnectedness of the arts and the resiliency of the creative spirit. Completed works in formats of JPEG, PNG, PDFs, and Word documents can be sent in to the PSO's general email address: info@princetonsymphony.org.

In honor of April being National Poetry Month, the PSO shares an example of poetry inspired by Missy Mazzoli's Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres), performed by the PSO under the direction of Rossen Milanov in 2019, written by eighth grader Valerie Teeley:

Online activities abound at the orchestra's new "At Home with the PSO" feature at https://princetonsymphony.org/ which includes recordings, recipes, a virtual gallery, photo albums, and more with fresh ideas added weekly.