OF PUMPKINS & POLITICIANS Will Open Dryden Ensemble 2026-27 Season
Artistic Director Daniel Swenberg leads a program of works by Baroque composers, with soprano Nell Snaidas and period instrumentalists performing at the Unitarian.
The Dryden Ensemble will open its 2026–27 season with Of Pumpkins & Politicians, a program of Baroque music exploring autumn, political satire, and the spirit of 1676. The concert takes place Saturday, November 7, at 4 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 50 Cherry Hill Road, Princeton. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted.
Artistic Director and lutenist Daniel Swenberg will be joined by Grammy-nominated soprano Nell Snaidas, recorder and Baroque oboist Priscilla Herreid, harpsichordist Caitlyn Koester, and violist da gamba Lisa Terry.
About the Program
The program takes its inspiration from Musicalische Kürbishütte, a collection of songs by 17th-century German composer Heinrich Albert that also gave its name to an idyllic garden where poets gathered to sing, recite poetry, and exchange ideas.
The program moves from autumnal reflections on the cycles of life to biting English political satire. Works by Johann Krieger, Nicola Matteis, Thomas Mace, and Charles Dieupart are featured, along with the premiere of a concerto for oboe, lute, viola da gamba, and basso continuo by G. Meusel.
For Swenberg, the program's historical parallels are particularly striking. The program concludes with music reflecting on political corruption and one of history's great financial collapses: the South Sea Stock Bubble of 1720.
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