Sunday, July 20, 2014

Free Concerts: Harlem Quartet and a Blue Curtain Concert

A quick note. Tomorrow evening, July 21, the Harlem Quartet performs for free at Richardson Auditorium in Princeton. They performed a year or two ago with Chick Corea at McCarter Theater, and will be playing some Chick Corea music along with classical repertoire. Should be excellent.

Another free concert is coming up on August 2nd at 7pm at Pettoranello Gardens in Princeton, produced by Blue Curtain. I am so grateful for the infusion of world music they provide Princeton twice each summer. They have a Facebook page, where you can learn more. You may also find a website via internet search.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Two Events--Tonight and Ongoing

TONIGHT: FREE PERFORMANCE BY THE DONALD SINTA SAXOPHONE QUARTET
Richardson Hall on the Princeton University campus, at 7:30pm.

Donald Sinta was professor of saxophone at the University of Michigan when I was living in Ann Arbor. I never studied with him, but remember his gorgeous tone on a solo in a performance of Ravel's Bolero at Hill Auditorium. Music school performances were free at the University of Michigan, which made it easy to hear great music throughout the year. This performance is also free. The quartet is named after Sinta, but he is mentor rather than participant.


ONGOING: DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS

Sustainable Jazz pianist Phil Orr is musical director of a production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in Hopewell, NJ. An extensive review can be found here, and info Phil sent out is below. Phil tells me that one night during a performance, a bat entered the theater through an open door and began dive-bombing the audience, then got stunned when it flew into an exhaust fan in the ceiling, dropping to the ground just in front of the stage. The show continued, undaunted, soon launching into a song that, as chance would have it, had the word "bat" in its title. Here's some dialogue from the musical that I found on the internet:

"The Corpus Hippocraticum
Like bats out of the attic-come
Like popes out of the Vati-come"

Fridays/Saturdays/Sundays, June 27 - July 26, "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels", the Broadway musical about two vastly different con men maneuvering for turf in the same French Riviera town. Originally a popular film starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine – get the idea? Musical direction par moi. The Off-Broadstreet Theatre ("the original and best New Jersey Dessert Theatre"), 5 S. Greenwood Ave, Hopewell, NJ 08525, (609) 466-2766 www.off-broadstreet.comInfo, Tickets and Directions.