The Princeton University Glee Club returns from a triumphant overseas tour in Spain to present the United States premiere of John Tavener’s Total Eclipse on Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 7:30PM in Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall. The annual Walter L. Nollner Memorial Concert program also includes George Frideric Handel’s Dixit Dominus, as well as a new work called Gaanam by Princeton University senior Shruthi Rajasekar. Tickets to the penultimate concert in the Glee Club’s 2017-18 season are only $15 general/$5 students, available at music.princeton.edu or by calling University Ticketing at 609-258-9220. Any remaining tickets will be made available at the Richardson Auditorium box office two hours prior to the performance.
Tavener’s Total Eclipse was written in 1999. That it has not yet been performed in the United States is a testament to its unusual instrumentation. The work was written for the unlikely combination of nineteen tympani, semi-improvised soprano saxophone, baroque orchestra, soloists, and choir. Handel’s masterpiece Dixit Dominus – described by Glee Club director Gabriel Crouch as “one of the great Baroque fireworks, and completely irresistible,” was composed when Handel was just 22 years old. It is therefore fitting that program also features a new work by Princeton senior Shruthi Rajasekar. The Glee Club member and Music Major was just awarded the prestigious Marshall Scholarship to work toward a Master of Arts in the new Opera Making and Writing program at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Rajasekar’s work, as performed by the Glee Club, explores Carnatic (South Indian classical) music and features texts that celebrate the voice.
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