J. J. Penna is set to accompany Westminster Choir College students in performances of American Songs as part of Westminster Choir College’s Art Song Festival.
Westminster Choir College is set to present concerts focusing on American song during this year’s Art Song Festival.
Pianist J.J. Penna is set to accompany Westminster students during the concerts.
The performances on Friday, February 21 and Saturday, February 22 will feature Westminster Choir College students accompanied by J. J. Penna in Bristol Chapel at 8 p.m.
The first concert, titled American Song: A 20th Century Retrospective, is scheduled for 8 p.m. Feb. 21 at Bristol Chapel, 101 Walnut St., Princeton.
The program features songs composed between 1917 and 1998 by some of America’s most renowned composers; including Dominic Argento, Samuel Barber, William Bolcom, Elliott Carter, Tom Cipullo, Aaron Copland, Lee Hoiby, Charles Ives and Ned Rorem.
Songs of the Last 20 Years is scheduled for 8 p.m. Feb. 22 at Bristol Chapel. The concert features songs by William Bolcom, John Harbison, Aaron Jay Kernis, Libby Larson, Lowell Liebermann, John Musto and James Primrosch.
Assistant professor Christian Carey is set to present a pre-performance lecture at 7:15 p.m. before both concerts.
The final concert is scheduled for 8 p.m. March 2 in The Playhouse. Students will perform new music by Westminster Choir College composers Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Christian Carey, Ian Good, R. Douglas Helvering, Marshall Onofrio, Joel Phillips and Stefan Young. Admission is free.
Penna has performed in recital with such notable singers at Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Weill Hall, Zankel Hall and Merkin Recital Hall in New York City, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, Wigmore Hall in London, as well as on concert tours throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, the Far East, South America, and the former Soviet Union.
He has taught art song literature at Westminster Choir College since 1996.
Tickets to the Feb. 21 and 22 concerts are $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors.
More information is online at rider.edu/arts.
