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Bravos from

for
A Midsummer Night's Dream

An imaginative production of this opera...  the orchestra  conducted by Richard Tang Yuk, did well by Britten’s wondrously varied score... the appealing cast offered rising younger singers, including artists who have made their debuts with the Metropolitan Opera... dramatically nuanced and vocally solid performances. Anthony Tommasini (The New York Times)

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More Excellent Reviews from the Press and the Audience
for A Midsummer Night's Dream

The Princeton Packet
Hats off to the Princeton Festival...  an altogether enchanting production of Benjamin Britten’s  A Midsummer Night’s  Dream.... this production has got it all -- singing that ranges from  excellent to splendid, a masterly orchestral performance...   sparkling costumes, and drop-dead gorgeous set design and lighting design.... By all means go. It’s a terrific show.  Michael Redmond (The Princeton Packet)

Town Topics
Princeton Festival’s production of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which opened Saturday night at McCarter’s Matthews Theatre, is worth at least one return trip, not only to enjoy the fine singing, but also to play close attention to the technological details of set design which hypnotized the audience on opening night. Nancy Plum (Town Topics)

Star Ledger
Britten's score, admirably rendered by the full company and by the vivid, colorful playing of the orchestra under Richard Tang Yuk, that made the venture worthwhile.... as the opera came to a close, with Britten's musical tumult resolving into vibrant euphony, the overall effect of the opera overwhelmed . . . Ronni Reich (Star-Ledger)

ConcertoNet.com
This Dream takes magical flight...  This Dream sounds as good as it looks. Richard Tang Yuk, the festival’s music director, leads a taut musical performance that catches the rhythmic impetus and instrumental colors in Britten’s magical score. The orchestra plays with refinement and precision. The singing is solid and filled with character. Robert Baxter (The Classical Music Network)

Out In Jersey
To one used to the majesty of 18th and 19th Century opera, Britten’s light, delicate score, flowing as it does like a brook through an enchanted forest, comes as a surprise. Very soon however, the listener realizes the music is perfect for this tale of fairy magic, for an enchanted forest is precisely what the genius of festival artistic director Richard Tang-Yuk and director Steven LaCosse have brought to life.

U. S. 1
Princeton Festival’s production of Benjamin Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” seen on opening night, Saturday, June 20, was a staged portrait of the fantastic — wispy, and incongruous. Both what was seen and what was heard coalesced to form a vividly solid phantom. Elaine Strauss (U.S.1)

Audience Comments
What a sensational production you have created!  The music is sublime and you conducted a wonderfully sensitive performance of it.  I adored the sets and I thought the singers were very fine. The whole production was a resounding success, as you could of course tell from the audience reaction at the end. 

Reviews from the Press and the Audience
for The Fantasticks

The Princeton Packet
Best known for being the world’s longest-running musical (its original off-Broadway run lasted more than 40 years), Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones’ show is a standard among community and regional theater groups. The production by the Princeton Festival isn’t your last chance to see it, but it’s hard to imagine a better version coming to a theater near you any time soon. Anthony Stoeckert (The Princeton Packet)

Town Topics
The Princeton Festival has made an innovative decision to open each year with a chamber musical, perhaps luring new audience members at the beginning of the season with lighter fare and hopefully keeping them through the meatier and more classical portion of the Festival. Nancy Plum (Town Topics)

Review of the Durufle Requiem

Town Topics
Simon Carrington, who initially made his reputation as an original member of the King’s Singers and with a second successful career at Yale, came to Princeton for a week to prepare a 40-voice chorus for a performance this past Saturday night of Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem. Nancy Plum (Town Topics)

April 20, 2009 ---Stella Dresses for The Festival Gala Stella models a ruff for The Princeton Festival’s April 25 gala,. An Elizabethan Revel. Stella made a hit as a supporting actress in The Princeton Festival’s “La Bohème” last year. With her is her owner, Cecily Laidman of New Hope, Pa. A group of volunteers gathered on April 9 for a ruff making session for The Princeton Festival’s April 25 gala. Under the tutelage of Marie Miller, costumer, participants assembled Elizabethan ruffs or costumes for guests at An Elizabethan Revel, The Princeton Festival’s gala honoring poet Paul Muldoon for his many contributions to the arts

April 5, 2009 --- Choral Workshop with Simon Carrington Come and enjoy a week of music making and learning at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ with Simon Carrington, co-founder of the King’s Singers. Our aim is to make great choral music bringing together musicians from various walks of life. The workshop is open to choral directors, church musicians, music teachers, professional singers, choral conducting students and experienced choral amateurs aged 16 years and over, with good sight-reading skills

March 15, 2009 --- Celebrate The Princeton Festival at the 2009 Gala An Elizabethan Revel, honoring the poet Paul Muldoon for his many contributions to the arts. Saturday, April 25, 2009 at 6 pm Bedens Brook Country Club

March 7, 2009 --- Poet Betty Lies Lectures on Princeton Festival’s “Midsummer Magic” The Princeton Festival presents a number of lecturees and events in the spring and at the Festical in the Princeton Public Library and other venues.

December 11, 2008 --- Give a Gift of Tickets to The Princeton Festival 2009 A Gift Certificate for tickets can be ordered for your holiday giving from our web site.

November 23, 2008 --- The Princeton Festival Announces its 2009 Season Richard Tang Yuk, Artistic Director of the Princeton Festival, announced the 2009 Festival Season at “Salsa Sensations,” the Festival’s preseason fundraiser. The season will run from Saturday, June 13, through Sunday, June 28. The theme is “Midsummer Magic.”

October 15, 2008 --- Salsa Sensations ... An Evening of Dining and Dancing The Princeton Festival Invites you to Salsa Sensations ...An Evening of Dining and Dancing Featuring Flaco y Los Casineros Saturday, November 15, 2008, The Nassau Club, 6 Mercer Street, Princeton, New Jersey. Cocktails & Music 6:30 pm, Dinner 7:30 pm, Season Announcement 8:30 pm