Music is a basic part of the fabric of our life, and nowhere is that more obvious than at Princeton. Princeton’s Department of Music is at the epicenter of a musical culture that is broad and deep, reaching from edge to edge of the campus, from the classroom to the concert hall, and from faculty-led groups to those run exclusively by students. Learn more
It embraces (and sometimes combines) music from Miles Davis to Ludwig van Beethoven, from the Beatles to Igor Stravinsky, from computer-generated sounds to gospel, from Mozart operas to student-composed musical theater, from free-form improvisation to Mahler symphonies. It can be heard coming from the concert hall, the theater, the practice room, the classroom, and the dorm room. Students at Princeton find paths to deeper musical understanding with the help of world-renowned composers and music historians in the classroom, top professionals in the private studio and the concert hall, and, most importantly perhaps, from each other whenever and wherever they meet to make music. The campus hears music made by students in six jazz groups, three choruses, two orchestras, a wind ensemble, an opera theater, a musical comedy troupe, at least a dozen chamber music ensembles, a laptop orchestra, and almost twenty small a cappella singing groups. In addition, the campus offers professional series presented by four resident ensembles (Brentano Quartet, Composers’ Ensemble, Richardson Chamber Players, and the Jazz Faculty Ensemble) along with two other series of visiting solo and chamber music artists (Princeton University Concerts and Music at McCarter). There is also a student-run radio station (WPRB) that programs many styles of music and broadcasts Princeton student performances.

One of the Music Department’s most important features is its emphasis on collaboration, both inside its walls and also with other disciplines at the University. These are some recent examples:

-- Musicology graduate students produced a performing edition of an early Baroque opera that was performed by undergraduates the following year

-- Students’ compositions are regularly performed by student performers, both in class and in concert.

-- Students in the Music 234 (Baroque Music) course have performance projects as part of their final projects, as a way to understand better the music that they are studying and to experiment with historical performance practices.

-- The Orchestra and the student-run Princeton Shakespeare Company jointly produced A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Mendelssohn’s incidental music.

-- The Princeton Laptop Orchestra brings students from Music, Computer Science, Engineering, Architecture and elsewhere together to explore new ways of making and performing music together.

-- The Department of Music Jazz Program offers a Jazz Vespers Series in the Chapel in collaboration with the Chapel Music Office and the Office of Religious Life.

-- Department ensembles joined forces with the Program in Theater and Dance (and many others) to produce the world premiere of Pushkin’s Boris Godunov with Prokofiev’s incidental music.

Music Department ensembles have brought Princeton music-making to international destinations, from Hong Kong to Estonia to Vienna. They have also performed on campus with internationally acclaimed artists: the Concert Choir with Anonymous Four, the Concert Jazz Ensemble with the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra and the Orchestra with pianist Ivan Moravec. Beginning in 2007, Princeton will begin a unique collaboration with the Royal College of Music in London, in which students will have the opportunity to participate in a five-year double degree program (A.B. and M.M.). Students will spend one semester of the junior year in London. [close]