Princeton's orchestra performs in Europe's most famous venues

The members of the Princeton University Orchestra were given a rare opportunity over intercession to perform in the presence of some of the greatest musical legends.

Nearly 100 members of the orchestra spent a week on tour in Europe, performing concerts to sold-out crowds in Prague and Vienna's most famous venues.

In Vienna, they played at the Rudolfinum, an impressive concert hall where Antonin Dvorak premiered his symphony—a piece the orchestra has performed before.

The orchestra also played in a room of Prague's Schunbrun Palace where Mozart performed as a child.

"You can feel the musical presence. It comes out of the seats, out of the floor," said Michael Pratt, conductor and musical director of the orchestra.

Rather than performing the traditional music that European audiences had heard so many times before, the orchestra instead played pieces by two American composers, Samuel Barber and Leonard Bernstein, along with a piece by the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich.

The crowd responded with a passion rarely seen in American audiences.

"European audiences are really enthusiastic," said Alice Chang '03, a violinist in the orchestra. "They seem to understand the music better; they clap longer."

Carol Lee '03, also a violinist and one of the orchestra's three trip chairpersons, agreed that European audiences were more responsive than what she was used to.

"Everyone there is really interested in the arts," Lee said.

When they weren't performing, the orchestra also toured the cities and walked the streets where Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Brahms, Moller and many other famous composers once roamed.

"[Vienna] was their town, and it looks today very much like it did then," Pratt said. "To actually be there makes an enormous difference in the way young musicians relate to the music."

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The orchestra members agreed that the trip was a learning experience in a number of ways. Spending a week together allowed the orchestra members to meet each other and become better friends. They bonded by taking bus trips to various historical sites in and near the cities, shopping and hitting the clubs at night.

"When everyone knows each other you can hear the difference when we play. We're a lot more together," said Daniel Ulmer '03, a cellist in the orchestra and the orchestra's chairperson of social events.

Tom Zychinski '05, a tuba player and also one of the orchestra's trip chairpersons, agreed that there were moments when the orchestra truly came together while performing.

"Every once in a while there are places in the music where everything sounds right, and you all know that that's the way it's supposed to be," Zychinski said.

This tour was actually planned for last year's intercession but was postponed after Sept. 11, and the orchestra instead toured the east coast, playing in New York, Philadelphia and Washington D.C.

Although the location of future tours has yet to be determined, Pratt is already anxious to take the orchestra back to Europe. Raising the necessary funds creates a barrier to the orchestra touring overseas every year, but in two years, the orchestra may be back in Europe for intercession.

"We always try to connect tours with our overall educational mission. That means we more often than not are going to go to localities that are the soil from which the music we play sprang," he said.

Pratt, who has been the Princeton University Orchestra conductor since 1977, feels that the orchestra has become progressively more serious in the past 10 years, becoming a dedicated, ambitious group.

"It's a group from which I'd ask a lot," Pratt said.

The orchestra has plans to perform several more times this year, including an upcoming concert in March and an outdoor concert at the alumni reunions this spring.