Nassoons join Ben Folds onstage at McCarter

“It was very atypical,” Dhwani Shah ’09 said of the performance, in which Folds incorporated empty Altoids tins and green maracas to create a unique sound to accompany the other four instrumentalists.

The Princeton Nassoons performed as the second of two opening acts. The all-male a cappella group recorded one of Folds’ hits for the musician’s all-a cappella album in December after winning a contest designed by Folds.

The Nassoons said they were thrilled when Folds came on to the stage as they were exiting and encouraged the group to sing one more song.

“It was amazing,” Robert Olson ’11, a Nassoon, said of the opportunity. “I’ve been a fan of Ben Folds for a long, long time, so getting to sing on the stage [with him] was an honor.”

While Ben Folds fans might not naturally pair the rocker’s style with a cappella, Nassoons music director Jonathan Schwartz ’10 thought the collaboration would be well received by the audience. “We think we can try to bridge that gap between fans of Ben … and fans of a cappella,” Schwartz said before the performance.

Though McCarter booked Folds as the latest in a long line of notable musicians to perform at the theater, including Bob Dylan and James Taylor, McCarter Special Programming Director Bill Lockwood ’59 contacted Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Thomas Dunne and class governments to make tickets available to students.

“[Lockwood] has an impeccable eye for talent, [and] knows that Ben Folds is a huge draw with college students, so it was an obvious choice,” Dan Bauer, McCarter’s director of public and community relations, said in an e-mail.

Folds’ energetic performance was the main attraction, but students said they also appreciated his connection to the Nassoons. “I wouldn’t think that [Folds] is getting much out of [the concert], but it’s nice of him to give back,” Sarah Reinprecht ’09 said of the collaboration. “It’s a nice gesture.”