Princeton 1-24 (copy 03)

Hot House Jazz Guide Announcement

JAZZ PIANIST FRED HERSCH MAKESPRINCETON UNIVERSITY CONCERTS DEBUT 15-time GRAMMY nominated pianist Fred Hersch makes his Princeton University Concerts debut on Thursday, February 9, presenting an interactive performance as part of the Healing with Music series and performing as part of the popular Live Music Meditation series. PRINCETON, NJ – “A living legend” (The New Yorker) within jazz’s piano pantheon, fifteen-time GRAMMY nominee Fred Hersch makes his Princeton University Concerts (“PUC”) debut on Thursday, February 9, 2023 at 7:30 PM in Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall with “Breath by Breath: Responding to Illness Through Music,” a Healing with Music series event. Earlier that day, at 12:30 PM, Hersch will perform as part of PUC’s popular Live Music Meditation series. The Princeton Garden Theatre will introduce audiences to the pianist’s remarkable story through a documentary screening of “The Ballad of Fred Hersch,” including a live post-screening discussion with Hersch, moderated by his student, PUC artist, and local composer/pianist Gregg Kallor on Wednesday, February 8 at 7:30 PM at the Princeton Garden Theatre. Tickets for the Healing with Music event ($40 General/$10 Student) can be purchased at puc.princeton.edu, or by calling 609-258-9220. Live Music Meditation events are free and open to the public. Tickets for the documentary screening and discussion at the Garden Theatre ($14 General/$12 Garden Theatre Members & PUC Subscribers/$9 Students) can be purchased at princetongardentheatre.org or by calling 609-279-1999. With its Healing with Music Series, Princeton University Concerts (“PUC”) invites audiences to hear from musicians whose personal stories of facing illness and upheaval shed light on music’s profound impact. Fred Hersch was one of the first openly gay, HIV-positive jazz musicians. Amidst the demands of an internationally celebrated career, he spent several months in an AIDS-related coma in 2008. And yet, as he shared in an interview on NPR’s “Fresh Air:” “Certainly since the coma … there seems to be more relaxation, maybe more depth, more direct connection to what I’m playing. I realized when I was that far down that I really wasn’t done yet. There was more that I had to do as a musician, as a partner.” Humans have been using sounds to exist and endure since the start of time. As we return to the concert hall after the challenges and stress of a pandemic, PUC aims to illuminate stories and work like Hersch’s to help audiences contextualize and process their journeys, collectively. For his program on February 9, Hersch will discuss his profound relationship to music and share “Breath by Breath”—a suite of nine original compositions written during the pandemic, inspired by his longtime practice of mindfulness meditation. He will be joined onstage by bassist Drew Gress, percussionist Jochen Rückert, and the Crosby Street String Quartet. Throughout the performance, Hersch will speak about his creative process and healing journey. After the performance, Hersch will open the floor for audience Q&A. PUC’s Live Music Meditations allow for easily accessible, focused listening to world-class music performed by the world-class artists through guided meditation. The guided meditation is led by Matthew Weiner, Associate Dean in the Princeton University Office of Religious Life. More information about these offerings and the rest of PUC’s 2022-23 season can be found by visiting puc.princeton.edu. The Ballad of Fred Hersch, an award-winning documentary about his life by Charlotte Lagarde and Carrie Lozano, is an intimate portrait of one of today’s foremost jazz pianists. A maverick in music and in life, he was the first jazz musician to come out as gay and HIV-positive in the early 1990s, and he miraculously survived a two-month coma in 2008. Both exacting and full of love, this documentary captures Hersch’s creative process as he does double duty as a workaday jazzman and first-time theater producer—turning his tragedies into triumphal art. The post-screening discussion between Fred Hersch and his student, PUC alumnus, and local composer/pianist Gregg Kallor promises to illuminate even more about Hersch’s exceptional story and artistry. This screening event is part of Princeton University Concerts’ and Princeton Garden Theatre’s ongoing partnership. “Fred Hersch is the embodiment of Healing with Music—an endlessly inspiring musician who is a living testament of music’s ability to heal. It feels so right that his long-awaited Princeton University Concerts debut will incorporate a Live Music Meditation in addition to his evening performance,” says PUC Outreach Manager Dasha Koltunyuk. “We often say our Live Music Meditation series is a chance to ‘breathe in music,’ and that concept will come to life in multiple ways during Fred’s visit—highlighting music’s intrinsic role in our lives, and how it can clear new paths, even in the face of adversity. We hope both these events with Fred Hersch will provide audiences hopeful paths as they navigate challenges in their own lives.” 

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