Music on Park Avenue is back! The popular series hosted by Scandinavia House and Per Tengstrand welcomes its audience back to Victor Borge Hall beginning in the fall of 2021. Beginning in February 2022, the chamber music group Opus @ Princeton University will return for the final three concerts of the season, continuing their popular performances with Tengstrand of piano concertos in chamber settings as well as chamber music works. 

In tonight’s performance, Tengstrand and Opus will perform the concerto of concertos: the iconic beginning of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23,” one of the most popular tunes ever written. The musicians will perform Tchaikovsky’s entire first concerto from beginning to end, as well as a smorgasbord of chamber music pieces from Per Tengstrand and Opus.

Tickets to this event must be purchased in advance online at the link above; concerts will take place in Victor Borge Hall. Attendees are required to follow all Scandinavia House safety protocols, including wearing masks during the program and observing social distancing rules in signage. Please read our full safety protocols here.

The Music on Park Avenue concert series is supported in part by a generous grant from The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation and in part by the Lynn Carter Fund of the ASF.

ABOUT PER TENGSTRAND

Per Tengstrand has firmly established himself as one of today’s most exciting pianists. He has been described by The Washington Post as “technically resplendent, powerful, intuitively secure,” and by The New York Times as “a superb Swedish pianist” whose recital “was rewarding, both for its unusual programming and for his eloquent, technically polished performances.”Tengstrand is the subject of the acclaimed Swedish documentary The Soloist, directed by Magnus Gertten and Stefan Berg (Sweden, 2003), which was featured at the International Festival of Cinema and Technology in New York.

In 2005 he was decorated by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden with the “Litteris et Artibus” Medal for outstanding service to the arts. During the pandemic, Per started making music documentaries which were viewed and appreciated by people all over the world. As this line of work will continue, the documentary Beethoven and the Freedom of the Will is planned to have its world premiere at Scandinavia House in 2022.

ABOUT OPUS

Founded in 2014 by Edward Leung ’16 and Jisoo Kim ’16, Opus (formerly Opus 21) is dedicated to bringing an eclectic repertory of chamber music to Princeton University and beyond. Consisting of a select roster of undergraduate pianists and string players, Opus presents innovative programming, embracing both traditional and contemporary repertoire. Committed to new music, members of Opus were invited to perform the North American premiere of composer Sam Wu’s “dolphin song” at the 2015 APAP|NYC, the world’s largest networking forum and marketplace for performing arts professionals.

Most recently, Opus was the featured artist at the Helsingborg Music Festival in Sweden, giving multiple concerts at prestigious venues. As cultural ambassadors, Opus strives to broaden the public’s interest in chamber music and collaborate with other peer institutions and conservatories. Upcoming performances feature collaborations Harvard, Yale and Columbia Universities.