Dan Trueman
Department Chair & Professor of Music
We caught up with Dan Trueman – fiddler, collaborator, teacher, developer of new instruments, and composer of music for ensembles of all shapes and sizes – and asked him which five concerts and recording releases he’s excited for this fall. (The following responses were provided in October 2022.)
1. Tyondai Braxton, Telekinesis
- I heard parts of my new colleague Tyondai Braxton’s album on Nonesuch, Telekinesis, in progress during Tyondai’s visits to our department over the last couple years and am super excited to spend some time with it now that it is coming out. Tyondai and I are co-teaching a graduate seminar, Audio Production for Composers, which is relevant to this album, itself a massive recording project of orchestra, electric guitars, choir, and more.
- Explore Tyondai’s album here.
2. New York Phil in the new David Geffen Hall
- Speaking of orchestra, I’m going to the New York Philharmonic for the first time in years and am excited both to check out the new Geffen Hall and, in particular, to hear (and see; there is a “light” component to the piece) Oyá by Marcos Balter.
- Explore the New York Phil’s 2022/23 season here.
3. Unamna (available now)
- Unamna is a new album by some of my favorite Norwegian artists. Anne Hytta is an exquisite hardanger fiddle player; I learned some tunes from her years ago and have long admired her playing and compositional work. Ingfrid Breie Nyhus somehow makes the piano sound like a fiddle, ornamentation, tuning, and all; I’ve loved her previous albums (the Slåttepiano albums in particular) and what I’ve heard so far on this album is equally wonderful. Unni Løvlid is a vocalist and musician I’ve heard on many previous albums, but this combination will likely have some surprises.
- Explore Unamna here.
4. Brooklyn Bound, with Darian Thomas and the Bergamot Quartet
- Brooklyn Bound is an intimate concert series hosted by our own Sō Percussion in their Brooklyn studios. I’ve played there before and am always intrigued by what they present. I had hoped to go to their concert on Saturday, October 22, but will have to miss it because of a friend coming into town. For that concert, Sō Percussion will be joined by the Bergamot Quartet, a fierce and delightful group I’ve started to work with recently, on some new work celebrating the release of a new album I’m looking forward to hearing: Individuate, by Darian Thomas, a violinist and composer.
- Explore the Brooklyn Bound series here.
5. Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Dan Trueman, The Fate of Bones
- I close with a release and concert of my own, delayed from 2020, called The Fate of Bones, a collaboration with the Irish fiddler Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh. We’ll be performing on campus on November 1 in Taplin Auditorium; I’ve written a bit about this concert and album here.
- Hear The Fate of Bones in Taplin Auditorium on November 1, in which Trueman and his collaborator, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaighbe, will perform a program of new fiddle music from their recent album release.
In Other News
Music Major Kasey Shao Named 2024 Gilmore Young Artist
Sep 18, 2023
The Department of Music congratulates Kasey Shao (Class of 2025), a Music Major who is pursuing Minors in Piano Performance and Engineering Biology, who was one of two students named 2024 Gilmore Young Artists. We caught up with Kasey this summer following the official announcement to discuss how she found out she’d been selected, what she has planned for her 2024 Gilmore recitals and piano commission, and what’s on the docket for her final two years at Princeton.
Get to Know the Music Mentoring Program
Sep 13, 2023
Learn about the Music Mentoring Program and join their welcome event on September 14 from 5:30PM-7:30PM in the Woolworth lobby
Rhythms, Riddles, and Robots
Sep 2, 2023
Learn about Sō Percussion’s concert on September 8th in Richardson auditorium, which inaugurates their tenth year as the Edward T. Cone Performers-in-Residence.
