Photo by Irene Zandel

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- The internationally known ensemble Signum Quartet returns to Princeton on Thursday, May 1, 2025 to perform on the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO)’s new chamber music series at Trinity Church. Showtime is 7:00pm.

On the program are Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in C Major, Op. 33 No. 3, "The Bird," Vítězslava Kaprálová’s String Quartet, Op. 8, and Antonín Dvořák's String Quartet No. 13 in G Major, Op. 106.

General admission tickets for this performance are now available for $45 per person. Youths 5-17 receive a 50% discount with an adult purchase. Visit the Princeton Symphony Orchestra website at princetonsymphony.org or call 609-497-0020.

The Signum Quartet consists of violinists Florian Donderer and Annette Walther, violist Xandi van Dijk, and cellist Thomas Schmitz.

Performances of unsparing expressivity, intimacy, and vitality are hallmarks of the Signum Quartet, pairing music of the subtlest order with playing of the highest intensity.

The Quartet began their 2024-25 season with performances across Germany, Switzerland, and Spain. They also toured South Africa combining programs featuring select works by Haydn, Schumann, and Brahms with an original presentation highlighting current South African composers and musicians in honor of the 30th anniversary of the fall of apartheid. This spring, they return to the United States as a featured guest artist at the Salt Lake City Chamber Music Society and Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Series at Trinity. They will make their Chinese debut in Chengdu, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. The recent recording of their Schubert cycle, Lebensmuth, received an Opus Klassik Award in 2024.

Haydn’s string quartet opens with repeated notes in the melody with grace notes sounding like the call of a bird. Composed in 1935-36, Kaprálová’s quartet is characterized by the powerful rhythms and Czech folk melody influences of her homeland. Although Dvořák was also a native of that country, his string Quartet No. 13 was written following his American sojourn in 1895.

Photo by Irene Zandel

Programs, artists, dates, and times are subject to change.

Accessibility: The Princeton Symphony Orchestra is committed to ensuring all programming is accessible for everyone, working with venues such as Richardson Auditorium to provide needed services. Contact Mika Godbole for questions about available services at mgodbole@princetonsymphony.org or (609) 905-0931. Note: some services require at least two weeks’ notice to arrange.

The Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is a cultural centerpiece of the Princeton community and one of New Jersey’s finest music organizations, a position established through performances of beloved masterworks, innovative music by living composers, and an extensive network of educational programs offered to area students free of charge. Led by Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov, the PSO presents orchestral, pops, and chamber music programs of the highest artistic quality, supported by lectures and related events that supplement the concert experience. The only independent, professional orchestra to make its home in Princeton, the PSO performs at historic Richardson Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University.

Its flagship summer program the Princeton Festival brings an array of performing arts and artists to Princeton during multiple weeks in June. Through PSO BRAVO!, the orchestra produces wide-reaching and impactful education programs in partnership with local schools and arts organizations that culminate in students attending a live orchestral performance. 

The PSO receives considerable support from the Princeton community and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, regularly garnering NJSCA’s highest honor. Recognition of engaging residencies and concerts has come from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the PSO’s commitment to new music has been acknowledged with an ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming and a Copland Fund Award.