Natasha Paremkski, photo by Clarence Chan

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Audience favorite Natasha Paremski marks a third return to the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) stage May 10-11, 2025 with Sergei Rachmaninoff's demanding Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30, a perfect showcase for her expert technique and dynamic style. Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov conducts the program, which also features the Westminster Symphonic Choir.

The choir will be performing two works: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s a cappella “Hymn of the Cherubim,” drawn from his Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and Johannes Brahms’ Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny), an example of the great composer’s exceptional choral writing. Performances take place Saturday, May 10 at 8:00pm and Sunday, May 11 at 4:00pm at Richardson Auditorium on Princeton University campus.

Executive Director Marc Uys is pleased to have Ms. Paremski join the PSO on stage once again. He says, “Audiences love watching Natasha in performance as she is fearless when performing the greatest piano concertos in the Russian tradition. She plays with superb artistry, articulation, and passion.” He adds, “With the Westminster Symphonic Choir, we have an opportunity to hear two wonderful works of the choral repertoire performed by an ensemble known for its artistic excellence.”

Natasha Paremski is a regular return guest of many major orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, and Buffalo Philharmonic, among others. In Europe, she has appeared with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Tonhalle Orchester in Zurich, and the Moscow Philharmonic. The 2024-25 season finds Ms. Paremski appearing with the orchestras of San Antonio, Knoxville, Nashville, Rochester, Duluth, and Tallahassee, among others. She was awarded several prestigious prizes at a very young age, including the Gilmore Young Artists prize in 2006 at the age of eighteen. In 2012, she recorded Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Royal Philharmonic on the orchestra’s label distributed by Naxos. She studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and at the Mannes College of Music. At the age of fifteen, she debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and recorded two discs with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. Natasha is based in New York where she is artistic director of the New York Piano Society. 

Directed by Donald Nally, the Westminster Symphonic Choir is recognized as one of the world’s leading choral ensembles. The choir first performed in Princeton in 1934 when it joined The Philadelphia Orchestra and Leopold Stokowski to perform Bach’s Mass in B Minor in the Princeton University Chapel to celebrate the move of Westminster Choir College to New Jersey.

Recent seasons have included a performance of Holst’s The Planets with The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Cristian Măcelaru; the premiere of Machover’s Philadelphia Voices with The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado; Handel’s Messiah with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Andrew Manze; and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Mozart’s Requiem with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rossen Milanov. The choir can be heard on recordings with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, and most notably, Bernstein’s MASS with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, released on the Deutsche Grammophon label, and the Benjamin Britten War Requiem with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Kurt Masur.

Tchaikovsky’s Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, of which “Hymn of the Cherubim” is a part, is considered the first “unified musical cycle” of settings of one of the central eucharistic services of the Eastern Orthodox Church, with text attributed to Saint John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople in the 5th century. Brahms wrote his Schicksalslied when he became inspired after reading Friedrich Hölderlin’s poem “Hyperion’s Song of Fate,” juxtaposing all-powerful Greek gods and human destiny. Rachmaninoff’s emotionally intense third piano concerto was composed on the verge of his leaving for his inaugural tour of the United States, where he hoped to win over new audiences and establish his international reputation.

Sunday’s concert includes a 3pm pre-concert talk hosted by Rossen Milanov discussing the works to be performed. The talk is free to ticket holders with general seating in Richardson Auditorium.

Tickets start at $40 and are available for purchase online. Youths 5-17 receive a 50% discount with an adult purchase. Richardson Auditorium is located at 68 Nassau Street in Princeton, New Jersey.

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. 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 only independent, professional orchestra to make its home in Princeton, the PSO performs at historic Richardson Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University.

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.