Daniel Rowland and Maja Bogdanovic, photo by Stefan Bremer

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Violinist Tessa Lark, The Sebastians, and violin/cello duo Daniel Rowland and Maja Bogdanović, in performance with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, offer refreshing renditions of works showcasing the violin and music of the Baroque era at 2025 Princeton Festival mid-June concerts. 

On Thursday, June 12 at 7:00pm, GRAMMY®-nominated violinist Tessa Lark combines her artistry as a classical violinist with a love of Bluegrass in Tessa Lark, Violin: Stradgrass, her solo recital at Trinity Church. Ms. Lark performs works by Eugène Ysaÿe, Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Sebastian Bach, and her own Bluegrass-infused compositions. The Kentucky native has an extensive discography including her latest album, The Stradgrass Sessions (2023), and is a co-host of NPR’s From the Top, championing young artists.

The Sebastians mark a third return to the Princeton Festival on Wednesday, June 18 at 3:00pm & 7:00pm, performing The Sebastians: Baroque Brilliance in concert at Trinity Church. Their program, much of which is led from the harpsichord, includes works by Arcangelo Corelli, Antonio Vivaldi, Georg Philipp Telemann, and George Frideric Handel. The dynamic ensemble specializes in music of the baroque and classical eras, and are currently in residence at the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments.

The Rowland and Bogdanović Duo consists of Dutch-English violinist Daniel Rowland and Serbian-French cellist Maja Bogdanović. On Friday, June 20 at 7:00pm, they are the featured guest artists of Viva Vivaldi!, performing with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, which will be conducted by Rowland, at the Princeton Festival’s performance pavilion on the grounds of Morven Museum & Garden. In addition to three works by Vivaldi, Osvaldo Golijov’s Tenebrae for String Orchestra and Max Richter’s Vivaldi's Four Seasons Recomposed will be included on the program.

Tickets are available now for all 2025 Princeton Festival events at Morven Museum & Garden and nearby Trinity Church. Tickets for these performances start at $35 ($50 for The Sebastians) and are available for purchase online or by calling 609-497-0020; youths, ages 5-17, receive a 50% discount.

Tessa Lark is in demand as a classical violinist and is also a highly acclaimed fiddler in the tradition of her native Kentucky. Highlights of Tessa’s 2024-25 season include returns to the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Barber concerto) and the Rochester Philharmonic (Bernstein Serenade). In recital, she will debut with San Francisco Symphony, University of California at Santa Barbara, and the Artist Series of Sarasota. Tessa reprises Michael Torke’s violin concerto (for which she received a Grammy nomination), Sky with the Boulder and Colorado Springs Philharmonics, as well as the West Michigan, Williamsburg, Shreveport, and Tallahassee Symphony Orchestras. Tessa is the newly minted Artistic Director of the Moab Music Festival and continues her work as Artistic Director of Musical Masterworks, a chamber music  series  in Old Lyme, CT. Tessa plays a ca. 1600 G.P. Maggini violin on loan from an anonymous donor through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

The Sebastians are a dynamic and vital musical ensemble specializing in music of the baroque and classical eras. Lauded as “everywhere sharp-edged and engaging” (The New York Times), the Sebastians have also been praised for their “well-thought-out articulation and phrasing” (Early Music Review) and “elegant string playing… immaculate in tuning and balance” (Early Music Today). Their 2018 unconducted St. Matthew Passion with TENET Vocal Arts was called “shattering” and “a performance of uncommon naturalness and transparency” (The New York Times). Recent seasons have included dozens of originally conceived programs, including collaborations with poets, choreographers, and actors, a musical installation in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, programs dealing with musical “immigration” and nationalism, and major works of J.S. Bach led from the keyboard. The Sebastians are currently in residence at the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments.

Daniel Rowland and Maja Bogdanovic join forces in this exceptional musical partnership. Since forming their duo in 2018, they have performed at major festivals all over Europe, in the USA and South America garnering great acclaim for their passionate, tender and adventurous performances, colorful and innovative programming and last but not least, a wonderful sense of complicity and communication. Regular guests on Dutch radio & television, the duo passionately believe in expanding the still all to small repertoire for this rich combination of violin and cello. Their recent CD release for Challenge Records includes world premiere recordings of works by Penderecki, Sollima, Vasks, and Nisinman, and was greeting with rapturous reviews, American Record Review calling it “Extraordinary – remarkable and treasurable, entirely beautiful,” while leading Dutch daily NRC Handelsbladdescribed it “a magical meeting of cello and violin.”

The Princeton Festival is the Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s flagship summer program showcasing the performing arts. Founded in 2004, the Princeton Festival quickly established a reputation for artistic excellence and innovative programming. Every year in June, thousands of people from the mid-Atlantic region and beyond come to the Festival to enjoy the quality and variety of its programs. Offerings include opera, musical theater, dance, orchestra and chamber music, and a constantly evolving selection of other genres, including jazz, world music, choral concerts, and country music. The Festival has long-standing partnerships with public libraries and community groups, and promotes life-long learning in the arts through free educational lectures presented to a wide and diverse community.