(LEFT) Michael Pratt, conductor of Princeton University Orchestra (RIGHT) Chris Collier, Executive Director of Princeton Garden Theatre

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) continues its series of Soundtracks Talks at the Princeton Public Library with "Amadeus and the Myth of Mozart" on Wednesday, February 5, 2025 at 7:00pm in the library's Community Room. Chris Collier, Executive Director of the Princeton Garden Theatre, and Michael Pratt, Conductor of the Princeton University Orchestra, unravel the enduring legacy and myth of Mozart by watching and discussing excerpts of the 1984 Academy Award-winning movie Amadeus. Their conversation anticipates the Garden Theatre's showing of the restored theatrical cut of the film the following evening, Thursday, February 6, 2025 at 7:00pm.

Christopher R. Collier is the Executive Director of Renew Theaters, a nonprofit management company that operates four nonprofit, member-supported theaters in PA and NJ: The Ambler Theater, County Theater, Hiway Theater, and Princeton Garden Theatre. He has worked at Renew since 2007, starting as a manager of his hometown Ambler Theater. Over his 17 years with Renew, the company has doubled in size, both in staff and number of theaters. Chris holds degrees in Musicology from Dartmouth College and the University of Oxford, where he focused his research on film music and conducting. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and two daughters.

Michael Pratt is now in his forty-seventh season on the Princeton University music faculty. There he conducts the much-heralded Princeton University Orchestra, directs the Minor in Music Performance program and teaches performance classes. His career encompasses international tours with PUO and appearances with major American orchestras. His repertory extends from the 17th to the 21st centuries, in both opera and symphonic repertory. Personal honors include Honorary Membership in the Royal College of Music, London and the President’s Distinguished Teaching Award. His first novel, The Copyists, includes Mozart as a character, and was published in October 2023.

There will be a brief Q&A immediately following the talk, and attendees will have the opportunity to enter a drawing to win tickets to one of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra's February 8-9 performances of All Mozart with Orli Shaham. Tickets and information are available at princetonsymphony.org.

Soundtracks is free and open to the public, and is presented as a PSO BRAVO! community outreach program in partnership with Princeton Public Library. The series is sponsored in the 2024-25 season by AffinIT.

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