(PRINCETON, NJ) -- McCarter Theatre Center presents Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Mei Semones in the Berlind Theatre on Friday, September 4, 2026 at 7:30pm. Drawing on her background in jazz guitar and her Japanese heritage, she blends inventive harmonies, intricate rhythms, and bilingual lyricism into a sound that is both intimate and exploratory.
Her music weaves together jazz, bossa nova, and indie rock—channeling influences from John Coltrane and Wes Montgomery to Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins—into songs that feel at once technically rich and emotionally immediate. On her Bayonet Records debut EP Kabutomushi, Semones explores the complexities of love—infatuation, devotion, vulnerability, and loss—through lush arrangements, expressive guitar work, and quietly powerful vocals.
“Blending everything that I like together and trying to make something new—that’s what feels most natural to me,” she says. “It’s what feels most true to who I am as an artist.”
Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Semones began playing piano at age four before moving to guitar at eleven, later studying jazz performance at Berklee College of Music. Now performing with a dynamic ensemble featuring strings, she continues to shape a distinctive musical voice that is both deeply personal and sonically adventurous.
Tickets range from $30-$46 and are available for purchase online or by calling Patron Services at (609) 258-2787. McCarter Theatre Center is located at 91 University Place in Princeton, New Jersey.
McCarter is one of the country’s flagship theaters and a vibrant center for community and the performing arts. Located on the campus of Princeton University, the company is an independent nonprofit, serving as a nationally renowned, multi-disciplinary creative hub for arts and ideas, offering theatre, music, dance, spoken word, and educational programs for all ages. A two-time Tony Award winner, McCarter’s legacy of artistic excellence dates back to the theatre’s first performances in 1930. Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, Kaufmann & Hart’s You Can’t Take It with You, and William Inge’s Bus Stop all had their premieres on the McCarter stage, paving the way for a long history of collaborations with playwrights to launch remarkable works that have gone on to tens of thousands of performances, reaching millions of audience members around the world.
The company is equally revered for presenting global artists on its stages, including Alvin Ailey, Yo-Yo Ma, Samara Joy, Hasan Minhaj, Jon Stewart, Caetano Veloso, Rhiannon Giddens, Patti Smith, Esperanza Spalding, Lake Street Dive, and Herbie Hancock, among many others. Of the 100,000 community members who directly participate in the company’s work every year, more than 5,000 are students taking part in McCarter’s robust educational offerings in Princeton, Trenton, and schools throughout the region. McCarter leads with values of “justice and joy, and beauty in belonging,” creating stories and experiences that enliven minds, expand imaginations, and engage communities.
