The evening starts with a special concert, entitled Ornament of the World, by the Princeton Singers in the Mathey College Common Room at 5:30 p.m. The concert will feature eighth- through fifteenth-century culture in Al-Andalus, a golden era of intellectual and artistic exchange among Christian, Islamic, and Jewish cultures, and features members of the Philadelphia-based North African takht ensemble Al-Bustan, including percussionist Hafez El Ali Kotain and Kinan Idnawi on the oud. The program will explore Arabic and Sephardic influences on music in medieval Europe through poetry, music, and a lecture-demonstration by Steven Sametz and Hannah Khoury, director of Al-Bustan.
Mathey College Common Room can be accessed from University Place, about half a block down from Nassau Street. A sign on University Place will indicate the entrance.
Free tickets to Ornament of the World will be available at the door, through Princeton University Ticketing (609-258-9220), or by clicking HERE.
A reception at the Art Museum to celebrate the opening of Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Art will begin at 7:00 p.m.
