Vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant

Legendary jazz vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant returns to Princeton University Concerts with an ensemble of renowned improvisers from genres spanning early music, jazz, folk, and electronic music to create a new type of folk song inspired by timeless and universal stories. This original fusion of Baroque music and vaudeville, Sappho and folkloric material of Europe and the Americas will be expressed through the voice of one of the most gifted vocalists and prolific storytellers of our time.

"Part of my practice is imagining musical family trees and learning from the influences of my influences. Growing up, I wanted to be an opera singer. Opera led me to baroque music, which led me to early music. I had a similar path with American music. I gravitate towards forgotten songs, early or maligned instruments, and languages and performance styles on the brink of extinction. I bring this process of excavation into my own writing, blending old and new, exploring language and mythology. I have been making the unoriginal yet concerted effort to move beyond categorizing music by genre. What I am interested in is exploring, celebrating, and making fun of desire, divulging secrets, dredging up the past, looking under the rug." -Cecile McLorin Salvant