Details
Arts At Work Alumni Day includes panels and career conversations led by alumni volunteers that will introduce a variety of paths available to students interested in pursuing careers in the arts and creative fields.
Sessions will include:
- Arts & Social Impact Careers
- Creative Writing Career Conversation
- Visual Arts Career Conversation
- Theater and Musical Theater Career Conversation
- Dance Career Conversation
- Music Career Conversation
- Networking and Closing Pizza Reception
The Arts at Work program is designed to provide Princetonians with a supportive arts and creative community and opportunities to learn about the realities of life and work in various creative fields.
Co-sponsored by the Center for Career Development, Lewis Center for the Arts and Department of Music.
Email Satomi Chudasama ([email protected]) to request accommodations at least two weeks prior to the program.
Schedule
10 a.m.
Brunch buffet open
Tilghman Theater Studio
10:30 - 11:45 a.m.
Keynote Brunch: Arts & Social Impact Careers
Donald G. Drapkin Studio
Featuring: Katy Dammers '13, Eliza Griswold '95, Adam Hyndman '12 with Executive Director Marion Friedman Young '00, moderator
11:45 a.m. - Noon
Break
12 - 1:30 p.m.
Visual Arts Career Conversation
Godfrey Kerr Theater Studio
Featuring: Gabriella Chu '18, Wendi Yan '23, Helen Lin '18, Dylan Fox '22, Lily Healey '13, Victor Guan '21, Anna Berghuis '19, Neeta Patel '16, Elise Rise '15 with Program Director Jeffrey Whetstone, moderator
Music Career Conversation
W331 Third Floor Seminar Room
Featuring: Ryan James Brandau '03, Anthony Roth Costanzo '04, Heather O'Donovan '16, Dasha Koltunyuk '15, with Director of Princeton University Concerts Marna Selzer, moderator
1:30 - 1:45 a.m.
Break
1:45 - 3 p.m.
Creative Writing Career Conversation
Donald G. Drapkin Studio
Featuring: Cassandra James '23, Sash BischoW '09, Claire Schultz '24, Mohammad Adnan '19, Noa Greenspan '23 with Associate Associate Professor Katie Farris, moderator
Dance Career Conversation
Godfrey Kerr Theater Studio
Featuring: Clark Griffin '18, Storm Stokes '24, Anna Jayne Kimmel '18 with Alexis Branagan '11, moderator
3 - 3:15 p.m.
Break
3:15 - 4:30 p.m.
Theater & Music Theater Career Conversation
Donald G. Drapkin Studio
Featuring: Emily Murray '23, Julien Alam '23, Tessa Albertson '20, Jamie Goodwin '22, Eliana Cohen-Orth '21, Gabriela Veciana '24, Ryan Gedrich '16, Mel Hornyak '23 (they/them), Elliot Valentine '23 (he/him) with Program Director Jane Cox, moderator
4:30 - 6 p.m.
Pizza Networking Reception
Donald G. Drapkin Studio
Additional programming from the Program in Theater & Music Theater
6 - 7 p.m.
Theatrical Movement Workshop
Godfrey Kerr Theater Studio, Lewis Arts complex
Come for an hour of movement exploration for actors and performers that includes vocabulary from Wicked, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and more.
7 - 7:45 p.m.
A conversation with Sam Gravitte
Godfrey Kerr Theater Studio, Lewis Arts complex
The talk will cover the practice and practicalities of life as a performer in New York and beyond.
Art & Social Impact Careers Panel
Executive Director Marion Friedman Young, moderator
Katy Dammers '13 (she/her)
Katy Dammers '13 is the Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Performing Arts at REDCAT, CalArts' center for the visual and performing arts in Los Angeles. Her curatorial practice presents, organizes and contextualizes contemporary practice in performance commissions, exhibitions, festivals, site-specific installations and publications. She has held past leadership positions at The Kitchen, FringeArts and Jacob's Pillow. Dammers has also worked as a creative administrator and worked with choreographers Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener as General Manager in addition to organizing projects with Jennifer Monson, Donna Uchizono and Tere O'Connor. A writing fellow at the National Center for Choreography Akron, her essays have been published in The Brooklyn Rail, Motor Dance Journal and MOLD as well as edited volumes by University of Akron Press and Princeton University Press. Dammers was a member of the Inland Academy and holds degrees from Goldsmiths College and Princeton University. Photo: Katy McCaffrey
Eliza Griswold '95
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, translator and poet Eliza Griswold is the director of the Humanities Council's Program in Journalism at Princeton. Griswold has been a contributing writer for The New Yorker for more than two decades, where she has extensively covered religion, politics and the environment. Since 2016, she has served as a distinguished writer in residence at New York University. Griswold has written and translated several books of nonfiction and poetry, including “Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America,” which won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction in 2019; “I Am the Beggar of the World: Landays from Contemporary Afghanistan,” which she translated to English from Pashto; and a recent book of poems, “If Men, Then.” Her latest book, “Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power and Justice in an American Church,” builds on years of Griswold's immersive reporting to tell the story of a Philadelphia church and a community in crisis. She has received prestigious fellowships from Harvard University, Harvard Divinity School, the New America Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation. Recognized across disciplines, Griswold has been awarded top prizes in various fields, including the Rome Prize in Poetry by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the J. Anthony Lukas Prize for nonfiction and a PEN award for translation. An alumna of Princeton, Griswold earned a bachelor of arts in English from the University in 1995. She previously taught in the Program in Journalism as a Ferris Visiting Professor in 2014-15.
Adam Hyndman '12
Adam Hyndman '12 is a Tony Award winning producer, as well as a performer, director and activist who has worked extensively in the arts. Some notable performing credits include Only Murders in the Building, NBC's The Sing Off, Children of Eden in concert at The Kennedy Center and on Broadway in Aladdin, Once on this Island and Hadestown. He incubates projects as an independent producer as well as within the team at Octopus Theatrical. Broadway producing credits include, The Inheritance, Here Lies Love and Gypsy. Adam is on the board of directors for both Pipeline Theatre Company and Producer Hub and he continues his work of disruption, radical accessibility and conciliation as a co-founder of The Industry Standard Group and its subsidiary; Second Act Theatrical Capital, the first accessible community investment and producing entity for commercial theater. Adam is also a creative and organizational consultant; having served as an equity strategy consultant with Groundwater Arts and also as the project manager for RISE Theatre; an initiative of Maestra Music and The Miranda Family Fund (Adam was named as one of Variety Magazine's 10 Broadway Stars to watch for the 2023-24 season for his work with RISE Theatre). Learn more about Adam on his website at www.adamhyndman.com.
Moderator: Marion Friedman Young '00
Marion Friedman Young '00 returned to Princeton in January, 2015 after serving as Executive Director of Art-Reach in Philadelphia, an organization that connects underserved audiences to artists and art events throughout the region. Prior to Art-Reach, Marion was the Managing Director of The Civilians, an investigative theater company based in New York. The Civilians worked previously with the Lewis Center teaching a Princeton Atelier in conjunction with the Princeton Environmental Institute that led to the creation of the musical on climate change, The Great Immensity that premiered at the Public Theater in New York in 2014. She earned her M.F.A. in Stage Management from Yale School of Drama. Much of her stage management career was devoted to the work of August Wilson, including the national tour of his final play Radio Golf, seen at both McCarter Theatre and on Broadway and the Century Cycle at the Kennedy Center in DC, where all ten plays were produced in rep in a month-long Festival.
Dance Careers Conversation
Alexis Branagan '11, moderator
Clark Griffin '18
Clark Griffin '18 is originally from California and holds an MFA in Creative Practice from Trinity Laban Conservatoire, a BA in Dance and Anthropology from Princeton University and is a certified yoga instructor. Clark has taught, choreographed and set work in collegiate and professional settings internationally. An award-winning performer, Clark has worked with Rambert Dance Company, LEVYdance, HD Theatre, BIRDHOUSE, Rebecca Lazier, Liam Francis and Ethan Colangelo. Clark is the founder and artistic director of the creative network, 'PATIENT ZERO,' which creates work across dance and film and produces classes, workshops, residencies and retreats. Clark is based between the US and Europe.
Storm Stokes '24
As artistic director, choreographer, visual artist and performer for project based dance/visual/literary arts practice STORMWRKS (NYC/ MI), Storm Stokes combines eclectic movement, videodance, visual art and installation to explore themes of liberation, Afro- Futurism and autoethnography. Storm received a B.A. in African American Studies & Dance at Princeton University, earning The Toni Morrison Prize and Alex Adams '07 Research Grant. Storm performs with Turning Tables Dance under the direction of Camryn Stafford (NY); performs for Lauren Blair Smith Dance Company (MI); and writes for the Movement Research Performance Journal.
Anna Jayne Kimmel '18
Anna Jayne Kimmel '18 is a performance studies scholar invested in the intersection of legal humanities, dance studies and critical social theory. This framing informs her pursuit of community-engaged research in carceral studies, including collaboration with artists-in-confinement and engagement as a restorative justice facilitator for alternative accountability programs in the DMV area. Kimmel is an Assistant Professor of Dance and affiliate faculty for the Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service at George Washington University. She holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Stanford University and an A.B. from Princeton University. Her scholarship appears in Dance Research Journal, Performance Research, Lateral, The Drama Review (TDR), and The Brooklyn Rail, alongside various edited volumes. Her current book projects, Performing Law (co-edited with Peter Goodrich and Bernadette Meyler, Cambridge University Press) and Legal Moves: Choreographies of Race, Law and Empire, are forthcoming. She serves as Associate Editor for Performance Research, board member for Performance Studies international and in 2025 co-chair of the annual Dance Studies Association Conference.
Visual Arts Career Conversation
Program Director Jeffrey Whetstone, moderator
Gabriella (Gabby) Chu '18
Gabriella (Gabby) Chu is a 2018 Visual Arts alum and a New York City native. Before Princeton, she attended Bard High School Early College and initially pursued computer science before discovering her passion for visual storytelling. She explored a range of mediums—including fashion, graphic design, sculpture and photography—before focusing on digital media. Since graduating, Gabby's career has spanned diverse industries and roles, blending creative strategy with digital marketing. She has produced short-form news content at Bloomberg, led social media strategy at Gagosian, managed social production at Millennium Management and led overall marketing at Capvision. In May, she will start a new role as Integrated Marketing Manager at Madan + Associates (M+), specializing in life insurance planning for high-net-worth clients and their advisors.
Wendi Yan '23
Wendi Yan '23 is an artist, technologist and writer examining metamorphoses of the scientific self. She crafts alternative fictions of science and its history, through CGI films, games and archival displays of sculptural objects. She was an inaugural Steve Jobs Archive Fellow, a NEW INC Y11 member and a finalist of the 6th Hyundai VH Award. She received an A.B. in History of Science with a Practice of Art certificate from Princeton. Her projects can be found on her website at wendiyan.com
Helen Lin '18
Helen Lin '18 is a Chinese-American interdisciplinary artist from Brooklyn, NY whose work focuses on tactile storytelling to bridge the physical and digital. She holds a degree in Visual Arts with a minor in East Asian Studies from Princeton University and has worked across design, motion graphics and digital media production. In her practice, she creates soft sculptures, interactive digital spaces and confessional zines that demand to be seen, touched and held. Through meticulous hand-stitching—both in fabric and 3d building—she infuses her work with melancholic cuteness, transforming complex emotions into endearing, immersive worlds. Currently pursuing an MPS at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), she explores new forms of storytelling through interactive web experiences, game engines, VR and AR.
Dylan Fox '22
Dylan Fox '22 is a filmmaker based in New York City. He has primarily worked in film editing since college, working as an Assistant Editor under directors like Alystyre Julian and Richard Ledes. Also directing his own films, he was a Semi-Finalist for a 2021 Student Academy Award. He is also in development on a number of his own projects, both as writer and director. His most recent project as an Editor is Director Adam Olkin's upcoming short film, Reunion. At Princeton, he was a Practice of Art Major focusing in filmmaking and received a certificate in Archaeology.
Lily Healey '13
Lily Healey '13 is a software developer at The New Yorker, where she is part of a team that creates tools for the editorial staff. She previously worked as a designer/developer at O-R-G and as a quantitative analyst at a small hedge fund.
Victor Guan '21
Victor Guan ‘21 is an artist interested in generating new meanings from overlooked cultural experiences. He is currently the Assistant Art Editor at The New Yorker, commissioning editorial illustrations and drawing some of his own for the magazine. Outside of work, he runs a practice under the name “Red Pocket,” in which he designs print memorabilia based on his own personal history. The remainder of his time is spent disappearing into nature or video games.
Anna Berghuis '19
Anna Berghuis '19 (b. Baltimore, 1996) is a New York based visual artist. Berghuis' work reckons with authenticity and performance of personality in a time of prolific image making and sharing online. Her work highlights the uneasy relationship between the desire to connect and the impossibility of being fully known. Distortion and the unreal play a large role in her psychological figurative paintings. Her paintings utilize methods of distortion through scale, visibility and mono-printing to challenge and mirror contemporary image-making. She received her AB in Art History and Studio Arts from Princeton University. She has exhibited nationally in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Boston. She has been an artist in residence at the Vermont Studio Center and most recently was an inaugural resident at Long Meadow Art Residency, a four month solo residency in the Berkshires. She most recently had her debut solo show at Kravets Wehby Gallery in New York.
Neeta Patel '16 (she/her)
Neeta Patel '16 is a graphic designer based in New Haven, CT. She received a Certificate in Visual Arts while at Princeton and an MFA from Yale School of Art in 2024.
Elise Rise '15
Elise Rise '15 is a creative director and visual artist based in Brooklyn. She shapes brand identities and digital experiences for clients across hospitality, academia and the cultural sector—including Harvard University, MIT and the United Nations—bringing together powerful storytelling with user-focused, research-backed design. As a painter, her work centers on soft, glowy compositions that blur the boundaries between digital, botanical and bodily forms, drawing on themes of sensuality, consciousness and transformation. Her paintings have been shown in solo and group exhibitions across New York, most recently in her solo show Blue Light, which debuted at New Gallery in Brooklyn. Elise holds a B.A. in Art & Archaeology and Visual Arts from Princeton University, where she graduated summa cum laude.
Creative Writing Career Conversation
Associate Professor Katie Farris, moderator
Cassandra James '23
Cassandra James '23 grew up in a mixed immigrant family with a penchant for storytelling, so becoming a writer was almost inevitable. She recently graduated from Princeton University with a degree in English focusing on Creative Writing. After solo-traveling the world for several months, she finally landed in Orlando, Florida, where she spends her time cooking Colombian food, obsessing over Broadway musicals and occasionally swashbuckling. Her debut Young Adult fantasy novel, CAPITANA, is now available, with a sequel to follow in 2026.
Sash Bischoff '09
Sash Bischoff '09 is a writer and director. Her debut novel, Sweet Fury, will be published in January 2025 by Simon & Schuster in the US and Canada, as well as by Penguin Random House in the UK and Commonwealth. It will also be translated and published in Brazil, China, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain and Latin America and Ukraine. Sash attended Princeton University, where she trained under Jeffrey Eugenides and Joyce Carol Oates, won Princeton's Creative Writing Fiction Award and founded the Princeton Writers Group. She has written plays that have been developed at theatres throughout the US and has held residencies at Ragdale, PLAYA, the Albee Foundation, Caldera and Sirenland Writers Workshop. As a director, she has worked on Broadway and Off. Broadway/National Tours include Dear Evan Hansen (Associate Director); The Visit; On the Town; How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; and Shrek. Off-Broadway/Regionally, she has worked at theaters such as Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, Signature Theatre, Atlantic Theater Company, The New Group, Ars Nova, Portland Center Stage, Williamstown, New York Stage and Film, Chautauqua, The Civilians, Primary Stages, Jack, Clubbed Thumb, Colt Coeur, The Flea, Dixon Place and Less Than Rent. Sash grew up as an actor and won the National Arts Award (NFAA) for Acting. She currently lives in the West Village with her husband and their many pets.
Claire Schultz '24
Claire Schultz '24 is a writer from Columbus, OH. She graduated from Princeton in 2024 with a degree in English and certificates in Creative Writing and Medieval Studies. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Fiction at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she is an Iowa Arts Fellow.
Mohammad Adnan '19
Mohammad Adnan '19 is a writer and journalist covering art and visual culture. His nonfiction writing has been published in the Financial Times, Wallpaper, Hyperallergic and elsewhere. He is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker's Photo Booth column, writing essays on a number of subjects including Bedouin communities in Egypt, Ernest Cole's rediscovered images of apartheid-era segregation in South Africa and the work of contemporary photographers in the Middle East and diaspora. In 2024, he was a feature reporting fellow at Rest of World, supported by the Henry Luce Foundation to cover the virtual clairvoyant industry in Pakistan. His writing on photography has been longlisted for the Observer/Anthony Burgess for Arts Journalism. He lives in London.
Noa Greenspan '23
Noa Greenspan '23 concentrated in English, environmental studies and creative writing while at Princeton and loves to blend these interests through her work. She's written stories about food access challenges in New Mexico for the Daily Yonder, reported on the energy transition for Wyoming Public Media and helped produce award-winning podcasts including The Modern West, Those Who Can't Teach Anymore, Carbon Valley and Broken Ground. In her current role at the Southern Environmental Law Center, Noa focuses on moving the needle on climate action through solutions-oriented storytelling. She loves returning to her fiction in her free time and is currently writing a collection of short stories that explore coming of age and our relationships to place.
Theater Careers Conversation
Program Director Jane Cox, moderator
Emily Murray '23 (any pronouns)
Emily Murray '23 is a freelance audio/visual engineer based in Boston, MA. After first getting involved in theater in junior year, she dove headfirst into the programs offered by the Lewis Center, completing a Certificate in Theater with her sound design for the installation Disorder. After graduation, he joined the A/V team at The Glimmerglass Festival opera company, where he will be returning for his third summer this year. When not at Glimmerglass, they freelance as an audio, lighting and stage technician for a variety of organizations in the Boston area, working on everything from musicals to corporate events to outdoor light shows. When asked if she plans to do anything with her degree in Astrophysics, he jokes that it still comes in handy for spouting fun facts (sound does not travel in vacuum!) and he would love to tie it into a project someday.
Julien Alam '23
Julien Alam '23 is an actor and producer based in New York City. He is currently pursuing his MFA at NYU’s Graduate Acting Program. Recent works include All My Sons, Fugue/State, Love & Information, and an original play called 13th Morning, written and directed by fellow alum BT Hayes ’22, which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2024. Julien will next be seen in Execution of Justice, written and directed by Emily Mann, at Chautauqua Theater Company.
Tessa Albertson '20
Tessa Albertson '20 is an actor and theatermaker based in New York. She currently appears as a cover in All Nighter at MCC Theater. She reprised the role of Shelby Hinkley in I'm Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire at Southwark Playhouse London (Offie Nomination Lead Performance in a Play) after a New York world premiere in 2023. Other theater credits include: The Low Road (Public Theater), Shrek The Musical (Broadway), Happy Days (The Wild Project), Macbeth (dir. Elena Araoz), Girls (Branden Jacobs-Jenkins). Tessa is best known for her recurring role as Caitlin Miller on Younger. Other TV: Generation. Law & Order: SVU, The Family, The Good Wife & Instinct. Films include Blame and Barry. She is a member of The David Geffen School of Drama Acting Program Class of 2028.
Jamie Goodwin '22 (no pronouns/they)
Jamie Goodwin '22 is a queer Black femme interdisciplinary maker, storyteller, and educator obsessed with beauty, bodies, and our collective humanity. (And somehow, truthfully is still dealing with a healthy dose of theater world imposter syndrome). At their core, Jamie is drawn to making intimate, communal, and pleasurable performative moments grounded in their own personal and family histories. They are a recent Fulbright Germany Awardee in Theater Studies. They spent the 2023-2024 academic year living and making alongside other brilliant arts practitioners and organizers in Munich. Prior to their Fulbright, Jamie worked as a Teaching Artist in Princeton and Boston. They have now had the pleasure of making theater in three different professional venues across Germany and the US. They are a lover of musicals and sipping warm drinks in the sun. Jamie currently works as a part-time K-8 Art Teacher at a local Charter school in Trenton. Contact info: [email protected]
Eliana Cohen-Orth
Eliana Cohen-Orth is a playwright, director, and arts nonprofit professional based in NYC. In her current role as Event Production Coordinator at The Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, she produces hundreds of literary events and organizes author visits with public schools across the city. As a playwright, she recently premiered her play Affecting Expression off-off-Broadway at the Tank (dir. Eliyana Abraham ‘23) after a reading at The Sheen Center, and is collaborating on an upcoming comic play: Jungle Restaurant (co-written by Sam Melton ‘23). Her recent directing work includes Dracula and Pride and Prejudice at Princeton Summer Theater (2023 and 2024) and assisting on a reading of In the Cervix of Others. While studying English and Theater at Princeton (’21), Eliana served as Artistic Director of Princeton Summer Theater and General Manager of Theatre Intime. She directed productions of Jen Silverman’s The Moors, Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, and, as her thesis, the first production of Emma Watkins’ Unbecoming.
Mel Hornyak '23 (they/them)
Mel Hornyak '23 (they/them) and Elliot Valentine '23 (he/him) write musical theater under the artist name Melliot, with Mel as a lyricist/librettist and Elliot as a composer/librettist. They like to write speculative (sci-fi, fantasy, horror, etc) musicals that focus on queer and trans characters and use narrative as an investigative tool into academic questions that excite and disturb them. Their most recent musical, Ghost Story, was developed in residence at OpenAIR Montana last summer and has an upcoming reading at Musical Theater Factory in May. Other works include their Princeton thesis Adamandi (a semifinalist for the Eugene O'Neill National Music Theater Conference) and commissioned songs for concerts at Joe's Pub and the Green Room 42. They also run a multimedia Alternate Reality Game (ARG) with some fellow Princetonians and are working on a postapocalyptic ecohorror novel together. Learn more about their work at www.melliotwrites.com.
Mel is a lyricist/librettist earning their MFA at NYU's Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program. Outside of Melliot musicals, they are working on Kairos, their NYU thesis musical about the first trans boy at an all-girls Catholic school, which is being staged this summer at the New Musical Project. At Princeton, they were Publicity Director of Theatre Intime, Editor-in-Chief of figments Literary Magazine and a Literary Manager for Arch & Arrow, as well as completing theses in Psychology, Creative Writing and Theater. Learn more about Mel at www.mel-hornyak.com
Elliot Valentine '23 (he/him)
Elliot is a composer, librettist and dramaturg currently studying Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. As a dramaturg, he worked on Lloyd Suh's The Far Country at the Yale Repertory Theater (dir. Ralph Peña), as well as several new play workshops and an adaptation of Antony and Cleopatra (dir. Destyne R. Miller) at the David Geffen School of Drama. At Princeton, he majored in English with certificates in Theater and Music Theater, was General Manager of Theatre Intime and participated in Princeton University Players, Princeton Chinese Theater and the Playwright's Guild.
Gabriela Veciana '24
Gabriela Veciana '24 is an actress and producer based in NYC. She is a producing assistant to David Stone (Wicked, Next to Normal, Spelling Bee) and currently working on PURPOSE on Broadway at the Hayes Theater. As an actress, Gabby is represented by Aaron Sandler at Forte Artist Management and continues to audition for as much as she can while working her 9-5 job. Most recently, she appeared in the world premiere of falcon girls at Yale Repertory Theater. Gabby has interned for Baseline Theatrical, The Public Theater, Open Stage Project and Disney Theatrical Group. She is more than happy to chat with any Princetonians about breaking into theater in New York and what kinds of jobs are out there.
Ryan Gedrich '16
Ryan Gendrick '16 is a creative producer for new performances and special events. He currently serves as Company Manager for American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*) for their Summer in the City festival at Lincoln Center. Previously, he has served as Associate Producer of MAXlive and Advancement Director at Clubbed Thumb. He has produced work at Judson Memorial Church, Museum of Science Boston, Highland Center for the Arts, Brooklyn Rail, National Sawdust, New Museum, ONX Studio, the Public Theater/Under the Radar, NYTW Next Door, JACK, The Tank, Bushwick Starr, the Connelly Theater, the Wild Project and others. He has been a reader for various grant, commission and incubator programs (at ART/NY, Rattlestick, Page 73, Clubbed Thumb and others). He also is a talent coordinator and producer for live concert and corporate events, with recent credits including NBC’s SNL50: The Homecoming Concert, Bravo’s Southern Charm S10 Reunion, RHONY S15 Reunion, RHOSLC S6 Reunion and many others. AB in Anthropology, Princeton University, Class of 2016.
Music Careers Conversation
Director of Princeton University Concerts, Marna Selzer, moderator
Ryan James Brandau '03
Ryan James Brandau '03 is a conductor and arranger based in New York City. In New York City, he is the founder and Director of Res Facta, a vocal ensemble bringing together 14 of the city's finest professional vocalists and the longtime Artistic Director of Amor Artis, a chamber choir and Baroque orchestra, which specializes in bridging the Renaissance and Baroque to the present day. He is also the Artistic Director of the symphonic chorus and orchestra, Princeton Pro Musica and Monmouth Civic Chorus, both in New Jersey. In addition to leading his own ensembles, he has prepared choruses for the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Phildelphia Orchestra and New Jersey Symphony.Ryan has taught and conducted at Westminster Choir College, Santa Clara University and Smith College. He holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the Yale School of Music, a Master of Philosophy in Historical Musicology from Cambridge University.
Anthony Roth Costanzo '04
Anthony Roth Costanzo '04 countertenor, began performing professionally at the age of 11 and has since appeared in opera, concert, recital, film, and on Broadway. As of June 2024, he is the General Director and President of Opera Philadelphia. Costanzo has appeared with many of the world’s most prestigious opera companies and orchestras including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Opera National de Paris, Teatro Real, New York Philharmonic The Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble, Berlin Philharmonic, NDR at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and the London Symphony Orchestra, among others. This season, he produces and stars in The Seasons, a new work incorporating the music of Vivaldi and co-created with and written by the renowned playwright and poet Sarah Ruhl, and he stars in and creates a one-man rendition of The Nozze di Figaro in the inaugural season of Little Island’s new performing arts series in New York. He also returns to the Detroit Opera for Rinaldo and will be presented in recital in Herbst Theater by San Francisco Performances. His most recent album, Anthony Roth Costanzo & Justin Vivian Bond: Only an Octave Apart was released in January 2022, and his first album, ARC was released in September 2018 and was nominated for the 2019 GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. He also stars on the Metropolitan Opera’s recording and DVD of Akhnaten which won the 2022 GRAMMY Award for Best Opera Recording. As a producer, he has created projects for Opera Philadelphia, The New York Philharmonic, The BBC Proms, WQXR, and St. Ann’s Warehouse among others. Costanzo was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his performance in a Merchant Ivory film and graduated with honors from Princeton University, and Manhattan School of Music, where he is now on the board of trustees along with being on the board of National Black Theater. Costanzo also has an Honorary Doctorate from Manhattan School of Music, a History Makers Award from the New York Historical Society, and has been a visiting fellow at Oxford University and a distinguished visiting scholar at Harvard University.
Heather O'Donovan
Heather O'Donovan is a storyteller-artist who creates librettos, program notes and arts journalism for today. She is the dramaturg and librettist of Princess Ida: The Glow Up, an adaptation of the Gilbert & Sullivan opera commissioned by the Manhattan School of Music, with other librettos having been performed by MSM's Contemporary Opera Ensemble and at Paris' Fondation des États-Unis and Yale University. Heather's English-language adaptation of Victor Massé's Jeannette's Wedding Day was performed at Princeton University with members of the Department of Music, directed by David Kellett. Heather contributes program notes to various cultural institutions, with recent notes appearing at Carnegie Hall and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Her artist interviews, cultural commentary and other writings have been featured by WQXR, DACAMERA, Princeton University's Department of Music and Maestra Music, as well as in publications from Fast Company to BuzzFeed. A keen contributor to cultural conversations, Heather appeared on the podcast Culture Tasters alongside librettist and mentor Mark Campbell. As a singer, Heather has premiered Andrew Lovett's The Analysing Engine and Flannery Cunningham's Weehawken. Additional credits include Nino Rota's I due timidi; Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea; and a workshop of Julian Wachner's Rev. 23. Scene work includes Cendrillon; La Fille du Régiment; Così fan tutte; and Die Zauberflöte. When the pandemic sidelined performing opportunities, Heather indulged a new passion: horticulture. As Founder & CEO of Hortihop, Heather designs and maintains the thriving indoor plantscapes of NYC residential spaces. Heather graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in music and received her master's degree from MSM.
Dasha Koltunyuk '15
Dasha Koltunyuk '15 is a pianist, curator and arts advocate devoted to forging meaningful connections through music. She graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 2015 with a degree in Comparative Literature and certificates in Piano Performance and Translation Studies. As a student, she immersed herself in the campus music community and, through her work as Chair of the Princeton University Concerts Student Ambassadors, began dreaming up new ways to invite more people into the concert hall. That spirit of creative advocacy led to an invitation to join Princeton University Concerts after graduation, where she has worked ever since as Outreach Manager. In that role, Dasha has focused on expanding access to classical music and reimagining what a concert experience can be. One of her first initiatives was Breathe in Music: Live Music Meditation, a series pairing world-class performances on PUC's series with guided meditation. What began as a simple idea to create space for stillness with music has since received international acclaim—including features in The New York Times and Performance Today—and inspired similar programs across the globe. She also co-created Music & Healing, a deeply personal series that weaves together conversation and live performance to explore how artists draw on music in times of grief, illness and personal challenge. These events often extend beyond the concert hall through community-driven initiatives such as bone marrow drives and the revival of a local Dance for Parkinson's chapter—underscoring Dasha's belief in music as a force for collective well-being. As a pianist, Dasha has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States and Europe, with appearances in Spain, France, Germany, Holland and the United Kingdom. She has received top prizes at both national and international competitions, including the Thousand Islands International Piano Competition and the New York Chamber Players Piano Competition. Beyond Princeton, Dasha helped launch a chamber music camp for low-income youth through the Opportunity Music Project in New York City—an extension of her ongoing commitment to making music accessible, inclusive and transformative for all.