New Jersey Symphony Orchestra presents 

Schubert’s ‘Great’ Symphony

 

 

Jennifer Koh—Musical America’s 2016 Instrumentalist of the Year—performs Sibelius’ Violin Concerto 

Music Director Xian Zhang continues critically acclaimed debut season 

May 14 concert features special performance by students from El Sistema New Jersey Alliance programs

NJSO Accents include pre-concert singalong

 

Thu, May 11, at NJPAC in Newark

Fri, May 12, at Richardson Auditorium in Princeton

Sat, May 13, at Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank

Sun, May 14, at State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick

 

NEWARK, NJ (April 12, 2017)—Music Director Xian Zhang and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra present Schubert’s “Great” Symphony and works by Sibelius and Mozart, May 11–14 in Newark, Princeton, Red Bank and New Brunswick. Violinist Jennifer Koh—Musical America’s 2016 Instrumentalist of the Year—returns for Sibelius’ Violin Concerto. The program opens with Mozart’s Così fan tutte Overture.

 

Performances take place on Thursday, May 11, at 1:30 pm at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark; Friday, May 12, at 8 pm at the Richardson Auditorium in Princeton; Saturday, May 13, at 8 pm at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank; and Sunday, May 14, at 3 pm at the State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick.

 

In a special showcase, students from three El Sistema New Jersey Alliance programs open the May 14 concert with Offenbach’s “Can-Can” from Orpheus in the Underworld. The ensemble features members of NJSO CHAMPS (Character, Achievement & Music Project), Paterson Music Project and Sonic Explorations: Sharing Sounds of Oakwood.

 

Koh has earned critical acclaim for her previous performances with the NJSO. In 2010, The New York Times hailed her as “a superb violinist” who “played with consummate skill and passion in Brahms’ Violin Concerto … her account had a compelling mix of intelligence and freshness.”

 

Zhang continues to garner praise for her artistry at the podium in her first season as NJSO Music Director. Reviewing a performance of Prokofiev last month, The Star-Ledger wrote that “sounds [written] a century ago came alive under Zhang’s baton.”

 

NJSO Accents include a singalong of classic Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong hits beginning one hour before the performance on May 11 in Newark.

 

TICKETS

Concert tickets start at $20 and are available for purchase online at www.njsymphony.org or by phone at 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476).

 

THE PROGRAM

Schubert’s “Great” Symphony

Thursday, May 11, at 1:30 pm | NJPAC in Newark

Friday, May 12, at 8 pm | Richardson Auditorium in Princeton

Saturday, May 13, at 8 pm | Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank

Sunday, May 14, at 3 pm | State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick

 

Xian Zhang, conductor

Jennifer Koh, violin

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra

 

MOZART Così fan tutte Overture

SIBELIUS Violin Concerto

SCHUBERT Symphony No. 9, “Great”

 

Full concert information is available at www.njsymphony.org/events/detail/schuberts-great-symphony.

 

This weekend’s concerts are generously sponsored by the Investors Foundation.

 

NJSO ACCENTS

Inspired by the concerts and designed to inspire audiences, NJSO Accents are pre- or post-concert events that complement the concert experience and provide audience members with more opportunities to personally connect with the music and music makers.

 

Sing-along—Thu, May 11, before the concert
Arrive early and sing the great songs of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, then enjoy the Sibelius Violin Concerto performed by another great team, Jennifer Koh and Xian Zhang. Free for ticketholders.

 

NJSO Accents in Newark are generously sponsored by the Prudential Foundation.

 

THE ARTISTS

Xian Zhang, conductor

Conductor Xian Zhang begins her critically anticipated tenure as NJSO Music Director in the 2016–17 season. Zhang is internationally renowned for “dynamic performances [that prove] hers is a name worth memorizing” (The New York Times) and “dynamism, agility and precision” (The Telegraph). WQXR placed her arrival in New Jersey in the top two of 2016’s classical stories to watch, and The Star-Ledger calls the conductor “a thrilling leader who has already established a strong rapport with the orchestra.”

 

Zhang has served as Music Director of Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi since September 2009, with highlights including their televised debut at the BBC Proms in 2013 with Joseph Calleja. This season, Zhang takes on the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales (BBC NOW), thereby becoming the first female conductor to hold a titled role with a BBC orchestra.

 

A regular conductor with the London Symphony and Royal Concertgebouw orchestras, Zhang’s recent highlights include debuts with The Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España, as well as performances with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, BBC NOW at the BBC Proms and Orchestre National de Belgique, where she will appear again this season.

 

Recent operatic performances include a return to English National Opera conducting La Bohème and her debut with Den Norske Opera conducting La Traviata. Following Zhang’s hugely successful production of Nabucco with Welsh National Opera in 2014, which subsequently transferred to the Savonlinna Festival, she returned to the festival in summer 2016 to conduct Otello—marking her debut with the opera company itself.

 

Zhang frequently returns to her native China, where she is a regular conductor with the China Philharmonic and the Beijing and Guangzhou symphony orchestras. A champion for Chinese composers, she conducted Qigang Chen’s Iris Devoilee with the BBC NOW and National Centre for the Performing Arts, where she will return in 2017. She led the world premiere of Qigang Chen’sLuan Tan with the Hong Kong Philharmonic—a work commissioned by the orchestra—and the West Coast premiere of Tan Dun’sThe Triple Resurrection with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

 

Working with young talented musicians continues to play a major part in Zhang’s life. She has been Artistic Director of the NJO Dutch Orchestra and Ensemble Academy since 2011, and last summer she made her hugely successful debut with the European Union Youth Orchestra, conducting them in Grafenegg, Amsterdam, Berlin, Rheingau and Bolzano.

 

Born in Dandong, China, Zhang made her professional debut conducting The Marriage of Figaro at the Central Opera House in Beijing at the age of 20. She trained at Beijing’s Central Conservatory, earning both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, and she served one year on its conducting faculty before moving to the United States in 1998. Zhang studied at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s DMA orchestral conducting program with Mark Gibson for two years and later served on its conducting faculty before joining the New York Philharmonic. She was appointed the New York Philharmonic’s Assistant Conductor in 2002, subsequently becoming their Associate Conductor and the first holder of the Arturo Toscanini Chair.

 

Learn more about Zhang at www.njsymphony.org/zhang.

 

Jennifer Koh, violin

Violinist Jennifer Koh is recognized for her intense, commanding performances, delivered with dazzling virtuosity and technical assurance. An adventurous musician, she curates projects that find connections between music of all eras, from traditional to contemporary. She has premiered more than 50 works written especially for her.

 

Musical America’s 2016 Instrumentalist of the Year, Koh has been heard with leading orchestras around the world. A prolific recitalist, she frequently appears at major music centers and festivals, and played the role of Einstein in the revival of Philip Glass’s Einstein on the Beach.

 

Born in Chicago, Koh chose the violin in a Suzuki-method program only because spaces for cello and piano had been filled. She made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 11, and went on to win the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1994, as well as the Concert Artists Guild Competition and an Avery Fisher Career Grant.

 

Koh has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Oberlin College and studied at the Curtis Institute, where she worked extensively with Jaime Laredo and Felix Galimir. More information is available at www.jenniferkoh.com.

 

EL SISTEMA NEW JERSEY ALLIANCE

Initiated and funded in part by The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, El Sistema New Jersey is a unique alliance of El Sistema-inspired music-instruction programs across the Garden State. Keys 2 Success (Newark), NJSO CHAMPS, the Paterson Music Project, Sister Cities Girlchoir (Camden), Sonic Expressions (Orange), Trenton Music Makers and Union City Music Project are the anchor programs of this emerging network. The aim of the El Sistema New Jersey Alliance is to provide collaborative training, performance and professional development opportunities that empower participating families to come together in a statewide musical community. Programs come together in numerous public performances and a summer camp to connect, study and share their talents.

 

NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Named “a vital, artistically significant musical organization” by The Wall Street Journal, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra embodies that vitality through its statewide presence and critically acclaimed performances, education partnerships and unparalleled access to music and the Orchestra’s superb musicians.

 

The NJSO welcomes new Music Director Xian Zhang in the 2016–17 season. The Orchestra presents classical, pops and family programs, as well as outdoor summer concerts and special events. Embracing its legacy as a statewide orchestra, the NJSO is the resident orchestra of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and regularly performs at the State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick, Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, Richardson Auditorium in Princeton, Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown and bergenPAC in Englewood. Partnerships with New Jersey arts organizations, universities and civic organizations remain a key element of the Orchestra’s statewide identity.

 

In addition to its lauded artistic programming, the NJSO presents a suite of education and community engagement programs that promote meaningful, lifelong engagement with live music. Programs include school-time Concerts for Young People performances, NJSO Youth Orchestras family of student ensembles and El Sistema-inspired NJSO CHAMPS (Character, Achievement and Music Project). NJSO musicians annually perform original chamber music programs at nearly 200 community events in a variety of settings through the NJSO’s REACH (Resources for Education and Community Harmony) program. The Orchestra’s ECE programs annually serve more than 60,000 New Jerseyans in nearly 21 counties.

 

For more information about the NJSO, visit www.njsymphony.org or email information@njsymphony.org. Tickets are available for purchase by phone at 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476) or on the Orchestra’s website.

 

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s programs are made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, along with many other foundations, corporations and individual donors.