FRED STUCKER
Xian Zhang with members of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
“Music Speaks” is the theme of the 2018-19 season of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, announced today.
“I’m sure we all agree, words have great power,” said the orchestra’s music director, Xian Zhang, at a press conference on Friday. “Especially now. You see so many words on everything: Social media, everything. But the thing is, there was so much great music, wonderful music, that was inspired by words, either by poems, or by books, novels … anything. Even by someone’s speech.”
For example, the orchestra’s season-opening concerts, Oct. 5-7 in Newark and New Brunswick, will include the United States premiere of Speak Out, written for orchestra and choir by the British composer Kate Whitley. “She is using the the speech that Malala (Yousafzai) used to speak at the United Nations (in 2013) about equal education opportunities for girls, in developing countries,” said Zhang. “And that was a very strong message. … That’s just an example of how words can affect us, and can influence us, and how composers were inspired.”
This will be Zhang’s third season as the NJSO music director. The goal in assembling the schedule, she said, was that each program should have at least piece that features words or was inspired by a verbal source. For instance, Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra, to be performed in January 2019, was inspired by Nietzsche’s novel of the same name, and Maria Schneider’s Winter Morning Walks, to be performed the same month, is built around poetry by Ted Kooser.
Artists who will be performing with the orchestra throughout the season include singer Dawn Upshaw, violinist Augustin Hadelich, pianists Daniel Trifonov, Emanuel Ax, Simone Dinnerstein and Seong Jin-Cho, and Indian sarod master Amjad Ali Khan.
Khan will be featured in his own concerto, Samaagam, in an April 2019 program that will also include Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.
“I feel very strongly that the music we present, here, with the NJSO, should in a way speak for the people who live in New Jersey, and I do know we have a very large Indian community here, especially around Edison,” said Zhang.
Another theme, Zhang said, is female composers, with Florence Price (1887-1953) featured, along with Whitley and Schneider.
Here is the schedule. Subscriptions are now on sale, and a single tickets will go on sale in August. For information, visit njsymphony.org.
Zhang Conducts Beethoven 9
Oct. 5, 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 7, 3 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
Oct. 6, 8 p.m.: State Theatre, New Brunswick
Xian Zhang, conductor
Mary Elizabeth Williams, soprano
Elizabeth Bishop, mezzo-soprano
Lorenzo Decaro, tenor
Reginald D. Smith Jr., bass
Montclair State University Singers
Montclair State University Chorale
Newark Voices
Heather J. Buchanan, conductor
New Jersey Youth Choruses, Trish Joyce, artistic director
Kate Whitley: Speak Out (U.S. Premiere)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, “Choral”
HARALD HOFFMANN
SEONG JIN-CHO
Seong-Jin Cho Plays Chopin
Oct. 11, 7:30 p.m.: BergenPAC, Englewood
Oct. 13, 8 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
Oct. 14, 3 p.m.: Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown
Otto Tausk, conductor
Seong-Jin Cho, piano
Ligeti: Romanian Concerto (NJSO Premiere)
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2
Dvorák: Symphony No. 7
Augustin Hadelich Returns
Nov. 1, 1:30 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
Nov. 2, 8 p.m.: Richardson Auditorium, Princeton
Nov. 3, 8 p.m.: Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank
Nov. 4, 3 p.m.: State Theatre, New Brunswick
Christoph König, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin
Strauss: Don Juan
Britten: Violin Concerto
Schumann: Symphony No. 3, “Rhenish”
Family Concert: Bravo Beethoven!
Nov. 17, 2 and 3:30 p.m.: Victoria Theater at NJPAC, Newark
Excerpts from the Fifth and Seventh symphonies, and more.
Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert
Nov. 23, 8 p.m.: Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank
Nov. 24, 8 p.m.: Prudential hall at NJPAC, Newark
Nov. 25, 3 p.m.: State Theatre, New Brunswick
Constantine Kitsopoulos, conductor
Screening of “Star Wars: A New Hope” with the orchestra playing the John Williams score live
JOHN ABBOTT
AARON DIEHL
Rhapsody in Blue & The Firebird
Nov. 29, 1:30 p.m., Nov. 30, 8 p.m. and Dec. 2, 3 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
Dec. 1, 8 p.m.: State Theatre, New Brunswick
Joshua Weilerstein, conductor
Aaron Diehl, piano
Milhaud: La création du Monde
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Florence Price: Piano Concerto (NJSO Premiere)
Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919)
Messiah
Dec. 14, 8 p.m.: Richardson Auditorium, Princeton
Dec. 16, 7 p.m.: Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark
Patrick Dupré Quigley, conductor
Margot Rood, soprano
Reginald Mobley, countertenor
Stephen Soph, tenor
Charles Wesley Evans, baritone
Montclair State University Singers, Heather J. Buchanan, conductor
Members of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
Handel: Messiah
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in Concert
Jan. 4, 8 p.m.: Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank
Jan. 5, 8 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
Jan. 6, 3 p.m.: State Theatre, New Brunswick
Constantine Kitsopoulos, conductor
Screening of “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” with the orchestra playing the John Williams score live
“Winter Festival — Zhang & Ax: Transformation”
Jan. 10, 7:30 p.m.: BergenPAC, Englewood
Jan. 12, 8 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
Jan. 13, 3 p.m.: State Theatre, New Brunswick
Xian Zhang, conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22
Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony
BROOKE IRISH
DAWN UPSHAW
Winter Festival — Zhang & Upshaw: Earth & Heaven
Jan. 18, 8 p.m.: Richardson Auditorium, Princeton
Jan. 19, 8 p.m.: Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank
Jan. 20, 3 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
Xian Zhang, conductor
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
Jay Armstrong, bass
Frank Kimbrough, piano
Scott Robinson, clarinet
Maria Schneider: Winter Morning Walks (NJSO Premiere)
Mahler: Symphony No. 4
Winter Festival — Zhang & Trifonov: The Eternal
Jan. 25, 8 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
Jan. 26, 8 p.m.: State Theatre, New Brunswick
Jan. 27, 3 p.m.: Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown
Xian Zhang, conductor
Daniel Trifonov, piano
Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra
Schumann: Piano Concerto
Alexander Scriabin: Poem of Ecstasy (NJSO Premiere)
Chinese New Year Celebration
Feb. 2, 2019, 7:30 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
Xian Zhang, conductor
Li Huanzhi: Spring Festival Overture
Beethoven: Choral Fantasy Opera
Choruses and Traditional Chinese Songs
E.F. MARTON PRODUCTIONS
JEFFREY KAHANE
Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto
Feb. 28, 2019, 7:30 p.m.: BergenPAC, Englewood
March 2, 2019, 8 p.m. and March 3, 3 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
Hans Graf, conductor
Jeffrey Kahane, piano
Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin
Beethoven: Concerto No. 4
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 1
Debussy Masterworks
March 7, 2019, 1:30 p.m. and March 8, 8 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
March 9, 2019, 8 p.m.: Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank
March 10, 2019, 3 p.m.: State Theatre, New Brunswick
Jun Märkl, conductor
Ingrid Fliter, piano
Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2
Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes
Debussy: La mer
Zhang Conducts Brahms 4
March 22, 2019, 8 p.m.: Richardson Auditorium, Princeton
March 23, 2019, 8 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
March 24, 2019, 3 p.m.: Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown
Xian Zhang, conductor
Johannes Moser, cello
NJSO Horn Section: Chris Komer (principal), Andrea Menousek, Lawrence DiBello, Susan Standley
Schumann: Konzertstuck for Four Horns (NJSO Premiere)
Andrew Norman: Cello Concerto (East Coast Premiere)
Brahms: Symphony No. 4
Sarod & Scheherazade
April 5, 2019, 8 p.m. and April 7, 3 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
April 6, 2019, 8 p.m.: State Theatre, New Brunswick
Xian Zhang, conductor
Amjad Ali Khan, sarod
Amaan Ali Bangash, sarod
Aymaan Ali Bangash, sarod
Khan: Samaagam: A Concerto for Sarod, Concertante Group and String Orchestra (NJSO Premiere)
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
Mary Poppins Live With the NJSO
April 12, 2019, 8 p.m.: Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank
April 13, 2019, 8 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
April 14, 2019, 3 p.m.: State Theatre, New Brunswick
Screening of “Mary Poppins” with the orchestra playing the score live
SIMONE DINNERSTEIN
Xian Conducts Mozart
April 25, 2019, 1:30 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
April 27, 2019, 8 p.m.: Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank
April 28, 2019, 3 p.m.: Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown
Xian Zhang, conductor
Simone Dinnerstein, piano
William Walton: Suite No. 2 from Façade
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23
Mozart: Symphony No. 40
Family Concert: The Sound of Stories
May 11, 2019, at 2 and 3:30 p.m.: Victoria Theater at NJPAC, Newark
“The Nutcracker,” “Swan Lake,” “Romeo and Juliet,” Harry Potter and more.
Art of the Double Concerto
May 16, 2019, 1:30 p.m.and May 18, 8 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
May 17, 2019, 8 p.m.: Richardson Auditorium, Princeton
May 19, 2019, 3 p.m.: State Theatre, New Brunswick
Xian Zhang, conductor
Eric Wyrick, violin
Annelle Gregory, violin
Steven Mackey, electric guitar
Carl Maria von Weber: Overture to Oberon
Steven Mackey: Four Iconoclastic Episodes
Bach: Concerto for Two Violins
Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3
Blockbuster All-Orchestral Season Finale
June 6, 2019, 7:30 p.m.: BergenPAC, Englewood
June 7, 2019, 8 p.m.: Richardson Auditorium, Princeton
June 8, 2019, 8 p.m.: Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank
June 9, 2019, 3 p.m.: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark
Xian Zhang, conductor
Prokofiev: Selections from Romeo and Juliet
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2
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