On Friday, February 24, 2017, the Garden State’s own gem of an orchestra, The New Jersey Symphony, presented a very special evening of music featuring Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto (“Rach II”) at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. The evening also included a post-concert experience entitled #OrchestraYou where the NJSO gave audience members of all ages an opportunity to play alongside select members of this talented group!
After parking our car directly across the street from NJPAC, we happen to meet Massimo, 15, from West Orange, NJ, on his way to the venue with his mom.
Instrument case in hand, Massimo, a high school freshman, tells us this will be his first experience playing with #OrchestraYou. Although Massimo plays the trombone and the trumpet, tonight, he will be playing the bassoon. That said, he reveals to us that his favorite instrument is the saxophone, which he’s played for six years.
Massimo goes on to add that he plans to make music his career. Given the fact that he’ll be playing alongside professonals as well as adult amateurs tonight as a part of #OrchestraYou, he acknowledges, “I’m a little nervous” in addition to being “very excited to play.”
Says Massimo’s mom, Calogera, “I love to listen to him perform. He plays so many different styles of music from classical to jazz. It’s interesting to watch how he morphs from one style to the next and how he’s able to mesh with different kinds of groups.”
According to Massimo, in addition to classical music, he also enjoys other types of music including “heavy metal groups like Rush, Led Zeppelin, and Metallica.”
After wishing Massimo and Calogera good luck on tonight’s #OrchestraYou experience, we make our way inside Newark’s glittering NJPAC lobby and into the venue’s main concert space, Prudential Hall.
The first thing we notice upon entering Prudential Hall is what a truly beautiful auditorium it is, its glowing radiating light warmly illuminating its multiple tiers of seating.
As Orchestra members warm up on stage, we see people preparing themselves for tonight’s performance by studying their concert programs.
In addition to “Rach II,” starring piano virtuoso Kirill Gerstein, this evening’s program will also include Edgar Elgar’s “Variations on an Original Theme, ‘Enigma,’” and two performances of Verdi’s Nabucco Overture — one played by the NJSO conducted by Xian Zhang in the concert hall and one played by #OrchestraYOU in the lobby following the main performance.
As the clock strikes 8 pm, Gabriel van Aalst, President and CEO of the NJSO, welcomes the audience to tonight’s performance and tells the audience a little about the #OrchestraYou program, in addition to other educational offerings presented by the NJSO.
Aaliyah introduces Izia Weyman, assistant principal violist of the Orchestra, who invites four youngsters from the NJSO CHAMPS — CHaracter, Achievement and Music Project — after-school program onto the stage. These fourth through seventh grade Newark school students perform a piece entitled “Perpetual Motion” on stringed instruments under the direction of Ms. Weyman.
Following a warm round of applause, NJSO conductor Xian Zhang is introduced to the stage. After bowing to the audience, she begins to conduct Verdi’s Nabucco Overture.
From the first very downbeat, the low brass’s prayerful opening, the stirring entrance of the strings, and the dynamic performance of the percussion, all help to illustrate the emotional and artful conducting of Maestro Zhang.
The orchestra responds to her every musical request and, in so doing, brings Verdi’s music to life. Before long, the piece’s famous “Va, pensiero” melody wafts over the audience as the strings alternately pluck and bow and the woodwinds sweetly sing above.
Each section of the piece creates a new feeling as Zhang leads the NJSO on a merry ride through Nabucco. Her interpretation is bubbly, energetic, and stirring and, at its conclusion, elicits enormous applause from the crowd.
As musicians change seats, a Steinway grand is wheeled into place and secured in anticipation of the arrival of virtuoso pianist Kirill Gerstein.
Mr. Gerstein was born in Russia, where he attended a school for gifted musicians. As a youngster, Kirill taught himself how to play jazz by listening to his parents’ record collection. At 14, he came to America to attend Boston’s Berklee College of Music. After completing his studies in only three years, he moved to New York to enroll at the Manhattan School of Music. Winner of the 2001 Arthur Rubenstein Piano Competition in Tel Aviv, these days, Gerstein performs live with major symphony orchestras across the United States in addition to creating recordings with orchestras in America and abroad.
As the concertmaster tunes the orchestra to the newly added instrument, a hush falls over the crowd in anticipation of Gerstein’s interpretation of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto.
Mr. Gerstein and Maestro Zhang enter stage left, take a bow together, and get ready to perform.
In the first movement of “Rach II,” “Moderato,” Gerstein begins with a series of quiet chords. Seven times we hear the chord — each time a little louder. The eighth time, Gerstein thunders a powerful chord which echoes throughout the concert hall.
Modulating into a new key, arpeggios fly. Gerstein’s fingers float over keys as the orchestra and piano become one in this incredibly gorgeous movement.
During many passages in the piece, the orchestra takes over the melody while the piano takes on a more decorative role. Under Zhang’s baton, the orchestra swells and serenades its lament over Gerstein’s impeccable performance.
In the second movement, “Adagio sostenuto,” hints of a melody made famous by Eric Carmen’s 1975 pop hit, “All By Myself,” start in the woodwind section and then migrate over to the strings, accompanied by Gerstein’s dextrous arpeggios. Soon, the melody is picked up by Gerstein as Zhang’s baton beckons the orchestra to dance in support of the piano.
The music builds in intensity, dripping like droplets of diamond sound upon the listeners, each note a jewel in Rachmaninoff’s crown composition.
As Gerstein’s fingers dance up and down the keys, flittering and fluttering in peals of sound, they rest briefly before continuing with amazing lightness and agility, hinting at the rapturous melody the audience so eagerly anticipates.
Finally, the tune can be heard “singing” in one’s ear: “All by myself/Don’t want to be all by myself,” melancholy and joyful at the same time.
In “Rach II”’s third, and final, movement, “Allegro scherzando,” the orchestra rises and falls while Gerstein plays with grace and ease as if simply anyone could do it.
As he works his magic, the audience senses the difficulty of the piece and listens spellbound by this consummate musician, this excellent orchestra, and this gifted and highly expressive conductor.
When the piece finally reaches its dramatic conclusion, the audience explodes with applause, bursting forth with a standing ovation. Gerstein and Zhang take a moment to shake hands following a job well done.
During intermission, members of the NJSO participate in a popular program called “Ask a Musician.” In this program, select orchestra members make themselves available at the edge of the stage and in the theater lobby to answer questions audience members have for them.
Following intermission, Zhang and the Orchestra return to the main stage to perform Elgar’s “Variations on an Original Theme, ‘Enigma.’” Before they begin, Zhang takes a moment to explain that the 14 movements which constitute the piece are all titled with initials — e.g. “C.A.E.” — each set of letters representing the name of one of Elgar’s friends.
“That’s true,” qualifies Zhang, “except for the 13th movement, which is entitled ‘***’ because,” as she discloses, “none of Elgar’s friends wanted to be #13!”
Zhang goes on to point out that in one of the piece’s movements, the timpani is played with drum sticks instead of traditional mallets. She says Elgar designed this to imitate the sound of a ship, musically describing how “his fiancée left him by motor ship to sail away to New Zealand.”
In providing such specific information, Zhang helps to personalize the music, allowing the listener to create his or her own connection to the piece.
As the music unfolds, Zhang conducts each movement in ways which help to illustrate to the audience how different each section is musically, just as every individual human being is different.
In the various segments, for instance, one can imagine the personality of friends — some larger than life and boisterous, others timid and gentle, and still others beautiful and lithe.
It seems that listening to the Elgar piece — and, indeed, any of the other pieces performed tonight — can be a glorious way to let one’s imagination roam free, creating a scenario in the mind’s eye as the here-and-now music is expertly performed in this elegant space.
This leads us to the revelation that spending time in a concert hall is surely one way to experience live music the way our ancestors heard it. Without the intrusion of electronics to interrupt the moment, we are provided with a time to be human, allowing us to use all of our senses to experience something pure: true artistry.
As the music swirls and twirls, at various times, it evokes different reactions from the crowd.
Sometimes, a quirky melody elicits giggles.
At other times, a cyclone of sound appears to conjure up the image of an argument with a friend.
At still other times, the music seems to represent a song of grief, perhaps in memory of a lost loved one.
Basking in this glow of real culture, as we experience this treat for the senses, we have the extraordinary privilege of seeing the grace and motion of live musicians as they breathe their souls into their instruments. At the same time, we hear the venerable music of the composer as it becomes a vehicle for this accomplished conductor’s in-the-moment creativity.
At the dynamic conclusion of the piece, Maestro Zhang and the members of the NJSO are rewarded with a well-deserved standing ovation.
But the evening’s festivities aren’t over!
After the program, we exit Prudential Hall to discover the lobby has been transformed into a tidy concert space for the #OrchestraYou performance.
As the amateur and professional musicans who will compose #OrchestraYou take their seats, we chat with professional bassoonist, Mark Timmerman, one of the founders of “Ask a Musician,” the program where NJSO members take time out to respond to audience queries during intermission at their concerts.
Timmerman tells us that this evening’s #OrchestraYou performance is especially meaningful to him because he has three students — including Massimo whom we met earlier this evening — playing with him tonight!
NJSO Education and Community Engagement Director Jeff Grogan takes his place on the conductor’s podium in front of the group and tunes the orchestra in preparation for the #OrchestraYou rehearsal and performance.
Soon, for the second time tonight, strains of Verdi’s Nabucco are heard. The wonderful melody fills the air as these professional and amateur musician’s hearts sing together through their orchestral instruments.
In addition to our new friend, Massimo, tonight’s #OrchestraYou also features Kevin, 13, a seventh grader from Wayne, NJ.
This is Kevin’s second experience performing with #OrchestraYou. Whereas last year, he played oboe with the group, this year, he’s playing cello.
Explaining to us, “I have a hard time deciding which I like better,” Kevin says he started out as a clarinet player in school, but wanted to switch to English horn. Once he found out the instrument wasn’t available, he decided to learn how to play the oboe instead.
Regarding his appearance tonight with #OrchestraYou, Kevin reveals, “I’m excited but I’m not nervous. I’m used to performing,” going on to add, “Also, I practiced a bit more for this concert.”
Like Massimo, Keven tells us that he would like to make a career out of music.
That, or he’d like to become an astronaut as, according to Kevin, he’s “very much involved with robotics” in school.
As the group plays, Kevin’s intrumental music teacher, Sheila — in the audience tonight to hear her student perform — says she’s “so proud of Kevin, and Kevin’s little sister, Sadie,” a nine-year-old who’s played cello for a year now.
Kevin and Sadie’s dad, Alexis, tells us that he, too, is proud of both of his musical children and also appreciates “the opportunity which programs like #OrchestraYou provide” to the members of his family and to the community.
And as if right on cue, #OrchestraYou conductor Jeff Grogan takes a break from conducting to proudly tell the group, “This is a beautiful coming together of music — the biggest #OrchestraYou we’ve ever had!”
One can easily see by the smiles on the faces of the students, the amateur adult players, and the professionals alike, this is surely one magical night for them all!
And who knows?
Maybe some day in the future, youngsters like Massimo, Kevin, and Sadie will take their turns in the spotlight and have a chance to do what pianist Kirill Gerstein, conductor Xian Zhang, and the rest of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra members did tonight…
“Rach II” the Rafters!
For more on pianist Kirill Gerstein, please go to www.kirillgerstein.com. For more on Zian Zhang and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra — including great upcoming classical programs such as Zhang conducts Beethoven’s 7th on March 23–26 and Ravel’s Bolero on April 7–9 — please go to www.njsymphony.org
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