(NEWARK, NJ) -- In a new partnership, WWFM The Classical Network will air New Jersey Symphony Orchestra concert broadcasts on Friday, March 31; Thursday, April 27; and Friday, June 2. Each broadcast airs at 8:00pm on 89.1 FM and streams simultaneously online at www.wwfm.org. The programs will feature music by Tchaikovsky, Haydn, Strauss and more in performances led by Music Director Xian Zhang, recorded live at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. Webcasts will become available for on-demand listening on the NJSO and WWFM websites.
On March 31, WWFM airs Zhang’s debut program as Music Director, featuring a trio of Tchaikovsky scores—the Fifth Symphony, First Piano Concerto (with pianist Simon Trpčeski) and Polonaise from Eugene Onegin. Zhang “showed complete command of these scores and a deep feeling for them,” The New York Times wrote in its concert review. The performance “spoke to meticulous preparation by Ms. Zhang, but also to a certain freedom and risk-taking on the part of the players that suggested an enthusiastic and confident response to her direction.”
The April 27 broadcast features Haydn’s Symphony No. 102 and Strauss’ Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, recorded in November 2016, and Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony and Marche Slave, recorded in April 2016. The Star-Ledger praised the chemistry between orchestra and conductor in April: “Employing her theatrical conducting style, poised on the balls of her feet, often leaping with arms outstretched and making compact but forceful baton gestures, Zhang coaxed precise pizzicato playing from the strings, various emotional shadings from the woodwinds, and Wagnerian crescendos from the horns.” Zhang brought “not just skill but also heart,” the paper wrote in its November review.
Program details for the June 2 broadcast will become available at www.njsymphony.org/broadcasts at a later date.
NJSO President & CEO Gabriel van Aalst says: “We are delighted that WWFM will present these concert broadcasts, bringing some of the NJSO and Xian Zhang’s standout performances from the past year to its wide network of listeners.”
Recordings engineered and produced by Tim Martyn.
WWFM The Classical Network began broadcasting on September 6, 1982, and is a full-time classical music station serving New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania via FM, Philadelphia via HD Radio and worldwide via live internet stream at www.wwfm.org.
WWFM is licensed to Mercer County Community College and is located on the college’s West Windsor Campus. The Classical Network is New Jersey’s only full-time classical music station providing programming 24 hours each day. The Classical Network is at the forefront of live concert broadcasts engaged with music partners across the tri-state region. The Classical Network’s unique and proprietary programming covers all periods and styles of classical music including educational and adventurous programs that highlight today’s vibrant and changing classical music scene. WWFM The Classical Network was the 2014 recipient of the ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award for broadcasting.
