(NEWARK, NJ) -- Music Director Xian Zhang’s love of opera and ballet inspires three weeks of epic works from the stage in the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s 2020 Winter Festival, January 3–19 in six New Jersey venues. The Orchestra’s signature artistic event features music from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, Mozart’s Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro and Wagner’s Ring cycle, all conducted by Zhang.
The festival’s opening weekend features selections from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet ballet, paired with the NJSO premiere of Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto—featuring returning pianist Inon Barnatan—and “The Moldau” from Smetana’s Má vlast (January 3–5 in Newark, Red Bank and Morristown). The January 3 concert opens with the annual featured showcase performance by the NJSO Youth Orchestras’ Academy Orchestra.
In a new collaboration, the NJSO welcomes singers from the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program for scenes from Mozart’s Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro. The all-Mozart program also features Concertmaster Eric Wyrick’s annual solo appearance with the Orchestra (in the composer’s Fourth Violin Concerto); it opens with Exsultate, jubilate, a church solo from Mozart’s teenage years (January 9–12 in Englewood, Newark and New Brunswick).
The NJSO premiere of Wagner’s The Ring Without Words, arranged by the late American conductor Lorin Maazel, anchors the festival’s closing weekend. Simon Trpčeski, who made his NJSO debut on Xian Zhang’s first program as music director, returns to New Jersey stages for Lizst’s Second Piano Concerto on a program that opens with the Prelude to Act I of Wagner’s Lohengrin (January 17–19 in Princeton, New Brunswick and Newark).
NJSO Accent events include Classical Conversations, talkbacks with Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program singers, a Prelude Performance by young musicians from the NJSO Academy and a closer look at Wagner’s Ring cycle with pianist and musicologist Jeffrey Swann. More information is available at njsymphony.org/accents.
Tickets start at $20 and are available for purchase at njsymphony.org or 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476). Student tickets are $10, available at njsymphony.org/students one month in advance.
WEEK I: Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet
Fri, Jan 3, at 8 pm | NJPAC in Newark*
Sat, Jan 4, at 8 pm | Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank
Sun, Jan 5, at 3 pm | Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown
XIAN ZHANG conductor
INON BARNATAN piano
NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
SMETANA “The Moldau” from Má vlast
CLARA SCHUMANN Piano Concerto (NJSO Premiere)
PROKOFIEV Selections from Romeo and Juliet
* The Jan 3 concert opens with a performance by the NJSO Youth Orchestras’ Academy Orchestra.
NJSO Accents
Classical Conversation – Jan 4 at 7 pm & Jan 5 at 2 pm
Enjoy a lively 30-minute Classical Conversation before the performance. Learn more about the music from NJSO musicians, guest artists and other engaging insiders.
Inon Barnatan’s performances this week are supported by a gift from Audrey Bartner.
WEEK II: Mozart’s Don Giovanni & Figaro
Thu, Jan 9, at 7:30 pm | bergenPAC in Englewood
Sat, Jan 11, at 8 pm | NJPAC in Newark
Sun, Jan 12, at 3 pm | State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick
XIAN ZHANG conductor
ERIC WYRICK violin
Singers from the METROPOLITAN OPERA’S LINDEMANN YOUNG ARTIST DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MOZART Exsultate, jubilate
MOZART Violin Concerto No. 4
MOZART Scenes from Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro
NJSO Accents
Talkback – Jan 9 & Jan 12 after the concert
Hear from the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program singers who take center stage for Mozart’s Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro.
WEEK III: Wagner’s The Ring Without Words
Fri, Jan 17, at 8 pm | Richardson Auditorium in Princeton
Sat, Jan 18, at 8 pm | State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick
Sun, Jan 19, at 3 pm | NJPAC in Newark
XIAN ZHANG conductor
SIMON TRPČESKI piano
NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
WAGNER Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin
LISZT Piano Concerto No. 2
WAGNER/arr. Maazel The Ring Without Words (NJSO Premiere)
NJSO Accents
Prelude Performance – Jan 18 at 7 pm
Hear captivating young musicians from the NJSO Academy perform in State Theatre New Jersey’s Heldrich Room.
The Ring: A Closer Look – Jan 19 at 1:30 pm
Pianist and musicologist Jeffrey Swann explores Wagner’s epic opera cycle on stage before the NJSO performs The Ring Without Words.
PHOTOS BY FRED STUCKER
