Dawn Upshaw & Xian Zhang
2019 Winter Festival: Music Speaks
XIAN ZHANG conductor
DAWN UPSHAW soprano
JAY ANDERSON bass | FRANK KIMBROUGH piano | SCOTT ROBINSON clarinet
NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
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MARIA SCHNEIDER Winter Morning Walks (NJSO Premiere)
This poignant song cycle follows the singer on a series of walks in the woods, tracing a path back to wellness as winter gives way to early spring.
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MAHLER Symphony No. 4
The playful and the profound mingle in this life-affirming symphony; its idyllic finale aims to “gladden our senses, so that all awaken for joy.”
Daniil Trifonov & Xian Zhang
2019 Winter Festival: Music Speaks
XIAN ZHANG conductor
DANIIL TRIFONOV piano
NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
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STRAUSS Also sprach Zarathustra
Famous for its use in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Strauss’ tone poem—dramatic, gorgeous, thrilling—is the kind of music musicians live to play.
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SCHUMANN Piano Concerto
Colorful, lively, embodying a love story for the ages. Schumann wrote this gorgeous concerto for his wife, Clara, who played the solo part in its premiere.
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SCRIABIN Poem of Ecstasy (NJSO Premiere)
Scriabin applied his remarkable gift for orchestral color to this immersive ode to rapture, a showcase for the abundant gifts of Music Director Xian Zhang.
Chinese New Year Celebration Concert
2018–19 Season
Start a new tradition at the NJSO’s first-ever Chinese New Year celebration, conducted by Xian Zhang. Musical riches abound in this program that blends Eastern and Western musical traditions. Li Huanzhi’s Spring Festival Overture is beloved in China yet almost reminiscent of Copland’s America. Songs and arias from opera and traditional Chinese culture show that music bridges all cultures. Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with pianist Min Kwon brings all elements of this sumptuously crafted program together in a joyful performance.
Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto
2018–19 Season
HANS GRAF conductor
JEFFREY KAHANE piano
NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
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RAVEL Le tombeau de Couperin
Each of the four wistful and elegant movements commemorates a friend who died in battle during World War I. The oboe shines throughout.
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BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4
Grand yet nuanced; generations of listeners have loved this piece, and critics have judged it to be among Beethoven’s greatest and most innovative works.
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SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 1
Shostakovich composed this sardonic work at 18; it was an enormous success, instantly bringing him international attention.
Debussy Masterworks
2018–19 Season
JUN MÄRKL conductor
INGRID FLITER piano
NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
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DEBUSSY Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Languid and sensual, suggesting the erotic reveries of a faun, the half-man, half-goat of Greek mythology.
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MENDELSSOHN Piano Concerto No. 1
“A celebration of life … and an explosion of happiness.” – Ingrid Fliter
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BRITTEN Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes
Moody, foreboding; it captures the ocean at dawn, on Sunday morning, under moonlight and during a storm.
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DEBUSSY La mer
Vivid and imaginative. As a young boy, Debussy’s parents had wanted him to join the French Navy; instead, he captured his impressions of the ever-changing sea in this work.
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“This is the future of classical music—and it does have a future—bringing us beauty, challenge, hope, and community, even in times of gravest despair, as we face the perils of our time and years to come. It is a face of diversity: color, gender, LGBTQ+, recreating some of humanity’s greatest music and crafting new music for the audiences of tomorrow. The New Jersey Symphony got it right, and their timing couldn’t be better.”
—Broad Street Review
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