New Scores: 2022 Edward T. Cone Institute Concert
New Jersey Symphony Special Presentation
David Robertson conductor
Steven Mackey institute director & host
New Jersey Symphony
Dai Wei’s Samsāric Dance traces cycles of birth, death and rebirth. Baldwin Giang’s to remember is always forgetting explores “the rich space between sound and the music of memory.” Jack Frerer reimagines his solo cello work Steep with an infusion of orchestral harmony and rhythm. In What do flowers do at night?, Sophia Jani revels in the sonic combinations and possibilities of orchestral writing. Institute Director Steven Mackey provides the concert finale with his own Eating Greens.
- Dai Wei Samsāric Dance
- Baldwin Giang to remember is always forgetting
- Jack Frerer Steep
- Sophia Jani What do flowers do at night?
- Steven Mackey Eating Greens
Performed in Princeton
Yefim Bronfman Plays Rachmaninoff
Opening Weekend! New Jersey Symphony Classical
Xian Zhang conductor
Yefim Bronfman piano
Nimbus Dance Company
New Jersey Symphony
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Jessie Montgomery Banner
The season opens with Jessie Montgomery’s tribute to the “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Her piece Banner draws on musical and historical sources to create a rhapsody that blends cultures through music.
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Copland Appalachian Spring Suite
The orchestral suite of Copland’s iconic ballet is quintessential Americana with both celebratory exuberance and somber undertones. The music depicts a newlywed couple’s mixed emotions around unity in rural Pennsylvania in the 20th century. Dancers from Nimbus Dance Company add dynamic original choreography to our Newark and Morristown performances.
Due to space limitations, Nimbus Dance does not appear at the performance in Red Bank. -
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3
Sergei Rachmaninoff performed this thrilling concerto for the first time in 1909 in New York. Superstar pianist Yefim Bronfman will thrill audiences with his interpretation of one of the most challenging and virtuosic concertos in the repertoire.
Performed in Newark, Red Bank and Morristown
Xian Zhang Conducts Brahms
New Jersey Symphony Classical
Xian Zhang conductor
Michelle Cann piano
New Jersey Symphony
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Dorothy Chang Northern Star
Award-winning composer Dorothy Chang wrote her inspirational and bright Northern Star as part of a larger collection of commissions from several Canadian composers in 2017. New Jersey Symphony Music Director Xian Zhang performed it for the first time in Vancouver in 2018.
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Strauss Burleske for Piano and Orchestra
Michelle Cann makes a triumphant return to the Symphony stage for the first time since 2014 with Strauss’ light, virtuosic and witty Burleske for Piano and Orchestra.
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Brahms Symphony No. 4
Brahms’ final symphony balances autumnal hues with virtuosic power. Scaling the heights of this monumental work is an orchestral and emotional feat of Mount Everest proportions—and one musicians relish playing.
The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival will share dynamic contemporary poets offering dramatic readings between the orchestral works during the performances at NJPAC in Newark.
Performed in Newark and Princeton
Jessie Montgomery & Mozart
New Jersey Symphony Classical
George Manahan conductor
Awadagin Pratt piano
New Jersey Symphony
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Mozart Symphony No. 38, “Prague”
Symphony No. 38—Mozart’s exploration of what a symphony could be—is brought to life by past Interim Music Director George Manahan, who was with the Symphony from 1983 through 1985. Mozart didn’t write the symphony for Prague specifically, but this grand work of mixed emotions became a gift to the city.
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Jessie Montgomery Rounds for Piano and String Orchestra
This new piano concerto from Montgomery premieres in March 2022 in South Carolina, with acclaimed pianist Awadagin Pratt at the keys.
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Strauss Suite from Le bourgeois gentilhomme
Strauss took incidental music he wrote for a revival of Molière’s comedic play and compiled an orchestral suite, perfect for New Jersey Symphony stages.
Performed in Newark, Red Bank and New Brunswick
Hugh Wolff Conducts Beethoven & Mozart
New Jersey Symphony Classical
Hugh Wolff conductor
Richard Goode piano
New Jersey Symphony
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Beethoven Egmont Overture
The powerful and expressive Egmont Overture distills all of Beethoven’s musical hallmarks—storminess, heroism, triumph—into eight minutes. In 1956, this stirring piece helped inspire a nationwide uprising against the Marxist-Leninist government of the Hungarian People’s Republic.
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Mozart Piano Concerto No. 25
American classical pianist Richard Goode is recognized worldwide for the special touch and insight he brings to Mozart. Hear his effortless artistry in this most regal of Mozart’s concertos.
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Aaron Jay Kernis Symphony No. 2
Former New Jersey Symphony Music Director Hugh Wolff returns to a work he premiered with the Symphony back in 1992. Kernis wrote this symphony to express his complex views on the just-beginning Persian Gulf War.
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Ravel La valse
La valse is one Ravel’s most intense and colorful works; originally composed as a series of waltzes for the piano, it is now most often heard as an orchestral piece. The work encapsulates in music the horrifying destruction faced by turn-of-the-century Europe on the eve of World War I.
Performed in Newark
Daniil Trifonov Performs Brahms
New Jersey Symphony Classical
Xian Zhang conductor
Daniil Trifonov piano
New Jersey Symphony
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Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2
Grammy Award-winning pianist Daniil Trifonov brings his technique, style, poetry and power to one of the most monumental piano concertos ever written. Brahms’ grand Second Piano Concerto has left audiences in awe ever since its premiere in 1881.
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Strauss Don Juan
This swashbuckling tone poem would become the first masterpiece of famed composer Richard Strauss, who burst on the scene in 1889 at the age of 25. Full of adventure, longing, love, defiance and humor, it’s a work that will charm and thrill you, just like its namesake hero.
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Strauss Suite from Der Rosenkavalier
Strauss’ comedic opera was so popular following its 1911 Dresden premiere that “Rosenkavalier” trains were arranged for audiences to make the 90-mile trek from Berlin. Full of sumptuous melodies, beguiling waltzes and heartbreaking nostalgia, it’s no wonder that Strauss reworked some of the highlights into this glittering orchestral suite.
Performed in Princeton, Newark and Morristown
Hilary Hahn & Xian Zhang Unite!
New Jersey Symphony Classical
Xian Zhang conductor
Hilary Hahn violin
New Jersey Symphony
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Coleridge-Taylor Ballade in A Minor
Coleridge-Taylor was a great, yet historically overlooked composer. This early work for orchestra showcases aching melodies and rhythmic drive. Don't miss Xian and your New Jersey Symphony bringing this gem of the romantic era to life.
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Sibelius Violin Concerto
Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn, who last graced our stages in 2014, accentuates all the brilliant colors and shades of melancholy in Sibelius’ only violin concerto.
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Prokofiev Symphony No. 5
Lively and powerful, the Fifth Symphony was influenced by Prokofiev’s own admiration for the splendor of the human spirt and a hopefulness for a brighter future towards the end of World War II.
Performed in Red Bank and Newark
Mahler’s Symphony No. 3
New Jersey Symphony Classical
Xian Zhang conductor
Kelley O’Connor mezzo-soprano
Montclair State University Prima Voce | Heather J. Buchanan, director
New Jersey Symphony
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Mahler Symphony No. 3
Hear New Jersey Symphony Music Director Xian Zhang’s favorite piece of music as she takes the podium to lead musicians, choirs and audiences on a cosmic orchestral journey only Mahler could devise. This epic performance is not one to be missed!
Performed in Newark
New Jersey Symphony Stars
New Jersey Symphony Classical
Xian Zhang conductor
Eric Wyrick violin
Ha Young Jung bass
Chris Komer horn
Garth Greenup trumpet
Nayoung Baek cello
New Jersey Symphony
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Rossini Overture to The Barber of Seville
Eh, what’s opera, Doc? The catchy melodies and familiar notes of this overture set the table perfectly for Rossini’s iconic comedic opera.
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Darryl Kubian Triple Concerto (World Premiere, New Jersey Symphony Co-Commission)
The New Jersey Symphony’s own Darryl Kubian delivers on a commission that highlights his Symphony colleagues Chris Komer, Garth Greenup and Na-Young Baek on horn, trumpet and cello. Just another glowing example of the star power from within your orchestra.
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Bottesini Gran Duo Concertante
Written in 1880, the Gran Duo Concertante highlights the bass and violin during one extended and virtuosic movement. Principal Bass Ha Young Jung joins Concertmaster Eric Wyrick for this thrilling showpiece.
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Bizet Selections from L'Arlésienne Suites Nos. 1 & 2
The play may have been a failure, but Bizet’s arrangements of selections from L'Arlésienne have endured as two of the most popular concert suites in the classical canon.
Performed in Newark, Princeton and Morristown
Neeme Järvi Conducts Tchaikovsky
New Jersey Symphony Classical
Neeme Järvi conductor
New Jersey Symphony
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Arvo Pärt Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
Arvo Pärt poured his emotions about the passing of composer Benjamin Britten into this evocative 1977 composition for strings and one lone chime.
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Still Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American”
With its elements of jazz and infusion of blues, William Grant Still’s most popular symphony remains relevant today. In 1930, it became the first symphony composed by an African American to be performed by a professional orchestra in the United States.
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Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4
Filled with anguish and melancholy, Tchaikovsky’s symphony explores fate and how it shapes our lives. Former Music Director Neeme Järvi takes our audiences on a journey of power and reflection fueled by strings and brass.
Performed in Newark
Fauré’s Requiem with Jacques Lacombe
New Jersey Symphony Classical
Jacques Lacombe conductor
Montclair State University Chorale | Heather J. Buchanan, director
New Jersey Symphony
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Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin
Written during the horrors World War I, Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin is a bright reflection on lives lost during the war, with each movement dedicated to a friend who passed. The composer draws on the woodwind section—particularly the oboe—to tell these stories.
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Walker Lilacs
George Walker—a longtime Montclair resident—was among the greatest composers to call the Garden State home, and in 1996, he became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize in Music. It was this passionate work for soprano and orchestra that garnered him that grand distinction.
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Fauré Requiem
This divine choral-orchestral masterpiece focuses Fauré’s view on the acceptance of a peaceful death. Past Music Director Jacques Lacombe, whose tenure was marked by powerful vocal performances, returns to lead this exquisite work.
Performed in Newark and New Brunswick
Steven Mackey & Mozart
New Jersey Symphony Classical
Xian Zhang conductor
Felicia Moore soprano
Jennifer Johnson Cano mezzo-soprano
Alicia Olatuja mezzo-soprano
Sean Panikkar tenor
Nathan Berg bass-baritone
Steven Mackey electric guitar
Princeton University Glee Club | Gabriel Crouch, director
New Jersey Symphony
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Mozart Symphony No. 25
Xian Zhang explores one of Mozart’s most gripping and dramatic symphonies, often recognized by audiences as the opening music for the Academy Award-winning film Amadeus.
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Steven Mackey RIOT (World Premiere, New Jersey Symphony Co-Commission)
Fittingly, the New Jersey Symphony has tapped leading New Jersey composer and frequent Symphony collaborator Steven Mackey to celebrate the centennial with a new commission featuring original texts by former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith.
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Mozart Overture to Don Giovanni
Mozart perfectly sets the scene to one of the most popular operas of all time with an overture highlighting all of the drama, deception and damnation that follows.
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Bruckner Te Deum
The glorious Te Deum was a high point for composer Anton Bruckner, who called this joyful choral work “the pride of my life.”